I’m about to graduate from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and a minor in Women’s Studies. Journalism is considered one of the most regretted majors by college alum across the United States, according to CNBC.
As of 2022, it is the top most regretted major, and about 87% of journalism graduates would have studied something different if they could. It’s not just journalism graduates that regret this pivotal life decision, but it’s also sociology, liberal arts, communications, and more.
“Journalism, sociology, communications and education all topped the list of most-regretted college majors, according to ZipRecruiter’s survey of more than 1,500 college graduates who were looking for a job.”
Jessica Dickler, CBBC – “The top 10 most-regretted college majors — and the degrees graduates wish they had pursued instead”
Whether it be the irrelevance of these skills in today’s world or the competitive job market, lots of people have regrets from decisions they had to make in their late teens and early 20s. However, I don’t think that picking any of these majors is a bad thing.
Should I really regret this major just because everybody else does?
Why i picked journalism in the first place
Honestly, I can’t pinpoint the exact reason I picked this major. A lot of other people base their decisions on passion or money, but I think a big part of it was that I just panicked.
I began my college experience as a pre-med psychology major. I had this ideal that I wanted to help others, especially younger children, through their daily lives and mental health. However, this dream quickly died when I realized I had to take “smart” classes. I noticed that I needed to take biology and chemistry, which I dreaded in high school, and then I saw that I needed to do homework before the first day of class.
I remember thinking, “Yea, I’m not going to do that.”
As many of you have probably experienced, I am a victim of “burnout.” After all those AP classes and extracurriculars that I loaded my schedule with until high school graduation, I just didn’t want to do that much work again.
After all, I had already gotten what I wanted: to get good grades, get into a good school and make my parents proud.
Naturally, I started to panic because I realized that I had no plan for the actual college experience. I was 17 years old when I started my freshman year, had gone through my first ever breakup, had roommates with enough baggage to weigh down the world, and was away from home for the first time in my life.
I had no friends, no clubs, no sports, and nothing to do but hang around my sister who also came to this school. This entire experience is what I now know is a fairly common experience for the average college freshman.
My only hobby at the time was reading and writing. So, my obvious course of action was an English degree, but I wanted something that would allow me to tell the stories of others, something that could open doors and let me tell the world about how interesting it can be.
So, I picked Journalism.
My journalism experience
I started to realize quickly why everyone “regretted” journalism– it’s so much work.
My original goal was to be a social justice reporter and ghost writer for inspirational women.
I was blessed with the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” beat for my first reporting class. I loved every second of it. I worked with a great team of students and I had a pretty good background for our articles due to my nearly completed Women’s Studies minor.
I had such an amazing time in that class and felt like I made the right choice until my next two reporting classes began.
Between constantly writing emails, making calls, cancelling plans to cover events and getting rejected, I was getting tired of it. The worst part of it all was that I wasn’t even writing about things that I wanted to. We didn’t get to write much at all during these semesters.
The only story that I was proud of working on was an AI development article, where I had the pleasure of speaking with several AI professionals across the United States, including Langni Zeng, Director of Strategy and Business Operations, AI at QSC, LLC.
At least, I found so much joy in my photojournalism course. The school lent me equipment for the semester and I slowly learned how to capture the world through a lens. I was even able to do a remote internship with a local pet photographer, and volunteer as a photographer, and many other roles, at an animal rescue for a year.
Then, I began looking for journalism internships at this point and was curious to see that almost every single one was unpaid, or required years of experience and published works. I couldn’t work unpaid, and I didn’t have anything published yet. So, I kept working hard in my classes and worked a part-time retail job.
At this point, I felt like I made the wrong choice. I started to hate journalism.
Then I had my final semester, which I actually just finished. There are four journalism Reporting IV Capstone courses at UGA for students to choose from: The Oglethorpe Echo (Community Journalism), Social Justice Reporting, Environmental Reporting and GradyNewsource.
I’d had my eye on the social justice course for years, and my heart was crushed to see that it was completely full by the time I could register for classes. Then, I thought I could get into GradyNewsource, especially since they had just published an article of mine: Reading System Improves Literacy in Area Special Education Programs. However, that class looked like it would be a full-time broadcasting job- so, not only was it time consuming, but I wouldn’t be working on writing like I wanted to do.
The only class that worked in my schedule was The Oglethorpe Echo.
I signed up for the class and walked in on the first day thinking that I would hate it. It was community journalism for a county I had never set foot in, and I’d be covering business and infrastructure, which didn’t have much to do with my goal of being a social justice reporter.
It wasn’t so bad, though. I partnered with an amazing, passionate reporter, who is now on her way to an internship at the New York Times. She showed me a lot about how journalism didn’t have to be as calculated and stressful as I was making it.
I immersified myself in Oglethorpe County, and became a real member of their community. Believe it or not, there’s A LOT of news in town. I really began to believe in my initial philosophies that everyone had a story and stories can be found everywhere.
I fell in love with community journalism, and decided that I needed to stick with it post-grad.
Amanda Bright, professor and Oglethorpe Echo editor, sent our class a job listing for a new Lead News Reporter at The Hartwell Sun. She always sent a variety of job opportunities, but this one stood out to me, as The Sun was owned by the same company that owned The Echo: Community Newspapers Inc.
Spoiler alert: I got the job.
I’m graduating, now what?
I spent the past four years studying Journalism and Women’s Studies, meeting so many diverse, well-educated people and learning a variety of concepts that led me to graduation.
On top of my major and minor, I took classes on astrophysics, entomology, weightlifting and ceramics. I loved (mostly) every one of them, and was able to broaden my knowledge on topics I was actually curious about. I even found new passions I hope to carry-on post-grad.
Now, I get to start my full-time position with The Sun and begin my adult journey.
Currently, I don’t plan on going back as a graduate student, but who knows? I’m not one to believe that the “master’s is the new bachelor’s,” but maybe one day I’ll want to expand my knowledge on a more precise topic.
For now, I’m going to focus on gaining more experience through work.
I’ve gotten to meet so many cool people through journalism, like Sara-Maya Hans, a paramedical tattoo artist specializing in nipple reconstruction, Doris Mahannah, a 108-year-old woman dedicating all her time to sewing baby clothes, and Willie Torres, local business owner and veteran in Crawford, Ga.
I hope to meet so many more people like these, who care about their communities and want to make a difference. And I am so excited to continue photographing and writing for their stories.
Even though I hated it in the beginning, my perspectives have completely changed. My profession adds so much color and perspective to my life that I never expected. I get to travel, meet people every day, experience new things I never thought I would have and make new friends everywhere. I would 100% recommend that anybody with curiosity, passion and love for writing to consider this major.
Count me out of the 87% of people that regret majoring in journalism.
