<p>OK, so today I was looking at schools on the internet, and decided to image-search some of them. I got great pics of Mizzou, lots of pictures of the town of Columbia and found out that the Medill School of Journalism is in a really boring, plain-looking building. </p>
<p>But then I just searched for “college” on Yahoo Images and was pretty freaked out. Haha, I don’t recommend you do it!</p>
<p>My mom’s been pushing me to apply to Christian colleges, but I’ve never heard of some of them and most of them don’t have J-Schools. But after that fateful image search, I’m starting to think I’d like to go to a nice, small school. I’m not naive to think that there’s no parties at Christian colleges - I go to a Catholic high school and its known for its wild parties. But I kind of just want a small, quiet atmosphere to study in.</p>
<p>I’m in love with Santa Clara. I adore it. It has a mission on campus, and since I was little I’ve been fascinated with missions. It encourages community service, too, which I think is great. However I don’t think they have an accredited journalism program, and from their course offerings it looks like its more journalism and communications theory than skills-oriented.</p>
<p>Does anyone know of any Christian colleges with good j-schools? What about Santa Clara - am I right about it not having a skills-based curriculum?</p>
<p>There a christian college in Nebraska,Union, about 700 kids in the whole school. Its got a gorgeous campus, and a great communications program. Check it out at <a href=“http://www.ucollege.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.ucollege.edu</a></p>
<p>Bethel University in Minnesota has a very good program. Students do a lot of work in the field preparing for print and multimedia journalism and the school has a grant to bring in nationally-known journalists to work with small groups of students. Bethel is a Christian college and works to bring faith into everything that happens on campus. Students agree to not drink alcohol while they are students there.</p>
<p>One nice thing about a smaller Christian college journalism program is that you’ll get opportunities you might not get at a big university. I’m a grad student at a state university, and can see that students in the undergrad program might not get to work on the student paper until they’re seniors – if then. Contrast that with a smaller program at a Christian school where you’ll probably be able to join the staff as a freshman. </p>
<p>I’d look for a Christian college program where the faculty members have professional industry experience. I like the idea of a professor being able to make a living at something they’re going to be teaching others to do. And in a smaller program, you’ll probably have the actual professors as teachers, rather than grad students. </p>
<p>Northwestern College in St. Paul has a solid journalism program that stresses hands-on experience, and has an award-winning student newspaper. The school also has radio and television programs as well as print, so you can learn to tell stories across different media platforms. </p>
<p>Biola College in Los Angeles also has a solid journalism program.</p>