Hello and welcome to “Quick Question,” the jcomm advising podcast. Today’s podcast addresses a common question asked by newly-admitted freshmen. I’ve just been admitted for fall term to the University of Oregon and I will be a journalism major. Now what?
First of all, congratulations! We’re glad you’ve chosen the University of Oregon and we hope to see you here in the fall. Now, let’s talk about what needs to happen next. There are several things you need to put on your to-do list.
The first to-do item is to understand your financial aid options and meet the early deadlines for filling your student financial aid and/or scholarship applications. These deadlines are often before the deadline to select the school you’re planning to attend, so make sure you don’t miss those.
The second thing to do is to inform the university that you will indeed be attending in the fall. You do this by paying your deposit. The deadline is May 1st. Once you’ve done this, you will receive information about the summer orientation program, first-year student programs, housing and a whole host of other new student information.
The third thing relates to your declared major. If the University of Oregon accepted you as a “pre-journalism” major, you’re good to go. No need to do anything more with this. When you attend orientation, you will meet with a journalism advisor and we’ll go from there.
Now, if you were accepted under another major and wish to switch to journalism, get in touch with the university’s Office of Admissions to officially change your major. If you don’t get a chance to do this until you’re on campus for orientation, no sweat. When you check in, tell the orientation folks that you’d like to switch and they’ll do their best to change your advising appointment.
I mentioned first year programs earlier. That’s another thing to put on your radar. You’ll get more information about freshmen interest groups and freshmen seminars. If you want to register for a freshmen interest group or FIG, do so before you come to campus for orientation. These seats fill up quickly so you’ll want to get your request in early. There are several journalism-themed FIGs each fall. You don’t have to do a journalism one. FIGs that comprise non-journalism classes are equally beneficial to you.
The next thing on your to-do list is to sign up for orientation. The university offers two-day IntroDUCKtion orientation sessions in the summer, primarily in the month of July. Register for the earliest orientation session you can. At orientation, you will attend workshops and meetings to introduce you to the vast resources and activities available at the university. You will also meet with an academic advisor and register for your fall term classes.
Whether you’re going to live on campus or not, the last thing on your to-do list is work out the housing details. The earlier you do this, the better. There is always a high demand for housing.
Now, have you noticed that none of these to-do things have anything specific to do with the journalism school? That’s deliberate. The department stays out of the entire application and acceptance process. Here, however, is one thing that you may want to do and it does relate directly to the School of Journalism and Communication. If you haven’t already, you may want to apply for a journalism scholarship. Our deadline is March 1 for the next academic year. We award between 200- and 300-thousand dollars of scholarship money each year and we do give scholarships to incoming freshmen. This scholarship may be in addition to anything else the university may have offered you such as a Dean’s Scholarship or a Presidential Scholarship. The application is available from the journalism school website. It will be the only application you need to submit the journalism school.
Again, congratulations. We look forward to working with you.
“Quick question” is an advising podcast provided by the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. Visit the J-school Student Services office in 101 Allen Hall, on the web at jcomm.uoregon.edu or on twitter at SOJC Advising.
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