How's the MA program in journalism in Emerson College? (Boston: work, house)

[serafina1004]

Hi! I'm a Chinese student majored in journalism and I'm now accepted by the MA program in journalism (print and online) at Emerson College. There're different comments about this college, so I was a little bit confused. The program seems to just fit my need, but is it worth the expensive tuition fee? How is the college actually? Hope someone here can help me. Thanks a lot!

[AVaccaro35]

Emerson is highly regarded for its communications program and has become a powerhouse in the industry over the last ten years. A MA from Emerson in journalism will look very nice on your resumes. I do believe that Emerson's fairly pricey, though. It also doesn't have much of a campus. It's several buildings lined up along a corner of the Common. However, the Common provides a nice area of green if that's a priority. Academically, from what I've heard from friends who go there and learned while I was looking at schools (I was accepted to Emerson but didn't go), it's very good, and classes tend to be quite dynamic.

[mike2984]

I cant believe I came across your post, I have actually been applying to schools for the MA in Journalism. I visited Emerson about a few months back and was impressed with the program, they have excellent facilities and have allot of International students in the program.

The tuition costs around $36,000 for the whole length of program (3 Semesters) which is reasonable. I believe Boston University's journalism program was $40,000 for just 2 semesters.

The problem I have is with a Journalism graduate degree is that a graduate degree will defiantly not increase your pay in a field where the pay is already low enough.

But if that is not an issue, I do believe Emerson would be worth your money. The school doesn't have the reputation like Northwestern or Columbia, but Emerson will give you the access and hands-on experience to start a journalism career. Like I mentioned before, they have good contacts with foreign news organizations and a diverse graduate population. Not to mention you work on news projects right in the city of Boston.


Best of luck with your pursuit

[LeavingMA]

Emerson is a pretty good school but just be aware the school is quite liberal.

[redpanda]

Ok, I actually did get my M.A. from Emerson. It's not in journalism, but I had several good friends I made there who were in the MA journalism program. I'll give you the "real" skinny.

Here's the thing about Emerson: as someone stated, it looks "good" on your resume. But the actual education you'll receive is less than fantastic. Emerson is an institution focused on undergrads, and the grad students are almost an afterthought. You'll make a few contacts, you'll have a few opportunities--but nothing like people I know who chose other graduate programs had available to them.

It's not an awful choice--one of my friends who got her MA in journalism from there now works for NPR in Washington, DC. But she was a seasoned journalist before she started Emerson's program, and was less than impressed with it to say the least. To be quite frank, she was truly amazed at how many dimwitted people she came across in her classes. I'm sad to say I also encountered more than one person who I couldn't believe was admitted to graduate school ANYWHERE, much less a school that's supposed to have a good reputation.

I like to tell people I paid $35,000 for an "M" and $35,000 for an "A". Honestly, I feel like the most I got from my master's program at Emerson was the ability to say I have a master's degree from Emerson. In some cases that's enough, but I would check out other programs as well. I think Emerson is good for undergrads, but not so much for grad students.

Good luck to you whatever you decide!