One Media Student Interviewing Another

            Being a Media Student can provide many different challenges, the diversity in the assignments and the the strong blend of practical and theory based modules promote the need for a variety of different skills throughout the course. As well as academic challenges there is an ever present social stigma surrounding the degree and its students, many label Media Studies as an easy subject with no real credit, but if my own experience is anything to go by then they really couldn't be any further from the truth. In spite of the general external opinion I recently interviewed a fellow Media Student, Gary Wilkinson, to see how he feels about our degree and how he plans to use it in the future. If you're considering a Media degree, already studying for one or simply interested in the subject, read on and share your opinions and personal experiences with a comment at the end.

            Gary is a 24 year old undergraduate at in the final year of his Media degree at Swansea University, he loves everything to do with football (especially his beloved team Arsenal) and has developed a keen interest in sports journalism as a result. Studying the media wasn't Gary's first choice however, he first joined the University to do a degree in Aerospace Engineering and stuck to it for two years before he decided to take a year out to assess his options. It was during this time out that he eventually decided  to switch to Media Studies. When I asked Gary why he decided to change his degree he told me that 'friends suggested media because of my interest in films, I chose it as i thought it would help me to become a journalist'.


            Considering the stark contrast between the two degree schemes, I was interested to see which Gary preferred. His intital answer was brief, simply stating 'media' but when I asked him why he quickly obliged. 'It's more literary based' he replied 'and it will hopefully help me to fulfill my ambition to become a football journalist'. Seeing as I still have no idea what career path I really want to follow I was interested to see if our short term goals would differ at this stage, Gary is clearly intent on a career in journalism so I questioned him on his plans after graduating this July. It turns out that even though Gary is sure of his dream career he, like me, wants to spend the next year earning some money before he makes any further commitments. He then told me ''After some time out I hope to either get a job working for a media organisation or start a post graduate degree in journalism''.

Gary in Swansea Bay

            This is where I feel that studying the media can really pay off, there is such a wide scale of careers available to graduates with constant opportunities to specialise in any one given area or gain further knowledge of the subject as a whole. It seems that Gary agrees with me here, he thinks that his media degree has provided the broad platform of knowledge he needs to focus on journalism and develop his own media outlet in the hope of exploiting a niche in the market.

Gary (left) showing his Swansea University colours

            Many people believe that a Media Studies degree is worthless or easy to obtain but it really is neither of those things. You need to have a good knowledge of theory, the ability to present your ideas in a public environment, and a good team work ethic amongst many other attributes. I can't say I've come across anybody on my course who is un-intelligent or naive, take Gary for example, he switched to Media after studying Aerospace Engineering for two years so he's clearly not an idiot. Then again he does support Arsenal even though he's from Liverpool, so maybe he's not the best example after all.


            If you're interested in following up on Gary or asking him any questions you can follow him on Twitter @MeWilko. If you have any questions or comments for me however then you can follow me as always @CA_Brit or leave a comment in the box below.