Making the best of J-school

Dinsa Sachan has just posted this question on Journobiz. I thought I’d share it and, hopefully, find her an answer:

I see lots of “I am quitting the print media.” posts, not to mention the rants about the deteriorating state of journalists. It can be a bit daunting for someone who’s starting j-school this year. Even then, I believe there are people out there who are having one heck of a time and earning a pretty penny as journos.

My question: How do I get there? What skills do I need to develop and what knowledge do I need to internalize between this time and my first job interview that’s going to be get me right up there? I’m not expecting you to dish out some magic potion here. I’m specifically interested to know what distinguishes a good journo (or j-student) from a not-so-good one?

Additionally, what pitfalls do I need to avoid?

Over to you…