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"Advice please!"

Hey there, i'm currently doing a Btech national diploma in media studies and i am in the process of applying to uni's, my ucas form has to be in before Xmas, i was wondering if anyone could recommened me any courses which would lead to a career in writing for (my dream) job: writing for a gaming magazine or website? I can't really seem to fine any specific ones and wondered if anyone here had done any similar courses at Uni?

Thanks if you can help me out here!

Journalism is an outstandingly difficult field to get into - a friend of mines daughter finished an English degree at Oxford, and spent the next 6 months commuting to London to work for free (120 mile round-trip) for some no-name BBC throwaway magazine, which she spent making tea and shuffling papers. She went for an interview with the editor of the Times who told her outright that she'll never get a job in the current climate - not because she wasn't good enough but because the market is totally saturated. It may be different down in Bath (a gorgeous town) where Future Publishing live, but I wouldn't bet it'll be too different.

Don't mean to sour your dream though..

Cheers for the replies ppl, i'll have a look into things and post back!

Not sure that many of the media courses are actually looked on as a great advantage in securing a job with games magazines.

Best bet would be to also try get some experience.
PSM2 the PS2 magazine are doing a competition to give someone a job, you just need to send them a review, CV and hope for the best.

If you don't have the mag from last month then I can give you more info on MSN - [email protected]

Problem I see with media qualifications is that they don;t really seem to teach you much.

I have three friends who did whole degrees in media studies, none of whom now work in the media, and two of whom ended up going back to uni to get a different qualification. One of them now does unpaid part-time work for a local radio station and he is the only one who is still aiming for a media career. As far as I can tell, practical experience is way more important than academic qualifications. I would do some other course at uni, maybe something relevant like computing, and get involved in the university newspaper or radio station, or start a web fanzine: basically just build up a decent portfolio of work and have something else to fall back on if it doesn't work out.

Havign said that though, if you look at the current crop of games writers and staff in leading game magazines, most have degrees, qualifications etc. that are not related to the media specifically, and have somehow branched out form their course title to journalism.

Well, a BSc in Creative Writing would be my first thought. Doing a joint Creative Writing and Media Studies course probably comes closer to what you're after though.

Creative Writing/Media:
http://www.bcuc.ac.uk/main.asp?page=86

Creative Writing and Film:
http://www.bcuc.ac.uk/main.asp?page=85

Creative Writing and Drama:
http://www.bcuc.ac.uk/main.asp?page=72

The above courses are just basic examples that such courses exist, and I do not necessarily recommend the University, as I just picked it up from google.

Can't give any direct advice but it would be a good idea to contact future publishing, as they run many games related and other magazines they will be able to tell you exactly the kindof qualifications they look for in people.

hope that helps

Hey there, i'm currently doing a Btech national diploma in media studies and i am in the process of applying to uni's, my ucas form has to be in before Xmas, i was wondering if anyone could recommened me any courses which would lead to a career in writing for (my dream) job: writing for a gaming magazine or website? I can't really seem to fine any specific ones and wondered if anyone here had done any similar courses at Uni?

Thanks if you can help me out here!