Wall Street Journal Asia Fellowship at NYU

Only one more month until deadline for applications. The timeline is here. Eligibility requirements here. Procedure for applications is here.

If you can’t find answers to your questions on the site, email us here.

We’ve updated the page explaining the application process so hopefully it’s a bit clearer.

We’ve added a section outlining the procedure, and also clarifying whether applicants need to apply separately for the program.

We encourage those who are applying for the WSJ Fellowship to also apply directly for admission to NYU’s program in Business and Economic Reporting. The fellowship is very competitive, and inevitably a number of highly-qualified candidates will be disappointed. However, by applying simultaneously to NYU, those who are not offered the fellowship can compete for admission and potentially a scholarship award directly from NYU. The school’s scholarship awards are not as generous as the fellowship, but over the years they have enabled journalists from Asia and around the world to study in the BER program. Online application is here.

Deadline for fall 2009: BER provides rolling admission beginning with the first deadline of January 4. Applications filed through May 1 will be considered on a space-available basis. Please contact business.journalism@nyu.edu if you are considering filing your application after January 4.

Here’s a testimonial from Jody Xu, who is currently on the program:

If it were not for The Wall Street Journal Journalism in Asia Fellowship, I would still be working in Time’s China office, in the reporting job I started six years ago. I certainly would not have enjoyed the same opportunity to learn about business and finance and to interact with journalists in New York writing about the historic economic events of the past year.

But fortunately, half a globe away and three semesters later, I feel prepared to write about the most important business and financial stories. I owe it to the WSJ Fellowship and to the education I have received in NYU’s program in Business and Economic Reporting (BER). The BER program is interdisciplinary, with a curriculum split between business journalism courses at NYU’s Carter Journalism Institute and MBA courses at NYU’s Stern School of Business.

I’ve heard it said many times that numbers should not scare a business writer. But believe me, getting a perfect score on the GRE’s math section is different from understanding financial statements. The finance, accounting, and economics courses I took in the first and second semesters at NYU equipped me with a solid foundation in business principles. And the flexibility that the final semester offered with free electives allowed me to expand my knowledge in areas I found most exciting.

I started an internship at The Wall Street Journal this summer. And while there I have been able to see the value in the cutting edge media tools that I’ve learned at NYU, including blogging, video shooting and editing, and podcasting. Thankfully, these newly acquired skills have enabled me to become very involved with WSJ’s online media. I am currently writing for the Deal Journal blog with frequent updates about mergers and acquisitions. Since September 2009, I’ve been writing a weekly column, Decoding China, for the blog that was created to help Western investors understand China better.

During the internship, I also worked with The Journal’s multimedia team to make a video to go along with feature stories. Again, I stress that my new media skills are critical to flourishing in today’s news environment. The school’s Guerilla News class provided training that enabled me to complete a podcast, a photo slideshow, three short videos, and confidence in handling the gadgets and software.

Nothing above would have happened without the opportunity provided to me by the WSJ Fellowship. In a new world of journalism where we must be able to report in all media and understand complex financial and economic concepts, NYU’s Business and Economics reporting program has provided me with exactly that.

One of our fellows, Serena Ng, has kindly submitted her thoughts on budgeting for the fellowship, a question asked by quite a few prospective applicants. After all, New York isn’t a cheap city.

Q: How much should I expect to spend while attending graduate school in New York?

A: Most previous fellows were able to get by on about $1,500 a month. Rent for a room in a shared apartment in the city typically ranges from $700 to 1,200 per month, depending on location, and utilities may cost extra. Renting an entire apartment costs significantly more unless you choose to stay in the outer boroughs, such as Brooklyn or Queens. Costs for food, travel expenses and other everyday items are likely to come up to at least $10-20 per day.

Thanks, Serena! (You can follow Serena on twitter.)

Here’s a testimonial from Nesil Staney, who shared his background and motivation to join the program.

I was a reporter in Mumbai covering the impact of the credit crisis on India’s companies and markets for a national business daily. After four years of financial journalism, I was ready to take a break from work and start an academic stint at a top university in the U.S. The crisis exposed gaping holes in the complex global financial system and the great need for trained financial sleuths in media. There were many important stories that could have been told early, loudly and clearly. This was my big motivation to apply for the fellowship and the BER program at NYU in December 2008.

We also asked Nesil for some thoughts on what journalists thinking about applying should consider. Here’s his response:

The WSJ fellowship is prestigious. It has introduced me to a club of very smart, successful young business journalists and some extremely good mentors. I am learning the ropes of American journalism here. The BER program is designed to create world-class business journalists – it is both rich and intense. The business classes at Stern School, one of the world’s best, where you get trained along with MBA students, is a terrific experience. The program also helps you develop a deep understanding of the evolving structure of media. For those who believe in crisis investing, there is no better time to apply for the WSJ fellowship and to invest your time in this program. While preparing the applications, you should focus and emphasize on your long-term objectives in journalism.

If you’re not sure what to expect from the Fellowship, or whether it’s right for you, check out some of our testimonials from previous Fellows.

Eva Woo, for example, found that she was able to tell the story of the 2008 financial upheaval in China better because of what she learned on the course:

Luckily I am equipped to tell that story and be a part of that story with what was taught at the BER program: The inverted yield curve I first learned at the macro class two years ago predicted the recession long before anyone had a sense of it. The Foundation of Finance class taught me some of the perfect models behind the current bubble, one of the biggest in financial history.

Shefali Anand, meanwhile, felt it was a long shot to apply, but, found it was one well worth taking:

I should note that winning the WSJ fellowship doesn’t automatically result in a job at the Journal. But the exposure and knowledge that I got while at NYU would have propelled my career no matter where I ended up working. That long shot for applying to the WSJ Asia fellowship was well worth taking.

Jason Leow had already been working in China for six years as a reporter but since doing the NYU program has a much better feel for the nuances of the business story:

My job scope now includes banking and finance, a beat I’m able to handle because I had business journalism training at NYU. 

Serena Ng also found the program added depth to her reporting:

The BER program equipped me with the skills I needed and taught me the fundamentals of corporate finance, accounting and economics. I also picked up some valuable investigative-reporting techniques.

Sui-Lee Wee has also derived confidence from the program:

Now, I know how to scour through a financial statement, I understand the major economic forces that shape this country and the world and I can write big-picture pieces about the current financial crisis.

Read the full testimonials here.

Shefali Anand, the first recipient of the "Wall Street Journal Journalism in Asia Fellowship", has just launched her own column in the Wall Street Journal Online’s Indian subsection. Shefali Anand is a staff reporter with the Wall Street Journal in New Delhi, writing about personal finance for an Indian audience. Prior to that, she was based in the Journal’s New York bureau, where she covered America’s $11 trillion-mutual fund industry and contributed to personal finance and stock market coverage. Previously, she worked with The Indian Express newspaper in Mumbai, as a business reporter and sub-editor.

Here’s a snippet from her column, “Maximum Money”:

Do you hate losing money?

I’m not just talking about a time when you might have lost your wallet. Rather, I’m referring to the times when you overpaid for something, or worse, were forced to buy something that you didn’t need.

Perhaps that doesn’t happen when you’re buying toothpaste or a television because you are careful on how and what you spend. But the fact is, in many simple financial products that we own, such as life insurance or mutual funds or credit cards, we are rarely informed of all the costs involved. Many of these products are not even suited to each one of us. With incomplete information, the result is that we often end up losing money without realizing it.

We’ve changed the procedure for sending in applications; they should now go direct to NYU. Details here.

If you’ve already submitted to the old address, contact us and we’ll make sure your application gets passed on.