Deciding to apply to graduate school took a lot of thinking for me. For the past four years I\u2019ve studied newspaper and online journalism, and it\u2019s taken me four years to realize that I don\u2019t want a career in journalism. I love writing, I love reporting, but I don\u2019t enjoy the structure of journalism and the demanding work schedules that wouldn\u2019t fulfill me. Through several internships, I discovered that I wanted to work in public relations. I could write and apply similar skills while doing something I found rewarding.<\/p>\n
However, I\u2019m still missing some skills and experience to be successful in PR. I guess I\u2019m going to grad school.<\/p>\n
The first thing I did was research some programs. I found a few that matched my interests and goals and found ones that I really could see myself in. Newhouse was my top choice, and I knew the program would help me get closer to my goals. I filled out interest forms on their websites and was able to get more information by speaking to recruiters and getting on their email lists.<\/p>\n
Different programs have different requirements so I made sure I met all of the requirements for each one I was interested in. The GRE is currently not required by many graduate programs (thankfully) due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n
The next thing I did was look over the applications and what they were asking for. They all needed a statement of purpose. This is the \u201cwhy\u201d part of the application. Why do you want to pursue a masters? Why do you want to do it at this school? Why should you get in? I had to think about what really motivated me and put that into 500 words. I spent weeks on this part. It was the best way to show each institution who I am and why I\u2019m passionate about pursuing a masters.<\/p>\n
The applications also required letters of recommendation. I reached out to colleagues from my internship, old bosses and a professor. I informed them of my decision to apply to graduate school and asked if they would mind writing me a letter. They were all very happy to help and we enjoyed catching up.<\/p>\n
After that, I was all ready to send out my applications and get on to the hardest part of the process: waiting.<\/p>\n
I tried to forget about it for a month or so, then every day I began feverishly checking my email. I was waiting, hoping for good news. Then, one day when I was least expecting it, I checked my email and there it was. I got into the Newhouse PR Master\u2019s Program, my dream program. I couldn\u2019t have been more excited.<\/p>\n
I immediately called my parents and told them the good news. I was excited to take the next step in my life and get closer to creating the career I wanted. I\u2019m now finishing out my senior year and preparing to come back and get focused on launching my career. It was a decision that took a lot of thinking, talking to friends, family and professional connections, but ultimately it was my decision. I knew that the graduate school experience was something I wanted to do, it wasn\u2019t a matter of if, but of when. I\u2019m really excited that the \u201cwhen\u201d is now, and I\u2019m ecstatic to be returning to SU for another year.<\/p>\n
Written by Noah Lowy \u201921, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Deciding to apply to graduate school took a lot of thinking for me. For the past four years I\u2019ve studied newspaper and online journalism, and it\u2019s taken me four years to realize that I don\u2019t want a career in journalism. I love writing, I love reporting, but I don\u2019t enjoy the structure of journalism and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":319,"featured_media":2089,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,34],"tags":[54,130,131,88,86],"class_list":["post-2085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","category-student-success","tag-career","tag-grad-school","tag-masters","tag-productivity","tag-tips"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/319"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2090,"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085\/revisions\/2090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/experience.syracuse.edu\/the-peel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}