Comm majors aren’t that dumb… or so they say.
Communication majors (and any major labeled as being ‘easy’) notoriously have a bad reputation. These students, particularly at UCLA, are labeled as dumb party goers that will eventually work for their parent’s companies and won’t learn anything in college except for how to take shots. I have a fond memory of overhearing someone say to their friend saying “yeah… they don’t really have the best reputations” in a I-don’t-want-to-hurt-your-feelings-but-I-still-want-to-make-you-feel-bad tone when they suggested that their friend should switch to being a comm major because she wants to study marketing.
In all seriousness, Communication, Business Economics, and basically all liberal arts majors at UCLA have some of the worst reputations despite still having challenging course loads. The Business Economics department at UCLA is one of the hardest in the country, with around 75% of Business Economics majors switching to a new major. And while communication courses are significantly easier, the major itself isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Students are constantly stressed about internships and job security, with many overloading on extracurricular activities and clubs to make up for their not as academically-rigorous major. I myself want to go into marketing, and have been scouring LinkedIn, Google, and Glassdoor for months in hopes of creating a list of internships to apply to for Fall 2024.
In terms of actual course content, I have never really found communication courses incredibly difficult. Sure, Communication studies 10, a notoriously difficult weeder course for the major is hard, but you can get through it. With a lot of Quizlet and active recall, you can memorize 10-15 point lists and do well on Comm 10’s exams. Plus, when applying to the major, application readers know that the class is difficult, so if you don’t get an A in the course, they probably won’t penalize you for it too much.
While Communication, Sociology, and related majors receive flak and criticism for their majors being “easy”, all of their work is done outside of the classroom. And receiving internships and applying to clubs is no easy task. For one, there really aren’t any marketing or public relations clubs on campus. Sure, there is the Undergraduate Communication Association (which I am a member of and I love it), but there is yet to be a club dedicated to an industry strictly related to Communication, like marketing. So, that makes networking critical for most liberal arts majors. For us, it is definitely not what you know, but who you know.
So, communication classes may not be dense with content, but it is the skills learned outside the classroom that matter for Communication-related career paths. The content learned in the classroom is interesting and parts of classes may apply to your chosen career path, but Communication studies lots of different things. And that is what is great about the major. Yes, applying to the major is competitive and job security may be low, but if you truly don’t know what you want to do with your life, I would recommend majoring in Communication.
I originally came to UCLA knowing I wanted to major in Communication, but I didn’t know what to do with it. However, the major has inspired me to want to go into marketing as my chosen career path, which I am very thankful for. Without the major, I would not know my options post-grad and I wouldn’t study concepts I enjoy. So, with all of this being said, Communication’s reputation, while it could be justified because of the course content and lack of rigor, is still valuable for students wanting to get into Communication-related fields. The major is valuable for many students, and just because it isn’t difficult academically doesn’t mean it isn’t worse or better than other majors offered at UCLA.