The struggle can be real for a communications major, especially in this world where being a comm major puts you in “the bottom” of the metaphorical food chain. We know better, though. Sticks and stones, right? Haters are going to keep hating. We are the creative minds the world needs, and we’re going to be proud of it. Here’s just a few signs you’re a comm major.
1. You make fun of yourself for being a comm major more than non-comm majors do
Why? Because we know how to handle it. You don’t hear the engineering students poking fun at themselves for playing with poop water or building a not-actually-functioning trinket in their labs. So many opportunities for punny jokes that aren’t going to be made.
2. You dread that core math/science class you have to take
That biology for non-majors or lowest math class you could take is the bane of your existence. The dreadful walk to this class is the low point of your week and the tests in those classes aged you 10 years. These classes literally will not help you in your field and you make sure to vent to another comm major about it, because God forbid you complain about these classes to a math major or a sciences major. You won't hear the end of it.
3. Social media is your life
We are communications majors; social media is a communication tool. Sorry not sorry I have Periscope, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram, [insert all possible social media platforms here]. And why? Because our future employers need to be able to creep on us in as many different areas that they can. We’re just making it easier for them. It’s just a part of us.
4. You clarify, multiple times, that you are not majoring in public speaking
Yes, the life of a comm major can include presentations and public speaking, but it is not why we pay X amount of money at this university. Do criminology majors work as criminals? Hopefully, the answer to that most of the time is “no.” Communications encompasses multiple areas of study.
Don’t be ignorant.
5. You hear “what major did you drop out of before being a comm major?”
I didn’t drop out of anything. I knew what I wanted to do and started and will finish knowing I am a comm major with a promising future. If you did switch to comm, good, you made the right choice and don’t let anyone tell you different.
6. “What can you even do as a comm major?”
I can do everything. Comm majors are so versatile, and not entombed in a single box of boring. I can do anything from write press releases, to film a video and edit, to manage the social media accounts of major corporations. I can also watch Netflix hours on end, it’s a skill.
7. You have watched a video or movie for class as homework.
If you haven’t as a comm major been forced to watch or discuss something like the documentary
“Miss Representation,” someone needs to be fired. It’s always exciting at first when they announce we will be watching a movie in or for class until they start passing out a worksheet for it, or instructions for a five- to eight-page paper on “blah effects of blah in the blah.”
8. You fall asleep in class
You can only hear about the magic bullet theory so many times in your college career before it is just a part of you. So when you’re in a class that is going over something you’ve heard a million times, you will doze off. Video playing? Dozing off. I would say if you haven’t snoozed something is wrong with you.
9. You analyze things you used to just enjoy
You read academic journals on the media's effect on everything and when you watch your favorite show or movie, you critique it or just overanalyze it. You used to be able to watch guilty pleasure shows like "Jersey Shore," but that became “a study on how reality television promotes binge drinking and reckless behavior by glamorizing the appeal.” And you kind of just move on but then feel guilty for being an audience to that. Thank you professors, you successfully infiltrated my brain.
10. To hang out with your friends who are studying, you tag along with them to the library but don’t actually have something to do there
I am guilty of sometimes just going to the library because I miss my friends and watching Netflix while they are studying the developments of a human fetus. Our workloads are different, and I want to be with them. You have probably done this once or seven times.
11. You love your major
We may get pooped on for being in the college of communications, but we enjoy what we do and the opportunities it will present. At the end of the day, whether you are a journalist, a news anchor, an advertiser, a producer, etc., you know you are going to be doing your dream job, and that beats sitting behind a desk doing math eight hours a day.
Keep doing you comm majors, and have each others' backs.
