Welcome to a day in my life!

If you’re thinking about studying journalism in college, this blog post is meant to give you some insight into what the average day in the life looks like for a journalism major.

My name is Nikki, and I’m in my third year studying journalism at RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology), which is in Rochester, New York.

Technically, my major is within the School of Individualized Study (SOIS), a unique program at RIT that lets students design their own major!

I’ve chosen to create a degree combining elements of journalism, marketing, public relations, and media.

You can learn more about SOIS at RIT here.

If you happen to be considering RIT for college, you may find this post insightful as well!

This day happened to be a Thursday during fall (the most beautiful time on campus).

I’ll take you along to my morning journalism class, two phone interviews for an article I wrote for our campus magazine, and some study sessions where I did homework, worked on that magazine article, and wrote a blog post.

Let’s get into it!

8:00 a.m. - Wake Up

I typically wake up anywhere from 7:30 to 8. I give myself enough time to get ready and quickly eat a granola bar before either biking to class or taking the RIT shuttle.

I was kind of tired this morning, so I decided to catch the campus shuttle.

I live in an off campus apartment, but it’s only about a 10-13 minute ride to campus.

9:30 a.m. - Intro To Journalism Class

After hopping off the shuttle, I headed to my Intro To Journalism class, which is an hour and 15 minutes long.

Today’s class was all about coming up with story ideas and pitching them.

We did a cool exercise where we had to write a pitch for a story in ten minutes.

Each group shared their pitch, and the rest of the class acted as an editor, providing feedback and deciding whether or not we’d green light the story.

12:15 p.m. - Magazine Interview #1

After my class, I hopped back on the shuttle to go home and prep for a phone interview.

On this day, I was working on an article about a local flea market for our campus magazine.

I had not one but two interviews - one with the co-founder of the market, and the other with a vendor.

The first interview was with the vendor, the owner of a vintage clothing shop!

I looked over my pre-prepared interview questions in Google Docs one last time, set up my recording app on my laptop, and made the call, which only lasted about 12 minutes.

One thing I’ve learned in my journalism classes, and something you’ll no doubt learn if you pursue it, is how to interview subjects and properly record them.

Some things I’ve learned that I try to keep in mind when interviewing are:

Always be on time, start by asking the subject to spell their name and state their title, start with easy questions, keep the interview short, and thank the subject for their time at the end.

If you’re an introvert and worried about this part of the major, it can be intimidating at first but it does get easier with practice.

I’m very introverted and the prospect of interviewing subjects was super nerve racking at first.

I recommend starting out with phone calls or other forms of virtual interviews and working your way up to in person interviews as you get more comfortable with it.

As for the other main part of being a journalism major - writing - well, that’s usually right in an introvert’s comfort zone!

12:40 p.m. - Lunchtime & Coffee

After my interview, I headed back to campus for some coffee and lunch.

Beanz is my go-to coffee spot on RIT’s campus.

It’s right by all the freshman dorms, so as a first year it’ll probably be your go-to spot, too!

They make a fantastic caramel macchiato, which I highly recommend trying.

On this day, they wrote my name on my cup and drew a little heart over the “i.” How cute!

1:00 p.m. - Homework

After lunch, I hung around Beanz for a bit to get some homework done while sipping my macchiato.

Today, I had a psychology quiz to take and a story idea generation assignment to do for my Data Journalism class.

6:00 p.m. - Magazine Interview #2

Later, I headed back home for my second interview of the day.

This one was with the co-founder of the flea market!

Same deal as before - I got my questions and notes ready, prepped my recording software, and hit call once it was time.

6:30 p.m. - Dinner & YouTube

Time for dinner! Today, I made steak and string beans on the side.

Usually, I put on a podcast or YouTube to keep me company while I cook and eat.

7:00 p.m. - Work On My Blog & Article

laptop, planner, and aesthetic drink — *Source:* *pinterest.com*

I wanted to get some more work done before I called it a night, so I started putting together my article on the flea market.

This involved listening to today’s interviews, picking out some quotes I wanted to use, and getting an outline together.

After I did that, I wrapped up my most recent blog post, which was all about friendsgiving ideas for college students.

Definitely worth a read if you’re looking to throw a friendsgiving party this year!

I put the finishing touches on my post, which included reading it over for any errors, adding in meta data for my images, and designing/scheduling pins for Pinterest.

11:00 p.m. - Bedtime

And that’s the end of my Thursday. I straightened up my apartment a bit, cleaned my cat’s litter box, and went to bed!

Outro & Closing Thoughts

So, that’s a day in the life of a journalism student!

I hope any future (or current) college students out there found this helpful and at least mildly interesting, haha.

Thank you for reading my post “Day In The Life Of A Journalism Student In College.”

Need a new study playlist? If you love chill vibes, this one should be right up your alley: The Perfect Chill Pop Playlist For Studying & Working

For handmade digital art prints, icon packs, wallpapers, & more designed by me, be sure to stop by my digital boutique: Designed By Nikki Lo.

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What's It ACTUALLY Like Being A Journalism Major? (Day In The Life)