So who would voluntarily embark on a journalism career these days? Quite a lot, it turns out.

Applications have jumped at journalism schools across the country. After five years of “consistent” application numbers, Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism saw a 10% increase for the 2017-2018 school year, a spokeswoman said. (Graduate schools in the U.S. have seen applications rise about 1% annually in recent years, according to a report from the Council of Graduate Schools.)

The Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California also saw its highest-ever number of first-year applicants this year. There was “some flattening” in applications to the school three and four years ago, but since then, applications have risen 19%, a university spokesman said.