Masters in Magazine Writing, New York University (NYU)

Making of a Writer

>Masters in Magazine Writing, New York University (NYU)

    Let’s face it, life as an Indian student in the US isn’t really as glamourous as it is made out to be. Once you stop feeling giddy about being in America, you quickly realise that hot meals don’t simply materialise at lunchtime; clothes don’t iron themselves; and a cup of coffee costs almost Rs 250 at the current exchange rate, so you would rather make it yourself. All this masochism would still probably be worth it if you’re studying to become an engineer of some sort (isn’t that what everyone does anyway?) — because at the end of it all, what awaits you is a cushy job in Silicon Valley and jubilation every time the rupee slides further.
    So when I decided to chalk out a slightly different path for myself — a 15-month Masters in magazine writing at New York University (NYU) — I received my share of skepticism. Why did I want to do a Masters in a profession where qualifications don’t really matter? Didn’t the internet kill off magazines? And most importantly: would I get a job at the end of it all?
    In the current economy, no one can answer the last question. But I got into magazines because I simply loved magazines. I had worked for three years for a magazine in New Delhi and a Masters in the field seemed more appropriate than something like digital journalism — I didn’t feel like I needed to spend a year learning how to tweet.
    Being an international journalism student in the US is challenging. Not only do you have to quickly familiarise yourself with American pop culture references that your classmates have grown up with to make sense of classroom discussions, you also have the formidable task of generating story ideas, networking with people and developing sources in a completely alien environment.
    Two semesters into my programme, I applied and got a summer internship at The New York Times Syndicate, the Times’ wire service, where I researched and fact-checked opinion pieces written by some of the biggest names in the business — Richard Branson, Umberto Eco and Noam Chomsky, among others. A fact-checker may be at the bottom of the editorial food chain, but he or she is the person who dissects each piece line-by-line and goes over everything with a fine-toothed comb. Suffice to say, there are few things more pleasurable than crossing out a billionaire CEO’s writing with a red pen.
    A year into the programme — I have got one final semester to go — there’s one question that I get asked a lot: has doing a niche course helped my writing? The honest answer to that would be that living — and surviving — in New York, arguably the greatest city in the world, will teach you much more than you could ever hope to learn in a classroom. To grow as a writer is to be exposed to a breadth of experiences and take in as much as possible. On that count, at least, the Big Apple never lets you down.

Pranav Dixit