Mare_Crisium

Is Penn considered a good school in the areas of communications? I've checked out the website for the Annenburg School, but I wanted to know if anyone here is in the actual major or is applying for it.

Sugar Magnolia

The Best Schools for Communications Majors in 2009 - 20 Top Colleges & University Programs

:-O

That may actually be the first site that I've seen to rank Annenberg as #1 over like... Medill... but hey, I actually asked a lot about it during my "informative interview" and was told that it has a very strong faculty, that I can apply to the major once I'm already at Penn, blah blah blah. And as a bonus, if you're into print journalism, the Daily Pennsylvanian is solidly one of the best student papers in the country.

Oh, and Maury Povich is a graduate. Just throwing that out there.

Sugar Magnolia

What are the best colleges for communication?

(read post #15)


OH and last thing... I read in the Daily Pennsylvanian about how they're thinking about forming a journalism minor, and in the article, they mention a "'thriving journalism culture'" on campus etc. So I haven't started at Penn yet, but unless this is shoddy reporting, communications are at the very least somewhat popular to the point where the department (well, the school) is definitely receiving some attention.

And my college counselor told me that the Communications major is "very competitive" to the point where she advised me, despite my mile-high stack of journalism credentials, not to list it as a possible major on my application. Which is sort of telling, imo.

tenebrousfire

ever heard of factcheck.org?

FactCheck.org

that's penn's annenberg public policy center, part of the comm school

i only got to take one comm class during my time at penn but it was one of the best classes i ever took (comm 226, intro to political comm)

Mare_Crisium

Sugar Magnolia: Thank you for the last part about not listing it as a major on my application. Does that mean that I should list my major as undecided, or pick a general major in SAS and wait till my sophmore or junior year to pick my major in communications?

Chi-town23_33

Sugar, I've actually seen Annenberg ranked #1 in more than one place. The reason it doesn't come up more often is because it's a PhD program. The undergraduate major is overseen by Annenberg but housed in the College.

Venkat89

All SAS students officially enter without a major. Penn does not hold any SAS student to their prospective major from the application and you can change at any time. It might affect who your premajor advisor is, but that is the least of your concerns as a prospective student.

How much your prospective major means is debatable. Personally, unless your ECs and academic record strongly point into one area (ex. published research paper as a science major or published article in local news paper for communications) declaring a prospective major will add marginal, if any benefit. It will help organize your Why Penn essay, but probably not help your application much.

Sugar Magnolia

Mare_Crisium: While my college counselor is incredibly experienced (and successful, too, you should say I guess), she saw my entire application, all my essays etc. and knew that I was considering English anyway, so maybe... idk. I feel nervous about you taking what I said as official advice; I was more trying to hint at the strength of the program. Maybe search around for other opinions before officially not listing it as your prospective major... not that I was ever convinced that it would make a huge difference. As long as you don't list, like, Chemistry when you're much more geared towards communications.