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Anybody who
knows anything about me knows that I am passionate about broadcast journalism.
To achieve my goal of becoming a television news reporter, I decided to study
journalism and English at the University of Toronto. The most recent statistics
I looked at this year show that U of T is Canada’s number one university, and
the world’s 16th best institution of higher learning. When I entered U of T in 2005 I soon
realized, however, that the school’s prestige was in the sciences and definitely
not journalism. To put it bluntly, the journalism program was a joke, a big fat
one. One of the newspaper instructors was a man whose fame to claim was that he
had written two sports articles for the CBC’s news site. The
television-broadcasting instructor was a former student who said he covered a
story for some place, somewhere – and that’s all I can tell you about that. After
graduation, I felt I was nowhere on par with the likes of Ryerson’s journalism graduates
- that’s a school known for its excellent journalism program.
Bored and clueless in photography class in 2007, I decided modeling in front of the camera was the best way I could practice using it. The instructor behind me didn't seem to care and I clearly didn't either.
I decided to
apply to Ryerson for a master of journalism degree. I also applied to Carleton,
another school with a good journalism program. They both turned me down. I was
devastated. I applied to Ryerson again the following school year and I was
again turned down. I was again crushed. I worked harder on the application and
my skills through internships. I applied a third time and sure enough Ryerson
rejected me. It didn’t make any sense to apply again because I came to the realization
that I was never ever going to get into Ryerson. I was told I didn’t get in “on
the basis of competition”.
Dwight Drummond, CBC prime time news anchor and fellow Jamaican, is a graduate of Ryerson University.
I looked to
America since there were more and better schools to choose from, less competition
and I had recently become a permanent resident in the States. I applied to some
good journalism schools: Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida
State, University of Miami and Medill Northwestern. Medill is ranked number two
in the world, second to Columbia University. Since I had been rejected by
Ryerson, and feeling dejected, I was not sure I would get into these schools,
especially Medill.
Students and faculty discuss what makes Medill a cut above the rest.
I submitted my
application to Medill on the 16th of May. On the 22nd of
May I received an email saying that my application was incomplete, and therefore
not ready to be reviewed, because one of my referees had not submitted her reference letter. I was extremely disappointed and upset because I didn’t want
any delays in the process. I had already gotten into the other schools,
but to get into Medill was to win the Mega Millions lottery. On the 24th
of May I checked my application status and saw this letter:
Dear
Patrick:
Congratulations! I'm delighted to inform you that you have been
admitted to Medill's graduate journalism program for the Fall 2012 quarter.
Orientation is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, September 25, 2012.
We encourage you to visit us online - we’ve created two sites
just for you and other admitted students so that you can learn more about the
Medill experience…
I cannot tell
you how excited I was. I got into Medill! I couldn’t believe I got into Medill!
I will be studying in Chicago and Evanston and I cannot wait to start
school.
As I said in my
statement of purpose, “I believe wholeheartedly in my calling to shed light on
stories that need a storyteller and hold people and institutions accountable
for actions that would otherwise go unnoticed.”
