As with almost every college freshman, I am constantly bombarded with questions/comments regarding my choice of major. Though many questions might be the same as others, a lot of it comes after people find out I'm a communication major. Here are 5 things that I'm a little done hearing as a communication major.
1. "What are you going to do with that?"
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I don't even know what I'm going to eat for dinner tonight, much less what I'm going to do when I graduate. Either way, I could do a lot of different things with a communication degree: journalism, broadcasting, PR, advertising, human relations, and politics, just to name a few. So in short, I have no clue what I'm going to do with my degree, but probably something really cool.
2. "Why don't you just study business?"
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There's a huge difference between communication and business. Though some aspects might be similar, they are not the same thing. Personally, I find a communication degree offers more room for creativity, both in the classroom and in the workplace, and that's something I really value. And besides, the reason I'm not studying business is simply because I'm not interested in it.
3. "I'm only studying communication because it's easy."
Sure, communication is not the most labor-intensive degree. You won't be spending hours in a biology lab or taking a bunch of rigorous economics classes, but that doesn't mean it's "easy." To earn any degree is hard work, no matter what the subject is. And besides, do you really want to choose your major on the basis of rigor? Study something that genuinely interests you, not something you think will be easy to pass.
4. "So, do you just learn how to communicate?"
Well, yes. And no. Communication covers such a large umbrella: interpersonal, verbal, nonverbal, media, etc. So on one hand, yes, at some point I will be learning how to communicate with others, but that's definitely not the end of it.
5. "Good luck making money."
Thank you for that really encouraging word of wisdom! I really appreciate it! All sarcasm aside, it's true, communication graduates don't have the highest starting salary compared to many other majors, but there's more to life than money. I'd rather be doing a job I genuinely love than slaving away doing something I completely hate. And besides, salary grows with experience. A Wall Street Journal survey shows that the salaries of communication graduates typically grow 83 percent by the middle of their career.
