Getting into Medill Northwestern School of Journalism

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 16^th 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 16^th of May. On the 22^nd 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 24^th 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.”