Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Fanfic Related Some more questions

Since I'm 15, I wouldn't know the answers to these questions, so I'm hoping people with university and college experience can help me :

1. Are pets allowed in dorm facilities in college?
2. How long before the semester starts (in the summer) can students start moving in (usually)?
3. Are the units in the dorms numbered (like apartments and hotel rooms)?
4. How many years do you need to study for a journalism degree?

If you aren't sure because colleges differ, think Metropolis.

Julie

Colleges differ pretty widely.

The college I went to allows small pets in the rooms -- like fish or hamsters -- but the room mates have to agree on the pets. At my sister's college, no pets are allowed. However, at my school, a large amount of professors bring their dogs to work with them . And frat/sorority houses are allowed to have "mascots" -- one dog or cat.

At my college, students were allowed to move in 2 weeks before school started (although you could live on campus over the summer). My sister's college makes them move in the Friday before school starts.

At my school, we have 2 types of dorms -- one with rooms for 2 people and the whole floor shares a bathroom (all these floors are single-sex) they are numbered as hundred numbers, 1xx first floor, 2xx second floor, etc. The other dorms are suits -- 6 people per suite, individual rooms -- 4-6 suites per floor. They are numbered the same way with the floor as the first number, number of the suite 1-5 as the second number and 0 as the third number. And then the individual rooms are numbered A-F. For example, freshman year, I lived in Staley House 910C and my best friend lived in Taft House 324.

I believe journalism is a 4 year degree, but I am not entirely sure.

Hope this helps,
Laura

well, where i went, the pet policy varied from dorm to dorm. used to be that no pets were allowed on campus, but they changed it to allow dorms to choose to allow some small pets (cats, birds, fish, hamsters, etc) if they wanted to. even before that rule change, though, my dorm had an unwritten policy that said "technically, you're not supposed to have pets, but, as long as no one complains, we're not going to bother you." so, the guy down the hall from me had a cat and the people down the hall the other way had a hamster who would sometimes roam the halls in a pink plastic bubble, and some of the graduate student residents (one person or couple per floor, there to keep an eye on things, give people advice if they wanted, act as mediators if need be, or just kinda hang out sometimes) had small dogs.

as for moving in, freshmen are requred to be there for orientation (about a week and a half before classes start), but most upperclassmen weren't allowed to move back in until the weekend before classes start. you could stay for the summer or come back shortly before orientation week, but you needed to have a reason to do so and someone to sort of vouch for you. so, if you had a summer job or something on campus, you could get summer housing. if you applied to help with orientation, you could get an "early return," but each orginization (dorm, activity, academic dept, etc) only had so many "early returns" they could give out.

of course, if you lived in a fraternity or something, then dorm rules didn't apply.

each of the dorms on campus has a different layout (some have suites of varying size and configuration, some have hallways which are connected in different ways), but yeah, every room has a number.

as for journalism degrees, this was discussed in "fic related" a while back. i don't remember offhand, but basically, there are several possibly degrees, and the programs vary from college to college. you don't even need to major in journalism to become a journalist. many are english lit majors or have other similar degrees. you could get a BA (usually, but not always, four years) or a masters (which, depending on the program, could take and additional year or two or sometimes three or more years). all sorts of options. so, it's hard to say exactly what's required.

as for metropolis, i'm sorry. i've never been there, so i can't really say.

Paul
p.s. you're asking about a journalism degree in metropolis. this wouldn't happen to be for a fic, would it?

Thanks guys, that helps a lot!
And Paul, um, maybe! <g> :p

cool, glad to help.

but, if it's for a fic, that means i get to say something i've been waiting to say since i found out i was going to be the OT forum moderator...

this is actually on topic, so i'm going to move it over to another forum.

Paul

My school didn't "technically" allow pets in the dorms, although my roommate and I cleverly hid our 5 gallon fish tank freshman year. Sophomore & junior year we had two fish bowls. Senior year we had one fish bown and a giuinea pig cage... no one ever found out! (This could be funny for a college story--having the roommates constantly hiding their pets. A large cardboard box and a tablecloth over a pet's cage or bowl makes a great "table" when the RA's are checking the rooms!)

Move-in usually started the weekend before classes began. It was very hectic trying to get the room "live-able" plus getting ready for classes to begin (buying books, finding out where your classes are, etc.) That should give you some insight on what a college character's emotions would be like upon moving in: stressed, excited, anxious.

The dorms at my school were numbered just like apartments. An journalism is a 4-year degree.

I hope this helps--feel free to IM me if you need more, Julie!!

-Wanda

Thanks, Wanda. I think I'm going to "readjust" the college rules a bit for my purposes, but I got all the major stuff. Now I need to spend my time pondering A-plot (I seem to have a problem thinking those up).

Julie

I don't really see a point in starting a new topic- I just have a couple more questions:
In The Rival, Lois says she and Linda went to collge together and worked for the college newspaper together, right? Where Paul was EIC. But a college isn't like a high school- do the students actually get an office and equipment, etc?

In Operation Blackout, Is Molly Lois's friend from high school or college? (Makes you think of how many 'best friends' she had, btw- Molly, Linda, Julie.<g> )

And one more thing- is it possible for a senior and a freshman, for example, to share a room in college (I assume so, but I don't trust my experience- which is none)?

Julie

Is that weird? I've had a lot of "best friends" through life. My best friend when I was a little kid was the girl across the street Erica and her sister Carrie. And my school friend was Kris -- all of whom I stopped talking to by high school -- Kris in 6th grade and Erica in 8th grade -- I haven't seen any of them in years. My high school best friends were Jessie for the whole time, Tamera in 9th and 10th grade, and Esther for 11th and 12th grade. I haven't talked to any of them since. My early college best friend was Mooey -- and we still talk and see each other, but not as often as "best friends" because she works at NASA and I am still in school. My current best friend is actually my longest friend Rachel who I've known since my first year of college -- and we even stayed friends when she studied abroad in Australia for a semester! This is probably because of similar place in life -- we were the same major in college and we are both in the same PhD program. Anyway, my point (yes, I had a point) is that it isn't unusual to have several best friends, even in a short period of time because intrests change and people drift apart.


Yes. My Junior year, I lived in a suite of 6 -- 4 juniors, 1 5th year senior (who happened to be pregnant and planned to keep her baby in a dresser in her dorm room), and 1 freshman. I felt sorry for poor Liz being put into such a weird situation. Actually, I sort of felt bad for myself for being in such a situation!

- Laura

OK, OK, maybe I made some wrong assumptions. I have the same best friend from grade 7, and I'm in grade 10 now- I've been best friends with her since I've moved to Canada. And thanks!

Julie

The short answer is yes.

Now for the long answer (probably more than you ever cared to know).... At a school the size of Metropolis, the newspaper would have a lot of resources. The size and placement of those resources (as well as who has final say over how they are used - students or faculty members) is determined in large part by how the paper is funded. At most universities, the paper is funded by student fees. The newspaper is then subject to all rules and regulations that any student group is subject to - they must be accountable to student government for how they spend their funding, they must have a faculty advisor, etc. And, even more importantly, the administration can regulate what goes into or does not go into the paper. Many administrations choose not to interact, but legally they have the right. The other option (which is mostly common really with schools that have very good newspapers, usually schools with renowned journalism schools) is to be privately funded. That means that the newspaper is actually not affiliated with the University and receives no funding. All funds are secured through advertising revenues. This gives the students more freedom to spend their funds however they want. There is a business manager hired by the board of directors who would be responsible for this, but he or she would NOT be an employee of the University.

As for what resources they probably have. There would be a general newsroom - many common tables and computers set up. They would be organized by desk (State, National, City, University, Features, etc) but it's likely that reporters could use any phone or computer to write their stories. There would also be some sort of room or area of the newsroom for the visual side of the paper - design, graphics, photo, etc. They would need computers of their own with special software, a place to store cameras and equipment and a darkroom. The Editor in Chief would have his/her own office. Nothing fancy, but an office all the same. That is just for the editorial side of the paper. There would also need to be: a front office with a receptionist, offices for the business manager and the office manager, and another largish room similar to the newsroom where the ad staff would work. (as a total aside, that area would be much cleaner and more organized that the newsroom. it's just a fact of life. Also ad girls like assigned desks. No moving about.) At a paper funded by the school the ad staff would be SIGNIFICANTLY smaller.

Going back to your question about journalism degrees....
What I said in the earlier post that Paul mentioned was that there are actually very few universities that have journalism schools. There are a few more that have journalism departments within the School of Arts and Sciences. And there are even more that offer journalism as a concentration within either the English or Communications major. Other schools don't offer journalism at all, and people interested in journalism just major in English or Communication and take whatever journalism classes the school offers as electives. The numbers and types of courses you would take would vary greatly depending on which program you were in. I think it's entirely realistic for Metropolis University to have a school of journalism. In any case, a full time student could get a degree in any of these programs in four years.

If you have any other questions about college newsrooms, journalism, etc., please feel free to email me. I sometimes feel bad overwhelming people with information on the boards, but if you honestly want to know, I love to ramble about it. <G> Honestly, it makes me really happy to see questions like these because since this is my area of expertise it makes me cringe when I see descriptions in stories that are way off.

Good luck,
Annie

I guess it depends on the country and the degree(s) you have... at least for France.

Here, you have University Technological Institute that can be entered after various tests (see explanations below) and with a bachelor's degree. You usually graduate after three to five years.

Then you have the 'major 6'...the six french major journalism school whose courses and final diploma are officially recognized by journalists peers. You can enter their tests with a second year university diploma...but the level is so high and the tests so tough that most of the candidates who take them have a Master's degree or a PhD. This are three years study plus a specialized year you can spend abroad.

Then you have non official schools with no preliminary tests. The only condition to enter is to have money...lots of it. The study period is from one to five years...which is silly when you realise you'll get a 'toys 'r' us" kind of diploma with no value in the journalistic world.

Here, to enter every journalism cursus (it's also true for other career choices)

you need to pass written pre-inscription test in various fields such as languages, politics, economics, historical background, general knowledge, arts-cinema and litterature critics, history of the media, international laws. then oral pre-inscription test, then motivation interview plus final tests linked to the 3 major medium that are the newspaper press, TV and radio journalism (now they also include cyber journalism)...anyway, when you've sucessfully passed all those 'test' and competitions and 'choosen by one of the schools, you graduate in journalism after three years (well, see the 'six majors' explanation).

'Rookies' (understand 'fresh graduated journalists' <eg>) get their official press ID under 'trainee' status. In France, every journalistmust renew his press ID each year...which means he/she can be denied it on various legal criteria (including his criminal record which must be absolutely 'white'....no LC inside joke). The trainee status remains for 2 years of 100% and 365 days per year journalistic activities. On the thirs years renewal, you officially becomes a professionnal journalist...in total (studies + on the field), you become a 'real' journalist after roughly 6 to 8 years.

Carole (who now wonders if she really did answer the original question, not to mention if her babble made any sense at all)

PS: Annie, I have a question for you. I tried emailing without success, so... I'm just wondering: what are the differences between USA and France regarding the obtaining of the press ID.Thanks in advance.

Wow, Carole, that sounds like a lot of hoops to jump through... wouldn't that amount of regulation kinda eliminate freedom of the press?

Anyway, it's got me curious. What sorts of things do you need to learn in "journalism" courses, and why won't a general liberal arts degree do just as well?

PJ

Chiefpam, I'll send you a mail, 'cause the explanation might be a bit too long

Carole

PS: yes, but it's worth it .

Whenever I answer questions about journalism, I always answer them based on practices in America since that's what I'm familiar with and that's what lois and clark would have gone through. I have taken a couple of courses on journalism and mass communication in other countries, but I admit to knowing relatively little on the subject.

As for how the process for for press credentials differs from France to America, again, I can only speak from an American standpoint, but from what I read in your post, it sounds like a whole different world. Basically, in America, you don't need to take any test or obtain any sort of special license or credentials. Anyone can write articles for any newspaper. You don't even have to have a degree in journalism, or even a degree at all in some cases. Now, granted, it's pretty hard to find a paper that will hire you if you've had no training or experience, but it *can* happen. There is no law or rule against it. When someone decides to report on a story, they just show up and start asking questions. Then they write the article and publish it. (Most of the time reporters work for a certain newspaper, but there are plenty of freelancers who will show up, write the story, then sell it to a newspaper) You don't have to be licensed or anything like that. When we refer to press credentials or press passes, we are talking about very specific passes that allow you to cover one event or person/group of persons. For instance, it would be totally impractical if everyone in the entire world was granted access to the White House press resources. There is just not enough room. So major news sources (newspapers, magazines, tv, etc) are given a set number of White House Press Passes that enable to the owner to enter the White House and attend press conferences. Who those passes are given to is up to the discretion of editors at the newsources. Traditionally they go to senior political reporters with a great deal of experience. However, the newspaper could give them to a 16 year old high school kid if they wanted to. Other events that require press passes include high profile court cases, sporting events, etc. Anything where they need to limit the number of members of the press who attend. This is always handled by whoever is hosting the event - the government does not oversee this. As for regular reporting that isn't high profile, anyone can do it. I know tons of people who wrote for their local newspapers in high school even. The vast majority of reporters do not have a degree in journalism. Like I said in my earlier post, there just aren't that many journalism schools out there. Most people who want to study journalism in college get a degree in English with a concentration in journalism. But even that certainly is not a requirement. I know tons of people who just majored in whatever they want to cover (political science, health/medicine, business, sports, etc) and then just proved they were a good writer by working their way up through college papers, etc.

Annie

Thanks a lot for your explanations, Annie!

it was really helpfull and made some things I'm asked when going abroad for business (especially in the US) more understandable...but you certainly have a point: it's a whole different world.

Carole

Thanks, everyone. You still haven't answered my question though- about Molly. And another thing, while I'm at it (the questions keep coming- but if you want a good story I kinda need help). Was Paul a senier?

Thanks!!!

Julie (writing from her school library at 12:24 pm because all her friends ditched her )

Molly was in high school, Julie: remember Lois and Clark looking through Lois's yearbook to find Ryan, and the note Ryan had written in the book in which he called Lois 'Stretch'?


Wendy

I could have sworn Molly was Lois' college roommate. Although considering the fact that she stayed in the same city for high school and college it's not at all unlikely that her college roommate was a friend from high school.

Paul's year in school is never given, but I think it's safe to assume (or reasonable to assume anyway) that if he was the EIC, he was a senior. I've known of a couple of people who made EIC as a junior, but that's really rare. Typically the EIC has worked his/her way up - reporter for one year, assistant desk editor one year, desk editor one year, EIC one year. There are definitely exceptions - people who rise faster than that. (I was a reporter for one year, an assistant desk editor for one year, a desk editor for one semester and then EIC for one semester.) But typically the EIC is a senior.

Annie

Wendy, thanks - but there wasn't any mention of her in the high school reunion, in Its A Small World After All, are you absolutely sure it was the HIGH SCHOOL yearbook?

Well, I can't be absolutely certain without looking up the script, Julie. But do remember that continuity was never exactly TPTB's greatest forte.


Wendy

i looked it up. lois knew molly in college.

as for paul, he probably was a senior, but i had a friend in school who, iirc, was EIC for two years. you could get away with him being a junior, but most likely he was a senior.

Paul

It's A Small World After All was TOTALLY out of whack with continuity. I just disregard a lot of. The whole premise about Lois being so popular and well loved and that's why she became a target made no sense since in PML, Lois and Clark had a conversation about how she never played hooky and Clark accused her of never having fun in high school. Her response was a very forced assertion that she did have fun and mention of the Math Club, or something like that. If she was this ultra-popular Class President or whatever she was, who dated a football star, you'd have think she'd have mentioned it then.

Annie

Ah! So I was wrong. Thanks, Paul!


Wendy

Thanks, guys! And Wendy, something a bit off topic- I'm reading When Larry Met Charlie right now and I can't help but wonder if the movie Victor/Victoria was partial inspiration for that story.

Hope you're enjoying it, Julie! And, no, although I've seen Victor/Victoria and also Tootsie, neither of those inspired me at all - I never even thought of them in this context until you mentioned it.

I think what inspired it was thinking of that scene at the very start of the Pilot, when Lois arrives back in the newsroom still dressed as a guy, and I wondered how Clark would have reacted if his first meeting with Lois had been with her dressed as a man. And it spiralled from there. <g>


Wendy

Okay, more questions<g>:

A. Do the students have to carry laptops with them? *thinks back to Legally Blonde*

B. What's the age difference between Lucy and Lois?

C. Does it ever mention the name of the guy Lois lost her virginity with?

Julie

no, julie, you don't have to carry a laptop around. while most college kids i know do have a computer, not everyone does, and a lot more have desktops than laptops in my experience.

otoh, there are colleges that rent out laptops for one reason or another. i know university of maryland allows students to borrow laptops while working in the library (the library-owned laptops have wireless connections).

closer to what you're asking is MIT, where i went. they started a program a few years back where some classes give out laptops as a teaching tool. you keep the comp for a term, to use for classwork and to run certain programs designed for the class. you're responsible for whatever happens to it. there aren't many of them, but there are a few more every year, i think. so, for those classes, you'd have to carry your laptop to that specific class, kinda the same way you'd bring your textbook. those classes are rare, tho, and i don't think there are too many other schools that do that.

so, like i said, in general, no. most college students don't carry laptops around with them.

besides, afaik most colleges have computer clusters scattered around campus.

Paul

edit: i see you've added a couple more questions while i was writing (or maybe i just somehow missed them the first time around). sorry i can't help. i don't think either answer was ever given, but i'm not 100% sure.

1. No, they are not required to carry them around, although some colleges are now requiring students to own them. My school, UNC, was the first to do so, instituting a program called The Carolina Computing Iniative. Along with requiring students to own laptops, they require professors to use more technology in classes and most classrooms, especially in the science buildings and large lecture halls, are wired for laptops at each seat. HOWEVER, since I'm guessing you are asking questions for a story about Lois in college, you need to keep in mind that Lois graduated from college in the mid-late 80s. She probably wouldn't have even had her own computer, let alone a laptop.

2. Like Paul said, there is no definitive answer. This has come up a number of times, and common consensus says anything between three and five years in acceptable.

3. Also not mentioned. Since we know that "every" relationship Lois has ever been in has been a federal disaster, we know whoever he was is not someone she stayed friends with. That rules out Joe (from high school) and Patrick. Paul is a good guess, though since we know very little about their relationship, it's quite possible she never slept with him at all. Could have been Claude, but I've always doubted he was the first. Most likely it is someone never named explicitly. Probably someone in college. Not a bad enough experience to traumatize her (Claude did that) but bad enough to be a "federal disaster."

Good luck,
Annie

It's amazing how much college has changed since I first started! I was in high school when I participated in the Case Young Scholars' Program, there wasn't even a computer lab in the biomedical engineering building. When I started, every student was required to have a computer, but not a laptop -- and we had the CWRU Computing initiative. By my sophomore year, we were the "Most Wired University In the US" as awarded by Yahoo. Now as a graduate student, we have a wireless network around the entire univerisity circle! It is really exciting, I can take my laptop anywhere and access the internet! However, people still think we are strange if we take our computers out during class. In legally blonde, they were in law school, and I believe it is more common for law students to have laptops, but I might be wrong. Just about all of my professors use Power Point to lecture now. However, wew still take notes with paper and pen . But Annie is right, back when Lois was in college, there is no way she would have had a laptop.

I've always thoght that Lois and Lucy were about 5 years apart, but like everyone else said, I am pretty sure they never mentioned it in the show.

I have no idea who Lois lost her virginity to, though.

I always thought she lost her virginity at the night of the senior prom, but now that I think about it I probably just read that in a fic and got stuck with that.
Thanks everyone!

Julie

Guys, I know a couple of you are journalists, meaning you have a degree, probably; can you send me some info about course structure, typical assignments, requirements, etc.? It would really help me a lot. Note I am looking for info assuming my character is a freshman. Plus, info about how universities are usually mapped- journalism school especially. I mean, I know some schools have buildings all over the city but that won't really do- not all schools are like that, are they (I tried to look on the net; the maps I found were incomprehensible)?

Thanks!
Julie

If your character is a freshman, most likely he/she won't be taking any journalism classes at all. If they are very lucky, they will get into a basic newswriting class. (Introduction to Newswriting) But that is pretty unlikely. Most journalism schools expect their students to spend their first year (and most of their second year) taking core classes at the university. Then, their junior year, they apply and are accepted into the school of journalism and begin taking journalism classes. If you really want your character to be in a newswriting class, basically they would spend the first half of the class learning about the parts of an article (lede, nutgraph, direct quotes, paraphrasing, etc) and how to write them properly. The second half of the semester would be spent writing articles. The professor assigns a topic or type of assignement (ie a sports story, a meeting story, a man on the street interview, etc) and the students write the articles as if they were writing them for a paper and turn them in. The articles are graded and handed back. They are not published anywhere.

As for the layout of a building, I really wouldn't worry about that. All buildings are different, so there's not much you could do that would be wrong. Basically the building should have administrative offices, a library, a computer lab, a production studio for broadcast majors, a couple of lecture halls and some smaller classrooms. Mine also has a hall of fame (actually multiple halls of fame). The walls are probably lined with plaques, awards and pictures of famous alumni. When you walk into the vestibule of my school the first amendment is carved in big, ornate letters near the ceiling. I can't imagine your story is going to list all the rooms in the building or anything that detailed. The only difference between some journalism classrooms and regular classrooms is that a lot of them now are basically computer labs with one student per computer. However, if this is Lois in college, you've got to watch the changes in technology. Back then they would have been just plain old classrooms.

Annie

Thanks! About the courses- do you think it would be okay for me to adjust that? I mean, I kinda need L&C in a journalism class.
But you've helped me alot!

Julie

If you need to adjust it, adjust it. It's not a big deal. However, you can't have them be the stars of the journalism school as freshmen, or something like that. They can't be taking advanced classes. But you can have them in a basic reporting class, and no one will know the difference. At my school, after you take Introduction to Newswriting, you take Introduction to Reporting. This is another very basic class that is a prerequisite for everything. Basically each student is required to write one news article per week. They are all given a beat (cops, town council, education, health and medicine, social service, university administration, etc) and they have to write six stories that relate to their beat. On top of that, everyone is required to write one cops story, one court story, two meetings stories, and one story of their choosing. The class meets during the week and talks about random things. (I was never really clear what the point of the classes were, we didn't do anything. But I think the professor was supposed to be teaching us about how to cultivate sources, interviewing techniques, etc to improve our skills.) The final is a long, in depth story on any topic we chose.

Most students who have any sort of journalism background at all think this class is boring and unchallenging. Because I worked for the student newspaper, I always did the least I could possibly do to get by on the stories I wrote for my reporting class, and focused on doing a good job on the articles that were actually going to be published. My friends and I always said we paid our tuition to work at the student newspaper. That was where we did our real learning.

Annie

Okay, guys, If they don't mention the name, do they mention anything at all about Lois losing her virginity (except for the fact that she did)? Like time, place, something?

Julie

Nope, they never say ... the only details we know for sure about her sex life is that she didn't sleep with Lex (she told him she wanted to wait for their wedding night and he was "so understanding") and that she slept with Claude fairly early on in her career at the Planet. (And, of course, that she and Clark decided to wait, as well.)

As I think someone said earlier in the thread, we can be pretty sure it wasn't in high school since she and Joe were still on excellent terms so he couldn't be one of her "federal disasters". So all we can assume is that it was sometime between breaking up with Joe and meeting Claude. It could have even been Claude, I suppose, but Lois doesn't say that he was her first, only that he was the one and only co-worker she slept with.

Kathy

Okay, great, thanks! That means I can traumatize her all I want in my new story! <eg>

Julie
Please don't throw a brick at me

Hi,

In episode 'The Rival' It was not clear what kind of relationship Lois had with Paul, that why Linda King was Lois's rival.

MAF

hi,
i've been reading here for a while and thought id say my experience since im a college student on the paper to get a BA in journalism takes 4 years are college has 2 newspapers we both get funding from the college (the city) we can (since we get funded by the city it might be a bit different) print wtvr we want but they can also withhold money from us but legally they cant stop us from printing we actually (both papers) have one small office with a few computers and a dry-erase board and my eic is actually a junior we have a few other editors (news feature entertainment photogrophy) and a buissiness manager as for majoring you can usually register for intro to newswriting as long as you have completed the basic english requirement (eng 1)
hope it helps