Everyone loves to make fun of the communications major.

I decided my major before my freshman year of college and was proud of it. At my high school, the broadcast production class was the “fun” class. We traveled to other cities for film projects, we got out of other classes to work with the school and filmed campus-wide videos. So when I got to my university I didn’t understand why communications was treated as a joke.

I love video production and writing, but I began making fun of myself for being a communications major and not feeling as qualified of a student. I certified in my major a year early and as excited as I was, there were still people who treated it as a lesser accomplishment. So I am here to say my major has been everything but easy.

I go to school at Washington State University and am apart of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication, one of the top communication schools in the nation. However, every day my peers would still joke around telling me that I am “just” a communications major when I would complain about my class workload. In the beginning of my college years, it was very discouraging because I began to feel like I was at college for no reason. Now I couldn’t picture any other way to land a dream job after college, that doesn’t feel like a job.

The school of communication, in my opinion, has the best teachers who get you excited about what you are learning. Most of the teachers have a strong background in broadcast production and public speaking, so they know how to speak to a classroom and keep us engaged. These professors are why communication students try so hard.

I understand in high school, you don’t want to be that one guy who is trying way too hard in PE, but college is different. Like most programs, the more work you put in, the more benefits you get out of it, but the communication program offers so many outlets to do this. There are a number of clubs that students dedicate three to five days a week to including KUGR, Cable 8 Productions and the Daily Evergreen just to name a few. So a communications major might not have as much homework and lab classes, but the extracurricular activities and in-class projects more than make-up for it. The college of communication even offers financial support through the Backpack Journalism Program for students to travel to other countries and report a story. Students are given numerous opportunities and are able to work with industry standard equipment almost daily to be prepared for a career after graduation.

College is challenging, and I don’t believe any degree of education is less valuable than another’s. Sure, I am terrified of the periodic table, but other students feel just as nervous about public speaking. No major is more challenging than another; they are just different. I know everyone loves to make fun of the communications major, but we are struggling through college, too. I love my major, what it will help me to accomplish and I am proud of it. Even though I still receive discouraging comments about the merit of my major, I get to be involved in my campus and have been given amazing opportunities.

So, when graduation comes and you are still joking about my major, I’ll hopefully be reporting to you live from somewhere overseas.

Good night, and good luck, haters.