NC State offers over 100 majors and 120 minors, which is quite a lot to choose from. However, journalism is only offered as a minor for students. As someone who has wanted to major in journalism from the beginning of my college career, I found this disappointing. I am double majoring in communication media and Spanish while minoring in journalism. While I am content with what I am studying for my degree, I always found it frustrating that I wasn’t able to major in exactly what I wanted.

NC State has so many professors with exceptional journalism experience who can help students who are aspiring journalists. In my experience, I have found the communication department has a wide variety of classes; including production courses, research-focused courses and interesting electives such as game studies. 

I originally planned to take journalism classes as a part of my communication major, thinking they would be offered within my required courses, especially with my media concentration. Additionally, when I told an academic advisor I wanted to go into journalism, she pointed me in the direction of a communication media major. Unfortunately, the classes I was looking forward to such as intro to editing, opinion writing, and creative nonfiction were not offered as a part of my degree program.

NC State does offer a major in English professional writing and rhetoric that includes journalism courses. However, it doesn’t exactly focus on journalism throughout its curriculum, but rather a broader approach and more literature-centric courses.

While I have enjoyed this approach of studying communication, my decision to add a minor in journalism has shown me the value in refining the focus of your major. Moreover, I would have greatly appreciated the option to major in journalism and hope future students get the opportunity to do so.

Many tend to argue if you want to major in journalism, to just attend a school that offers it as a major or has more of a focus on the subject, like UNC-Chapel Hill. While I understand this argument and have nothing against going to UNC or a journalism-focused university, it’s important to note that more goes into choosing where to attend college. Just going to a different school isn’t really a fair argument to make; differences include the surrounding area you will be in, the student life, and so much more.

The real solution to this issue would be adding a journalism major option for students here at NC State. We certainly have the talented faculty to teach, and although journalism is not in as high demand as some other majors, there are still quite a few students who would agree with my sentiment. 

Additionally, we have well-established student media opportunities for students in which many take part in. So, why not add a journalism major for students who want to learn the craft in a more focused manner? 

Some universities require journalism students to double major with another subject; this could be something NC State could implement as well. This additional requirement could help ensure even more successful careers for these students after graduation. 

Journalism classes should be more available to students, especially communication students who are interested or possibly wanted to be journalism majors. Ultimately, students shouldn’t have to add a minor in journalism like I did to be able to study it.