Dear Incoming J-Schoolers: MacBooks Are NOT Required (Updated)
To incoming students in the Missouri School of Journalism planning to buy an Apple MacBook just because it’s a J-School “requirement,” don’t do it.
Apple computers offer almost nothing to the average Mizzou journalism student you can’t find on a less pricey laptop, and certainly not enough to justify the outrageous price tag.
One of the first things the J-School tells you when you show up for Summer Welcome (right after the part about how you will totally find a job, LOL) is that you need to buy an Apple laptop from the MU Bookstore with all the accessories.
The official line from the Mizzou J-School is that you just need a laptop equipped with Windows Office when you enroll. In reality, you will be ostracized and made to feel unwelcome carrying any laptop not emblazoned with the Apple logo. If you have ever seen this picture of a Mizzou journalism lecture class, you can see the J-School has been pretty effective at driving home the message that you need an Apple MacBook to make it there.
The cheapest MacBook option from the MU Bookstore is more than $1,300, while the most expensive is closer to $2,800. It includes such non-essentials as a specially branded Missouri School of Journalism backpack, flash drive, notebook lock and Microsoft Office.
For all the good this laptop will do you as a journalism student, you would be better off buying a cheap laptop, uploading all of your documents to Google Docs and Dropbox and your music to Amazon Cloud Drive or Google Music Beta, and downloading the free Open Office suite of software. That will save you more than $800 on the cheapest package from the bookstore as compared to this comparable laptop we found, and save more than $2,000 on the most expensive one.
We weren’t going to say anything about this, but then we read this story in the Columbia Tribune about an incoming journalism student named Katie Bailey:
Right in front of a Tiger Tech booth at a University of Missouri Summer Welcome fair, Lana Bailey is ready to cry.
Her daughter, Katie, needs a laptop before she starts college in the fall, but they’re not sure which to buy. A pre-journalism student, she has been told the school requires, or at least prefers, a Mac. But she’s not sure what type of journalism she’s going to pursue, and that will make a difference.
We later learn that Bailey is a first-generation college student and the child of a single mother. She is also making some hefty sacrifices to afford her college education, like paying for this laptop herself and skipping the dorms (er, residence halls) and living with a family friend in Columbia to save on room and board.
Don’t put yourself through this misery, Katie. The Mizzou J-School has a habit of putting in place technology requirements whose benefits are not clearly articulated to students, particularly those who come from a lower socioeconomic class. It’s an intriguing irony for a school based on the art of communication to mass audiences.
I just graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism last month, and I can tell you with complete certainty that I never once did an assignment in a journalism class that I could not have done on a Windows-based computer. There is no piece of software or functionality in the line of Apple laptops that is essential to a Mizzou journalism student.
The J-School usually trots out the iLife suite of software programs on MacBooks as proof that these computers are essential to journalism students. The idea is that Apple computers come with programs that allow you to edit video, photos and even audio. But you will never use iMovie to edit video for a journalism class, never use iPhoto to edit photos and never use GarageBand to edit audio. You will use top-of-the-line software programs like Final Cut Pro, Avid, Adobe Audition and of course PhotoShop to do that work.
As Engadget and others have pointed out, the J-School makes these Apple items “required” partly to manipulate financial aid rules. You see, financial aid will only cover items that are required by the school, not just optional or recommended items. It’s not enough for the J-School to recommend we all buy Apple products, it has to “require” that we all buy them so we can include these expensive gadgets in our financial need estimates.
I’m sure we can find more useful ways to spend that financial aid money than on admittedly non-essential and pricey Apple products. And maybe someone should tell incoming students that this “requirement” is more like a “requirement *nudge* *nudge* say no more!”
That said, I am typing these very words on a MacBook Pro I received as a graduation gift from my parents. What’s more, I carry this laptop in the Missouri School of Journalism-branded backpack I got as a freshman. It’s a great computer, and given a choice between a Windows-based computer and a MacBook I would go with the MacBook every time.
But I have been blessed to come from a family that can afford such extravagances. Not every potential journalism student is so lucky, nor should they be. Diversity in every respect should be encouraged in this journalism school, be it financial or racial or intellectual.
From rising tuition to the journalism industry’s reliance on indentured servitude to stagnant salaries, it is becoming less and less feasible for students who don’t come from at least a middle class background to make it in journalism. This J-School should not make it even harder for the less economically fortunate to succeed in journalism with superfluous Apple laptop requirements.
But I’m just one J-School grad and mine is just one (rather loud) voice, so maybe my experiences with Apple products in journalism classes were different from other J-Schoolers. Share your thoughts in the comments section, because this site works best as a community discussion starter.
UPDATE: Rob Weir, the director of digital development at the Columbia Missourian made an excellent point in the comments section below that I thought was worth noting:
“Hey Teeg, I agree with the main thrust of your post, and I’d add something else: a LOT of freshmen declare pre-J, and many of those don’t make it to the J-school, whether due to grades or interest changes or whatever. Also, many students don’t know as freshmen what sequence/interest area/whatever we’re calling that which they’ll wind up in. And, generally, that’s two years after they start as freshmen, which is a long time in computer terms.
My advice to freshmen would be to keep using whatever laptop you have, or to get an inexpensive laptop to start college with. Then, when they settle on an interest area, that can inform a further purchase. If they’re going to be editing high-end video, they need a different set of hardware than someone who’s mostly doing reporting, and a different set from a designer, etc. Making that decision as they enter the J-school is a much better time, IMO.”
Follow J-School Buzz on Twitter and Like us on Facebook
Hey Teeg, I agree with the main thrust of your post, and I’d add something else: a LOT of freshmen declare pre-J, and many of those don’t make it to the J-school, whether due to grades or interest changes or whatever. Also, many students don’t know as freshmen what sequence/interest area/whatever we’re calling that which they’ll wind up in. And, generally, that’s two years after they start as freshmen, which is a long time in computer terms.
My advice to freshmen would be to keep using whatever laptop you have, or to get an inexpensive laptop to start college with. Then, when they settle on an interest area, that can inform a further purchase. If they’re going to be editing high-end video, they need a different set of hardware than someone who’s mostly doing reporting, and a different set from a designer, etc. Making that decision as they enter the J-school is a much better time, IMO.
ee
Rob, I think you make a really good point about how many Pre-Js never make it to the J-School after they buy that expensive Apple equipment. I updated the post to include your thoughts and credit you with a link to your Twitter. Thanks for the comment.
I agree with you, David. Frankly, in my time in the news-ed sequence (I was at the J-school in the ‘uh-oh we’ve gotta converge” years , the sequence’s been renamed since), I used my laptop 95% of the time for writing stories and papers in Word (any open-source equivalent will do too) and doing Google searches. I’m a Macfan but I have to admit you can do all that on a $500 Dell. And for video or audio editing projects that your cheap laptop would be too slow to handle (a bottom-of-the-line Mac may not do either), the J-school does have computer labs.
As Rob said, wait to find out what you really need. And also take the opportunity to upgrade, if needed, just before graduation, when you still have your education discount. I did, I’m still using that Mac today.
In addition the issues of eligibility for financial aid that Rob mentioned, the J-school may have an interest in pimping Macs the way it does to get them cheaper for its computer labs and newsrooms. Has anyone looked into that?
Bottom line is, the one tool you really need to be a good journalist is your brain. Everything else, your school or your employer can supply if you can’t. You shouldn’t have to be born rich to become a journalist (though the way the business is going…)
You’re right, the J-School already provides top of the line software and equipment in the newsrooms, so it seems weird to have a laptop as well with those same capabilities that each student needs to buy. Thanks for the comment!
I would also be curious to see how much Apple has “donated” to the J School for research funding in return for the “required” purchase tag. Sleazy quid-pro-quo, if you ask me. Throw in trips to Cupertino or conventions on Apple’s dime and it turns into a nice commission for the J School higher-ups. Sorry to sound like a conspiracy theorist but there’s no transparency here.
I studied journalism at Loyola University Chicago and graduated in May ’10. During my time at Loyola there was no requirement as to what kind of computer j-schoolers needed to use. To my knowledge, there still isn’t a requirement and most, if not all professors, don’t even tell you that they prefer one kind of computer to another. In fact, when Loyola opened its new School of Communication, all the classroom labs were outfitted with Macs and all the libraries on campus have Mac labs so students who need to use them for editing purposes can access the computers and software without having to cough up the [excessive] cash.
I am a Mac user by choice and would never think of switching, but I was never once made to feel like I couldn’t complete my assignments as well or as good if I didn’t have a Mac. Loyola seemed to understand that not everyone chooses the Apple route and made it a point to have the computers available for all students. I don’t have very much experience with video or photo editing but I will say this, as a print journalism major who has worked for and been published in four major Chicagoland news publications, the most important tools you need to make it in the print world are Microsoft Word and a decent vocabulary. The fanciest Apple device won’t make your journalism career happen– only you can do that.
While I appreciate the consideration that went into the article and the points being made, I think you should have included some of the actual specifications from what the J-School posts about computer requirements.
I am not contending the J-School’s strong encouragement for Apple or how that encouragement could possibly mislead or confuse incoming students into making a much more costly purchase than they need or want. The J-school clearly states that Apple is the school’s preferred provider, but they only actually require students to have a wireless laptop with Microsoft Office — of any brand or operating system. It is not really news that MacBooks are not required — they never were. And, as you said, it is only a requirement so that students who need financial aid can use it for this purchase, but that does not only apply to Mac computers.
I don’t quite believe that the J-School is manipulating us by making a computer requirement. The requirement is just language to make sure students who want computers, but can’t afford them, can get them. There are no computer-checks, and I have yet to take a class where any personal computer at all is “required.”
I don’t think you are giving incoming students enough credit for making informed decisions. Obviously the school cannot flat-out require you into buying a specific type of computer, or any computer at all. I think students and parents need to be aware going in to any school-recruiting event that there is always a certain element of salesmanship present. After hearing any college-pitch, it is the responsibility of the students and their families to ask questions, find out any possible alternatives, and do a little research.
My final point in this long-winded comment: I think Macs get negative attention in this respect because they are pricey. Of course, cost is an important consideration, especially now and especially when planning for college. But if a school required or recommended only Windows-based products, would this article still have been written? My question to you, David, is if you are opposed to Macs themselves (which I doubt, since you have one), their cost, or the J-School’s willingness to endorse a product they seem to think fits the needs of their students.
Thanks for the interesting post.
To reference the J-School’s tech policies and recommendations: http://journalism.missouri.edu/undergraduate/computer-requirements.html
a reward goes out to anyone who can make this post go viral/find these guys so that I can see recent pictures of them NOT having joshua braids and ease my mind. And I ain got no money so I make a monthly payment to the winner of $5.99 per month until I die. foakleys http://pinterest.com/fakeoakleysoaho/fake-oakleys/