When you are a senior in high school trying to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life, it can get a little overwhelming. It's hard to sit down at the age of 18 and think 'what do I want to do everyday for the rest of my life?' Well, don't feel bad because a lot of people don't know. Some people decide their junior year of college that their major isn't for them and end up changing to something different.
My major is communication with an emphasis in public relations. I typically get two different responses from people.
From my fellow peers I usually get the typical 'oh, that's an easy major,' while people from older generations always ask what that means or 'what are you going to be able to do with that?'
The communication major is often misunderstood. People tend to think that they know how to communicate with someone so that must be an easy major. Well, there is a lot more to it than you think.
When you get into the specific demographics of a community to try to tailor a message to appeal to a specific age group let me know how it goes...
I am specializing in public relations. When people ask me what public relations is, I typically tell them that we create relationships between a company (or person) and the public. I go further to describe we do this by writing materials like press releases, visual materials such as commercials or flyers and websites, among various other aspects.
Being a communication major is very broad, but it's also very specific as well. Although you specialize in public relations you may find yourself in front of the camera a time or two as well throughout your career. Being a communication major allows you to pursue many different options within communication. They really are endless...
People think that being a communication major may be easy, but that is far from the truth. In my opinion, every major is hard. You're learning material you don't know, and that is challenging.
With being a comm major, you have to always be accessible. Having your email linked to your phone is kind of a given. You never know when something big is going to happen and you have to send your crisis plan for your client or, if you're in TV, an amazing interview opportunity is available but they need you there in 20 minutes. Most students go to class each week, and, when it is over, it's over until you meet next, that is not the case for comm majors more often than not.
Being in public relations, you spend hours upon hours brainstorming, creating a first draft, editing that draft, and, finally, getting it approved. It involves an absurd amount of research depending on what you're creating. You really have to know your stuff because what you create is getting sent out to the public, and the last thing you want is to get sued for wrongful information or copyright issues.
Good luck if you do...
And, to all my fellow communication majors, I applaud you. Keep creating amazing work and know that what you're doing is important. Just because people don't understand what you're doing doesn't mean you shouldn't do it.
