Q. I was wait-listed for one of the country's top journalism graduate programs, and the delay took the wind out of my sails. Granted, I just finished my undergraduate studies, but I saw myself as qualified and an unusual pick.
Fast-forward to two weeks after graduation. I'm still not admitted, but I've landed a writing and blogging internship at a top political magazine. The internship is only 10 weeks, but my girlfriend and I decided to move to Washington, D.C., and sign a 12-month lease, hoping that the quality of my work might lead to a full-time job offer at the magazine; or surely something else in the District (she's an economist with a lot of good government job prospects).
But just two days after starting work, I get an e-mail from that graduate program offering me a place in the fall with the new media program, and a modest scholarship. I immediately asked about a deferment, and the admissions office said, in so many words, "no."
Here are the pros: 1.) The new media program has an excellent job placement rate. 2.) The scholarship offsets some of the costs. 3.) My internship ends in time for orientation and classes.
Here are the cons: 1.) I feel like it's unfair to my girlfriend to commit to a year-long move, and then ask her to pick up after three months and move to an area where the job prospects won't be as good. 2.) While it's only $1,000, it feels financially irresponsible to break our lease, especially since neither of us has a clue about job prospects in New York, and the move will cost us close to $2,000 (not to mention that the estimated cost of the new media program is $65,000!). 3.) There's always the possibility that while the degree will put me ahead of a lot of people, it won't guarantee me a job upon graduation (I was rejected for a lot of entry-level, full-time journalism jobs -- most of which I was more than qualified for -- because of the reduced size of the market).
Few of the magazine and Web site people I work with have graduate degrees -- not one of them has an undergraduate or graduate degree in journalism -- and I feel like if they could do it on their own, why can't I? At the same time, this university is leading the way in training Web 2.0 journalists. What to do?
MikeA. One possibility you did not mention is pursuing your studies in New York while your girlfriend pursues her career in Washington. Your program is just nine months long. There are trains, planes and automobiles, and as busy as you would be with your studies, it might not be that much fun for her to be around you anyway.
The graduate degree is absolutely not a job guarantee, as I am sure the university would tell you, but the placement rate makes it attractive. I could flip a coin on this one, as we do not know what will happen for either you or your girlfriend. But reading your own pro and con rundown, it sure seems as though you are leaning toward the plan you chose when you decided to take to the D.C. internship without knowing whether you would be admitted. I'd stick with the plan. It sounds as though the two of you feel that it's the better course for your girlfriend as well.
Whatever you decide, do it now. Do not sign up for the degree program with the idea that you will drop out at the last minute if something opens up for you in D.C. The empty desk you would create at the J-school would be a symbol that you had deprived someone else of a place in that program.
Joe's "
Breaking In: The JobsPage.com Guide to Newspaper Internships," weighs the grad school or job question.
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Coming Wednesday: She finds that some job ads on the Web were not placed there by employers but harvested from other sites. When is an ad too old to warrant an application?
