The best magazine subscriptions for students

Few people I know read the news for fun — and I have a lot of nerd friends. Perusing newspaper reports on Supreme Court decisions and congressional budgets is more of a painful exercise in patience and fortitude than a pleasant morning activity. 

Enter the world of magazines: These publications run a mix of commentary, profiles and what I like to call news-adjacent stories — articles that deal with current things in the news cycle but with a fresh angle or a more in-depth take.

Magazine reporting tends to be written in a first-person perspective, which often means it’s funnier and more entertaining than reading more hard news-y journalism. Personally, I’m actually far more likely to read all the way through a 5,000-word magazine profile than a 1,500-word news story.

Here’s a quick list of some of my favorite American magazines, and my thoughts on each; I’m judging these magazines specifically as a college student on the West Coast with a fairly limited budget.

The classic choice: The New Yorker 

Ask any person on the street to name a magazine, and there’s a good chance their first answer will be The New Yorker — well, maybe after Sports Illustrated and Playboy.

But unlike the latter two, this New York-based weekly is widely considered the epitome of long-form journalism, and rightfully so. This is the publication that printed John Hersey’s landmark “Hiroshima,” Seymour M. Hersh’s investigation of the sadistic torture of Iraqi prisoners in U.S. captivity and Ronan Farrow’s sweeping exposé of sexual misconduct in Hollywood.

Some of the most consequential journalism of the century can call The New Yorker home. 

That’s all well and good, but in all honesty, I’m not sure how much the average USC student is going to enjoy this magazine. At times, it can feel a little high brow, and there’s nothing particularly concise about this publication. Sitting down to read The New Yorker is like sitting down to read a book, and I’m not convinced that the average college student is looking for that.

Now, I am aware that this is sort of like a budding art student saying that the “Mona Lisa” is overrated, but I genuinely don’t think that this is the best magazine for a West Coast university student to subscribe to, assuming that student only has the budget to subscribe to one or two magazines. 

Personally, I quite enjoy reading The New Yorker, but it’s definitely one of my less utilized subscriptions.

Some other notes: The New Yorker’s humor section is unrivaled in its hilarity, and I appreciate the poetry and fiction sections. Its print layout is clean, minimal and undistracting, unlike most other magazines. You’ll also get a cool tote bag — that literally everybody else seems to have. The crosswords are too hard for me.

The current student rate is $49.99 for annual digital-only access, and $89.99 (with no student discount) for annual print and digital access. Three-month subscriptions are also offered.

The news-y choice: The Atlantic

If you meet the following criteria, you’ll probably enjoy The Atlantic: (1) You already somewhat regularly read The New York Times, (2) you don’t want to read pieces that are as long as The New Yorker’s and (3) you’re a liberal.

This magazine is pretty heavy on those “news-adjacent” stories and commentary, which are often long enough that you’re actually learning something, but short enough that you could read one during your lunch break in between classes.

The Atlantic’s suite of newsletters is the best of all the magazines on the list, although the publication only mails print copies ten times a year if that makes any difference to you. 

That said, I’ve definitely read more bad — like, really bad — pieces in this publication than I have in any of the other magazines in this list. At its best, The Atlantic publishes thoughtful and balanced commentary. At its worst, it can feel like liberals screaming into the void or just plain stupid. 

Still, the more concise and news-y format of The Atlantic serves as a good bridge for any regular newspaper reader looking to get into magazines. Just know that if you’re not all that into politics, this probably isn’t where your money is best spent — its culture and tech sections aren’t quite as robust as many others on this list.

The current student rate is $34.99 for annual digital access, and $39.99 for annual print and digital access. No monthly subscription is offered.

The in-between choice: New York

If I could only read one magazine ever again, it would probably be New York — not to be confused with The New Yorker or The New York Times. The magazine is divided into six different publications: Intelligencer, The Cut, Vulture, The Strategist, Curbed and Grub Street. 

Each covers its own topic area — politics, style, culture, food, etc. — a system which I find somewhat confusing, but am willing to stomach because I like the content. 

I’ve found Intelligencer’s political coverage to be the right mix between The Atlantic and The New Yorker in terms of length, voice and angle. Honestly, The Strategist is the only other section I read from, and that’s only when I want to meticulously fret over, say, the 13 best wool socks to buy or the best gifts to buy for every dad at every price point. 

Style, culture and food reporting don’t particularly interest me, but I have a sneaking suspicion that a lot of college students will appreciate the broad range of topics in New York. 

This magazine prints bi-weekly which is a perfect time interval for me, though I do the bulk of my reading online through its so-so suite of newsletters. The hilarious “Approval Matrix” alone might be a good reason to subscribe, and the crossword is my favorite of all these magazines — though it can sometimes feel very specific to New York, a city and state which I’ve never stepped foot in. 

As a side note, my New York tote bag is my favorite among all these magazines. 

The current rate is $50 for annual digital access, and $70 for annual print and digital access. No student discount is offered, though monthly digital subscriptions are.

The nerdy choice: WIRED

Perhaps politics and culture don’t particularly interest you, or maybe you’re just really into tech and science. Either way, WIRED is the way to go. 

The magazine is sort of like a print version of the tech YouTubers I used to religiously watch in my freshman year of high school, and is one of my most-read subscriptions — second only to New York. 

WIRED offers a solid range of newsletters, and I often find myself reading its particularly clever coverage of artificial intelligence technologies. The magazine also has a good range of product reviews akin to The Strategist, which I appreciate from time to time. 

If I could only ever read from one magazine again, it probably wouldn’t be WIRED, but its typically shorter pieces on more novel topics are an admittedly nice break from the politics and profiles of more “serious” magazines. 

The publication prints 10 times a year, though I honestly wouldn’t bother with a print subscription — it looks nice, but it’s quite ad-heavy and the content tends to be shorter, so I don’t mind reading even the long(er) stuff online.

The current student rate is $5 for both annual digital-only and annual print and digital access. 

The *different* (or Texas) choice: Texas Monthly

Here’s the curveball read: I’ve never even flown over the Lone Star State, nor do I plan to any time in the near future. But Texas Monthly produces some of the best journalism I’ve read. 

The magazine publishes the same kind of thorough profiles that The New Yorker does alongside political commentary similar to The Atlantic. The only difference is that pretty much all its journalism is within the context of Texas, unlike the other general-interest magazines on this list which usually write with a national slant — though, granted, those tend to skew East Coast in terms of general worldview.

Still, Texas is the second-most populous state in the U.S. behind California, and stories within the state can be harbingers of broader national trends. 

Texas Monthly tends to feel more down-to-earth than the East Coast publications, and it also feels like it’s meant for an audience slightly broader than the narrow spectrum of college-educated readers that most other magazines cater to; it’s great journalism. 

I should note that I’m not particularly fond of the very ad-heavy monthly print copies, but your student email address should be able to get you a print and digital subscription for the same price as a digital-only pass which doesn’t have a student discount option.

The current rate is $15 for annual digital-only access, but students can get an annual print and digital subscription for the same price. Monthly digital subscriptions are offered.