I’m going to let you in on a little secret that most college students know about life: Time is valuable, make sure you don’t waste it.
Now, although this statement may seem like an obvious thing for any person, I’d like to go deeper into that thought to explain why I’ve chosen to take business classes on top of the required courses I have to take.
COM majors have it easy
Students studying communications would probably say they’d like to have a career as a PR agent, event planner, or social media manager, which seems unrealistic for some because these are hard jobs to acquire… but that’s exactly why we go to college. That our assignments appear more appealing than lab work or statistics to anyone that asks, yeah, it’s true. Most of my homework involves research on real-world situations, and it usually takes me a day to put a whole presentation together because I’m so interested in the topic. This means I have a lot of free time on my hands. That, compared to formulas and numbers seems like light work, hence why other majors see ours simple and easy to do, so in a way, they’re not wrong.
Which brings me to my next point: time (post getting my homework done) goes to building myself. College is supposed to be the interim between your teenage years and being a grown-up, this is also known as the adulting chapter of life. A period in your life filled with lessons to help build career, love life, and mentality.
It’s One Big Balancing Act
I’ve always thought, the more you’re able to get done the better, especially when done in a short time so I LOVE multitasking. At times it feels like without 301 things to do in a day, I’m not being productive. That’s why I join clubs, pick up part-time jobs, blog, date, etc. etc. Because in a couple of years (a year for me) I’ll be out of here and I’ll need to have an ACTUAL life, that doesn’t revolve around papers and exams. If you don’t think ahead, you’ll be stuck with nothing, or back where you started (at home, with your parents, and a part-time job). Does that sound fun to y’ all?
“Okay, okay, so what about the business class, why are you taking economics and marketing classes?”
Well, thank you for asking. I learn about the other interests I had while being surrounded by great professors, and UT’s school is business is #7 in the nation!! So why not fulfill this wondrous mind when it actually wants to learn.
“So… you’re taking extra classes… Is this not a waste of your money?”
Classes, for fun in college, are a waste of your money, stick to what you came here for… is what any college students may tell you, and after reading this you probably think I got money to just through around for Astronomy 101 or Rock Our Faces Off 222.
You are Required to take Random A** Classes
In order to get my degree as an undergrad here at UT, I have to complete 124 credited hours, and that’s between major requirements, pre-recs, and extracurriculars. Major courses are REQUIRED. There’s absolutely no way around these, so you gotta suck it up, get the work done fast and easy and spend your time and energy on something else.
Extracurricular courses are different because as long as you’re taking the class it counts. On your academic plan, there’s a list of suggested extracurriculars related to your major that you may like so they’re offered to you. For me, these are classes such as “Web Design”, “Multimedia Journalism”, “writing for Broadcast TV”, etc. etc.
As a COM major, you can assume I’m into media, so I do enjoy having free time to work on personal projects. Because I love my hobbies (which are so closely related to my major as well), I also spend a lot of TV on YouTube and forums devoted to teaching and informing people about certain topics.
Time is valuable, make sure you don’t waste it.
Unlike many, I don’t spend my free time watching Netflix. Don’t get me wrong, I love watching Netflix and being a slob, but there’s wayy much more satisfaction that comes from getting things done. So yes, I am watching a bunch of “how to” videos.
I Learn more off of YouTube than in the classroom.
With this major, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve sat through class thinking about how useless all this information was to me due to the fact that the topics were antiquated. And I mean, “let’s learn how to use iMovie” old (yeah… not even premiere).
Unless you have the social media director of Refinery29 teaching me about their strategies, I’m not going to pay you to teach me what I already know (and can do), because that’s a waste of my time and money.
After having sat through one very expensive and useless course, I decided to use research each course and their syllabi before deciding if it were worth my time. Most were things I already knew, but I still had many hours to go.
Marketing is somewhat related to Advertising and PR. Since I’m studying the artistic side of the career, I thought I’d also learn about the statistic and research-based side of it all. Things like “Buyer behavior” and “economics” seem like things I should focus on when working on story building for campaigns so I’ve chosen to study these as my extracurriculars.
I really feel as if I am making the most out of my time here at UT, I hope this helped you see a new approach towards extracurriculars and your time spent at college.