Tiny but Mighty: What It’s Like to Be a Member of Newhouse’s Smallest Grad Program
One of the best parts of Newhouse is the school’s wide range of programs and degree tracks. While most of Newhouse’s graduate programs are one-year and professionally oriented, there is an exception: the Media Studies program.
Media Studies is a two-year program, and it is very small, with only 12 students per cohort.
As a member of Media Studies class of 2022, I often get questions about what I study and what kind of career the program leads to. Media Studies is Newhouse’s research-intensive master’s. This means that my classes are about theory and methodology, and the final assignment for each class is a research paper on a topic of our choosing.
My first year is all about learning how to conduct research. This means I take classes that are devoted to qualitative and quantitative methods, as well as classes that focus on the most popular theories in the field.
Even though it’s only the first semester, I still get to conduct my own research and put together papers based off the results that I collect. For one of these projects, my partner and I have created a survey that we will send to NGOs in the country of Lebanon. We are exploring the relationship between media consumption and involvement in anti-government protests. During COVID-19, this project has helped the world outside of New York seem accessible again. Although this is my first semester conducting real academic research, I already love the process and the discoveries I have made along the way.
One of the best parts of the Media Studies program is the opportunity to submit my work to research conferences. These conferences happen all over the world in places like Las Vegas, San Francisco and even Paris. After the completion of my research papers, the program will help my classmates and I apply for these conferences, and Newhouse will support us as we travel (once it is safe to travel again). The ability to engage in the academic community while still in graduate school is something that not every researcher gets to do, and I can’t wait to begin to lay the foundation for my research career with the help of Newhouse.
At the end of my two years here at Syracuse, I am required to submit a thesis. This summer I will take a thesis design course, and I will spend my second year researching and creating my very own thesis. One of the greatest parts of Media Studies is the amount of flexibility that the program allows. This thesis can be about any topic I am interested in, whether it be international journalism education, health communication or Virtual Reality simulations. The possibilities and opportunities at Newhouse truly seem endless.
After graduating as master researchers, some of my classmates plan to go into the industry, doing research for media companies and brands. A lot of us, however, hope to go on to get our PhDs. The Media Studies program does a great job of preparing us for both options, as well as helping us become the best researchers that we can be.
