I'm a creative advertising major, which means I am in the college of Communication Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Michigan State University. And yes, I know where the library is. Just because my major doesn't require me to study out of a textbook, that does not mean that my major is irrelevant or "easy" in any way. I see people's comments and hear their snide remarks every day, "Do you even have a finals week?" Yes. We still know what it means to have a final and we still have to work our asses off (pardon my french). Here's just ten of the reasons why my major rocks.
1. Projects. Projects. Projects.
An average week consists of one project per class, so you can have up to five projects to do in a week. The upside to these projects is that we can actually add these to our portfolios, which will help us to get jobs in the future (a major that actually prepares you for the future? Who knew).
2. Your professors.
Most of the professors in Creative Advertising were at one point in their careers actually working for an Advertising agency, so they can teach you the things you can't learn in a textbook.
3. You learn valuable skills.
It is required in our major to understand programs like Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. These are all very advanced programs that take years to master and look incredibly good on resumes.
4. You meet fun people.
In every major, you will meet fun and creative people. However, most graduating with this degree are open minded and have to be creative in order to outshine the rest. They strive on new ideas and new inspirations, so meeting new people is always a learning experience.
5. Classes are more like workshops.
Once you have taken your core and required classes, your upper-level classes are small and usually consist of the same people and a choice between a handful of professors. Classes become more like workshops, where you work directly with your professor and others classmates on a project.
6. Internships.
Getting an internship for your major can mean anything. Because we are technically considered in the "Communications" field, almost any internship where you work with some type of communication is considered in your field, and you can actually gain credit for it (and usually get paid).
7. Access to resources.
If you are in the CAS college at MSU, you have full access to the labs and equipment in the labs such as Mac computers, scanners, cameras, printers, etc. The computers come fully equipped with Microsoft programming as well as Adobe software.
8. You learn to work with others.
In some cases, you will get assigned a project that requires you to collaborate with others. This can sometimes be frustrating because your ideas and concepts don't align with your partners. However, in the end, it teaches you how it's going to be in the real world when you're juggling to find that balance between what your idea is and what the client wants.
9. Room for electives.
In my major, I have 30 allowed credits to take anything I choose. Being an avid creative writing fan, I chose to take writing courses which also help benefit me in my major, but aren't required.
10. I LOVE WHAT I DO.
Creative Advertising is something I'm passionate about, so of course, I'm going to love that I'm majoring in it. I think that's the key to success at any age: finding your passion and going towards it. I know that once I graduate with this major, i'm going to find jobs that i'm passionate about, and that excites me. If you like engineering, then major in that! However, don't write off the other majors. We put just as much time and effort into our major as you do.