Princeton University's Summer Journalism Program

The Princeton University’s Summer Journalism Program invites 20 dynamic juniors to Princeton's campus for an intensive, 10-day seminar on journalism. The program's goal is to diversify college and professional newsrooms by encouraging outstanding students to pursue careers in journalism. All expenses, including students' travel costs to and from Princeton, are paid for by the program. Students who attend the program come from across the country.

Classes at the program are taught by reporters and editors from The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The New Yorker, CNN and ABC News, among other media outlets. Students tour the Times, CNN and The Daily Beast; cover a professional sporting event (a Yankees, Mets, Jets, Liberty or minor league baseball game); cover news events in the Princeton area; film and produce a TV segment; conduct an investigative project; author a group blog; and report, write, edit and design their own newspaper, The Princeton Summer Journal, which is published on the program's last day.

 

The program is also designed to give students a taste of what life is like at one of the best colleges in the country—students live on campus and eat in one of the university's cafeterias—and to prepare them to apply to top schools. Students meet with Princeton's top professors as well as the school's president and its dean of admissions. Students attend seminars on every aspect of the college admissions process. They also take a practice SAT and attend an SAT class taught by the Princeton Review. 

The program's 2010 schedule can be found here. After students return home, program staff remain in contact with them, assisting them during the college application process and helping them to apply for journalism internships once they are in college.

To apply for the program, you must meet the following qualifications:

• You must currently be a junior in high school.
• You must live in the continental United States.
• You must have at least an unweighted 3.5 grade point average
  (out of 4.0).
• You must have an interest in journalism. 

Please note: The application deadline is Friday, February 4, 2011. The combined income of your custodial parent(s)/guardian(s) plus child support payments, if any, must not exceed $45,000. (If the combined income of your custodial parent(s)/guardian(s) plus child support payments, if any, exceeds $45,000 and you still wish to apply, you may attach a statement explaining why you believe your family qualifies as financially under-resourced.)