Communications Major
Even today, after having been productively employed for most of my adult life, when I indicate my major in college as communications, I see raised eyebrows, peculiar looks and even plain and simple bewilderment. On such occasions, I feel the need to holler out that a communications major is not that rare a species. Scores of colleges and universities produce thousands of communications majors each year. And I happen to be one such animal.
But enough is enough and I have taken it upon myself to educate one and all about who a Communications major really is! So what does a Communications Major do anyways? Simply put, she/he communicates. And effectively at that! You might wonder what is so special about communicating, as it is something that all of us do in our everyday lives. But chatting with a friend on the telephone or discussing something in class is an altogether different matter than communicating to the shareholders of a company, writing informative articles for newspaper readers and disseminating policies made by organizations and governments.
Communications majors are professionals who have undergone a course of study which enables them to communicate across a wide range of situations. Your neighborhood newspaper reporter is often a communications major. As is the public relations manager of a large, multi-national corporation. Even that documentary filmmaker you know is in all likelihood a communications major. Communications majors are gainfully employed in all major and minor organizations all over the world.
What does a communications major learn? Well, the answer depends on the course of study undertaken at college. Most communications majors study under what is commonly known as Mass Communications. This nay be either a graduate or undergraduate degree. Mass communications entails learning all about the various aspects of communicating through mass media. Specializations could range from print journalism through advertising copywriting to web content development and even television production. Public relations is another area of specialization. And increasingly, government bodies, healthcare institutions and even charitable organizations use communications majors to fulfill certain communication needs. Strictly speaking even film-making comes under the purview of a communications major’s course of study.