Communication is a major that everyone is familiar with. However, many people do not know what it is actually about. There are several things that people in the program can all relate to, both inside and outside of school.
1. Reactions to your major. When people ask what your major is and you say “communication,” mixed reactions usually follow. Either people are bewildered because they don’t know what it is, or they have a ton of questions.
2. Getting asked about your future. When people ask you what your post-college plans are, you make up a simple answer like “marketing” or “journalism” so you can avoid the countless questions and criticism that will be sure to follow.
3. Constantly writing. At any given time, you probably have a news article, press release, or some sort of analysis due. If not, you probably write for a website or blog such as The Odyssey Online, Her Campus, Buzzfeed, Thought Catalog, or other website that publishes articles.
4. Having the same five professors for all of your classes. It’s no secret that the communication department at Stockton is not as big as other departments, like health science and business. Many communication classes are taught by the same professors, which means you could have the same professor multiple times.
5. Having the same people in your class every semester. You can count on at least half of the people in your classes being people you’ve been with for the past few semesters.
6. Being told your major is “easy.” Communication has a reputation of being “the easy major,” but this is not the case at all. Sure, to some people it may not be as difficult as other subjects, but to write off communication courses as easy is just ignorant. Communication majors get just as much work as any other major. Selecting this program doesn’t magically make college easier.
7. Constantly checking the news. You can count on any current event being discussed or used as an assignment in your classes. You are always up to date on the news and are constantly reading about what is happening in the world.
8. AP Style. Many assignments in your communication classes have to be written in AP style, so whenever you are working on an assignment you have to look up a list of rules and special abbreviations.
9. Not being able to ever see media the same again. Whether it’s movies, TV shows, news segments, or advertisements, it’s hard to look at any media without over thinking or analyzing it.
10. Group projects. If there is one thing that professors love to assign, it’s group work. Whether it be a group project or in-class assignment, there is rarely a semester where you can avoid it.
11. Knowing that you can do anything with your major. Communication is such a broad field that there are dozens of career options in your future, including marketing, journalism, public relations, production, advertising, business, writing, event planning, social media, broadcasting, radio, and other fields.
Being a communication major has its ups and downs, but in the end, it is worth knowing that you can do so much with your degree. Regardless of your end goal, you will experience the highs and lows of being a communication major.