Being a journalism major is one thing, but being a journalism major at Temple is an entirely different thing. Here are 11 things you definitely understand if you’re one of them.
1. The credit restrictions and requirements are way more complicated than any other major.
“Minimum 45 credits in Journalism required. Maximum 52 credits in the School of Media and Communication permitted (excluding certain Strategic Communication courses). Students must complete 72 credits outside the School of Media and Communication.” Say what?
2. George Miller and his dog.
Did you hear about that professor that brings his dog to cl—Stop there. You don’t even need to continue. Everyone knows George Miller from Journalism and Society, but even before we step into the class, we hear about his crazy personality, classroom antics, and his dog, Mookie.
3. All we hear about is The Temple News.
While The Temple News is esteemed and widely-recognized, Temple has tons of other media outlets that journalism majors can dive into to get real-world experience. Non-newspaper writers, rejoice! Temple Update, Temple Talk, The Tab Temple, WHIP, the Templar Annual, and Her Campus Temple are just a few organizations on campus that you can get involved with if you aren’t interested in newspapers.
4. We’re constantly defending our major.
No, it’s not an easy major. We have just as much homework as you, and we’re writing articles, broadcasting, editing, and filming on top of it all. And yes, we are sure this is what we want to do with our lives. Would we be taking on all of these deadlines if we weren’t passionate about it?
5. You’ll take a final paper over a final exam any day.
We’re masters of words! We would much rather use our writing and research skills than cram for an exam and end up forgetting everything anyways. We’re also experts at making it seem like we’re not BS-ing our papers, when in reality we’re totally BS-ing.
6. “Journalism isn’t dying; it’s evolving.”
Most commonly (over)used phrase by Temple professors, ever.
7. Philadelphia Neighborhoods is the capstone class that you’re terrified about the second you start your freshman year.
Having a senior capstone class like Neighborhoods is a really cool concept that gets Temple students into places in Philly they wouldn’t normally venture into, but being a full-time journalist isn’t really feasible when we’re still trying to balance 15-18 credits.
8. Walking into SMC and feeling like you run the world.
Having classes in Alter and the SERC is intimidating. Everyone is so deep in business and science. But SMC? We fit in. SMC is our home. Everyone there is passionate about media and communication; we can almost feel the energy from students working on projects, articles and media packages. We know these people are going to be changing the media alongside us post-grad. And we love it.
9. Your most-used excuse for a late assignment is, “My sources never contacted me back” and it’s totally legit.
One of the biggest struggles of all journalism majors, not just at Temple, is reaching out to sources and them never contacting you back. Don’t they realize that we literally need them to make our articles credible?
10. You know you made a ~genius~ decision to study journalism at Temple, because Philadelphia is at your fingertips.
Besides New York City, Philadelphia is one of the biggest cities for journalists. We have hundreds of story opportunities at our fingertips every day. Internship and potential job opportunities are literally right down the road. We also get tons of real world experience since Temple professors use Philadelphia in so many of their classes. Temple or nowhere, baby.
11. The professors actually want us to succeed.
Professors and advisors at SMC genuinely want all of their students to succeed. They don’t sugarcoat anything; they know that jobs in our field are few and far between. But they ceaselessly encourage us despite that. They go out of their way to meet with us, show us opportunities, and help us hone our skills. They rock.
We can’t wait to make Temple proud when we’re changing the world with our words and voices. We are Temple made journalists, and even though there are plenty of things we can complain about, there is no place we’d rather be.