I agree with lump. Get involved in journalism in your high school as much as possible before you graduate.

I also agree you should favor colleges with good journalism programs. I didn't begin considering journalism until after I got to college and my school doesn't have a journalism major even though there is a program because of all the publications on campus. That's how I immersed myself in journalism I was a writer and editor for my school paper and student government magazine.

Definitely join your school newspaper or magazine once you're in college. As a writer and if you can as an editor. This will get you into the loop with a lot of opportunities for internships and such. If you like leadership positions it wouldn't hurt to vie for managing editor positions or run for editor in chief. That definitely looks good when applying for internships and jobs.

Try to do some summer internships while you're in college. That looks especially good when applying for grad schools or jobs.

And finally, grad school - it isn't a must but it's a good option if you want more career advancement and especially if you want to work in broadcast journalism or magazine journalism which are the more lucrative of journalism jobs. Even though journalism is said to be one of the lower jobs on the totem pole and newspapers are becoming obsolete blah blah blah, there are journalism schools everywhere and most are extremely comprehensive.

Just keep on your grind and remember to save every writing clip you have, because you will definitely need them.