Curriculum

MORE THAN THE MECHANICS: Medill Will Give You A Broad Education

It is often said that a journalist must know a lot about many things to communicate the news effectively. Medill requires its students to take nearly three-quarters of their coursework outside of journalism to ensure they are broadly educated on a wide range of global and national issues.

Specific distributions include an elective six-course concentration in the Judd A. and Marjorie Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences; another three-course concentration in a social science discipline such as sociology, political science or economics; and one or more courses in art/art history, religion/philosophy, economics, history, literature, math/science and political science.

Medill courses make up 12 to 14 courses of the 45 required for graduation. You will learn the writing, reporting, editing, producing, visual and online journalism skills needed for a multimedia career. You will also be prepared forr work in a particular industry, all of which have growing online platforms

During your freshman year you will take Reporting and Writing, which covers essential journalistic skills necessary for all platforms; Multimedia Storytelling, an introduction to Web-based journalism; and Introduction to 21 st Century Media, which exposes students to business and ethics trends in the media.

Sophomore year will include Enterprise Reporting in Diverse Communities, which involves in-depth multimedia reporting in Chicago neighborhoods, and Media Presentation, which prepares students for a Journalism Residency within a specific industry.

During junior year, you will take Storytelling and Media Law and Ethics before embarking on Journalism Residency. A broad menu of elective courses, taken from sophomore year on, will round out your Medill coursework.

Undergraduate Journalism Electives for 2008-2009

All Medill students are bound by an Integrity Code.

View Northwestern's Integrity Policy.