Harvard Crimson Editors Consider Law School

The job market for journalism grads, it seems, is even tougher than that for new lawyers.

The Harvard Crimson has produced 12 Pulitzer Prize winners, but this year those working for the student newspaper are considering other careers—including legal ones, Bloomberg reports.

Only three out of 16 graduating seniors who were on the Crimson executive board are seeking journalism jobs, the story says. Students are opting for other careers because few positions are available and because they fear layoffs if they do find a job, the departing managing editor, Paras Bhayani, told the newspaper.

Linda Greenhouse, who recently retired as the Supreme Court reporter for the New York Times, was a Crimson editor, the story says.

Bhayani is joining Teach for America, a nonprofit that places college grads as teachers in impoverished school districts. Six other seniors on the editorial board are joining the teaching group, according to Bhayani.

Then there is law school, an option being considered by Christian Flow, who is an associate managing editor. “I never really considered things like law school until I realized what the state of the industry was,” Flow told Bloomberg.

Nicholas Lemann, a former Crimson president who is dean of Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism, says Harvard is increasingly offering aid to students from less affluent families, and money is an important consideration for them as they consider their career options.

“They’re comfortable with other options that are much more structured and have much less risk associated with it,” Lemann told Bloomberg. “They can go to law school or business school and it’s always going to be less risky.”