So Mikkel turned back to her natural gift and love, working with animals, and then proceeded to get all
the formal journalism training she could.
Not exact matches
You can make it without
formal postgraduate
training, but it is definitely the safest (if not the cheapest) route to a science
journalism career.
Science
journalism is a highly competitive field, but
formal training, while a good idea, isn't essential, and you don't have to have an advanced degree: You can succeed with little more than talent, audacity, and a bachelor's degree.
Contributing Editor for Europe Elisabeth Pain addressed the same question, more or less, from a European perspective, where writers can choose between a
journalism program, a program in science communications, or no
formal training at all.
Young scientists in the U.K. who decide to get
formal training to ease their transition into science writing have two options: a postgraduate diploma in
journalism or a science communication degree.
As of 2013, Trinity was still in a Milwaukee public school, where she benefitted from a small class size, a
formal education plan, and a teacher
trained in special education.9 Her mom told the Wisconsin Center for Investigative
Journalism that she was happy with Trinity's new public school.
As with publishing,
formal training schemes in
journalism are normally only offered by the larger and more famous organisations, and some are open to non-graduates.