As an incoming senior with an almost degree in Journalism, I have to say being a communications major is pretty cool. It bothers me when I get asked, "but what are you going to do with it?" As if there aren't an endless amount of opportunities to pursue. Responses people give when I say I'm a communications major go 0-100 (real quick). By that I mean, I either get a look of distress and a shaky "good luck" or a look of surprise and a pat-on-the-back, if you will. Being a communications major is broader than most people think and it's more than just interning at the Boston Globe your junior year of college.
When you think of a journalist, you probably think literally. A lot of people consistently ask if I want to be a reporter and I say no (that's when I get the distressed look). There's more to a journalism degree than writing for a dying newspaper or being on TV, and that's where it gets interesting.
Every large brand or company needs a good writer. With that as an asset, the company's marketing, advertising, and media are automatically a step ahead of others. Think about it, would you follow Buzzfeed if their articles weren't up to par? Would you go to that Pablo pop-up store if someone didn't market Kanye appropriately? The answer is obviously no. So now you're saying to yourself, "okay whatever your communications degree CAN get you a job," but that's not all. Communication is *literally* how the world works. Without communication, whether it's verbal or not, nothing would happen. You wouldn't be able to meet up with your friend at that bar you like, and you definitely wouldn't know what's going on in another country, don't even get me started on live-streaming the Olympic Games in Rio. None of these things would be possible without people who study communications, no matter what field.
Exhibit A: You want to stay up to date on how many medals Michael Phelps has but sadly you cannot go watch every swim meet in Brazil because you're a broke college student. So, you download the Olympics app, stream the live meet to your TV and catch up on the highlights in articles posted on Facebook. There's no way you would be able to do all of that without communication. Someone out there spent a lot of time advertising Phelps' swim times, and keeping you updated via the official Instagram accounts, and making sure there was a Buzzfeed article waiting for you to make sure you didn't miss a single second.
If you haven't figured it out by now, THAT'S A COMMUNICATIONS MAJOR'S WORK! So the exclamation point is a little dramatic but I'm simply trying to get to this point. Being an average print journalism major doesn't mean I'm constantly doing beat reports and following the breaking news, and it's certainly more than editing your friend's history paper. Having the ability to understand how the world works and write well can put you so much farther in life than you think, you just have to look beyond the daily news on your front step.
