Emily Wilkes

What made you want to study your course at the University?

I had wanted to be a journalist for a few years before going to University, but I was never so keen on the print side of it. When looking at universities and courses I found that there was a broadcast-specific option, which really appealed to me. I applied for the course at 5 universities, and Leeds was the first I visited. After my visit to Leeds no other university quite reached the same standard in terms of the combination of the course, the city, and the campus. If I were making the same decision now I certainly wouldn’t change my mind, Leeds as a university and a city is second to none. The Broadcast Journalism (now BA Journalism) course is the only Russell Group University that offers a BJTC-accredited broadcast journalism course; so it’s a no-brainer, it’s the best place to study the course.

Describe the aspects of the course that you have enjoyed the most. 

In third year there is an option to do a module dedicated to News Days. During this module, teams produce radio and television news programmes as well as an online blog. This was my favourite module on the course as it really improved my skills, and the different roles I got to perform throughout the six weeks made me realise which aspects of journalism I enjoy the most, and which I’m best at. I also think it brought people on the module closer together as we spent a lot of time together, and often people would go out in twos to film.

I absolutely loved living in halls in first year, and I’ve met some friends for life from my halls of residence. For me, moving to university wasn’t all about getting the degree it was about making new friends and becoming more independent. 

What are you planning to do once you graduate?

My ultimate goal is to be a News Producer or News Editor for a popular news organisation like BBC or ITV. Once I graduate, I am hoping to get a job as a junior producer, which would give me a great step onto the career ladder and hopefully provide me with great career progression. Before my university News Days module I thought I wanted to be a reporter, but the module taught me that I am in fact better at production and I enjoyed it more than the reporting.