Picking a major is a terrifying task that every college and potential college student will face at the mere age of 18. You must decide on a field, then a specific major, and sometimes even a concentration to go into. People will ask what you want to do with your degree and you'll get asked this more often than not. Honestly, no one knows the answer to the question of "What do you want to do with what you learn at Mississippi State?" However, the majority of students, including myself, know the right field and major to choose for themselves. For myself personally, the right choice of a field is art, to be more specific with a major, graphic design.
Any art or architecture major understands the competitiveness and hard work that goes into the course curriculum. Students enrolled as art majors spend three semesters in foundation art classes and general education classes. Unlike most other majors, the foundation art courses are not just the easy, prerequisite classes to proceed into the advanced classes. I've decided that foundation art class are the "weed out" classes meant to make students want to drop out of college altogether. These classes are so overwhelmingly difficult at times that even I have thought about changing majors a time or two.
Just in the past two days, I've had at least three people bash the hard work that actually goes into being an art major. I understand how my major sounds. My courses sound like middle school electives, however, they don't even come close in comparison. Most students would think that a class titled Design 1 and Drawing 1 would be a laid back, GPA boosting class, not realizing that these classes are three-hour studio classes. Any art major knows that much more than just three hours a day goes into these subjects. Those six hours a week in class are simply the beginning of how much time is spent on the projects. Six hours with your professor goes by in the blink of an eye when you're in the studio, and students are expected to spend twice as much time on the coursework outside of class as you spend in class. That is not only an expectation from your professors and the administration but a requirement to get the grade and degree and to succeed as an art major.
The projects in foundation classes are not just projects for a grade to get through the class and move into more advanced courses. These are the pieces that students fill their portfolio with, after three semesters of foundation classes, to undergo the portfolio review and application for a certain concentration. My goal is to be accepted into the graphic design program, and roughly 100 other students have the same goal in mind. Keep in mind, only 30 or so are accepted. Underestimating how much time and effort that goes into being an art major is disheartening as a first-year student. Acing the midterm or final requires much more work than memorizing vocabulary, formulas and scenarios, or making notecards. Six hours a week in class and at least twelve hours a week working outside of class is only the beginning of what art majors do. We spend an insane amount of time on the projects, every art major has to, because it's what we're passionate about. And we wouldn't have it any other way. So from an art major on behalf of all of us, please stop telling me that my major is "easy."
Sincerely, a first-year art major.
