The program has been a really good fit for me so far. I wanted to spend most of my time writing and really hone that skill, and that’s what it’s all been about so far.
In first year, you’re required to take a reporting class (in which you interview random people on the street and other relevant people in order to produce a news story almost every week), an information and visual resources class (in which you learn research skills and other random things like livetweeting and WordPress), a fiction class and a nonfiction class (which each involve lots of reading and writing), and some electives. You also have to pass a grammar test. It’s challenging, but in the good way (provided you enjoy writing).
The program is very hands-on, which is one of the things it’s known for. You learn actual journalistic skills by doing. My writing and reporting have improved so much in the year and a half I’ve been at Ryerson.
The professors are (at least in my experience) very kind and helpful. Even the ones known for being hardasses are just doing their best to help students learn and improve.