Decisions, Decisions

In my second blog post, I would like to address the variety of focuses that a communications major could choose from, including journalism, broadcasting, television, video editing, and many more options that all full under the banner of communications. To many students, this would seem to be an opportunity to learn about as many different aspects of the communications field as possible before choosing a focus. To me, it is an exercise in futility to pretend that I know what I want to do after graduating. Each communications class I have taken in the last two semesters has a possible career attached to it; journalism, public relations, marketing, design in advertising, etc. I guess what it is going to come down to is my skill set, which I’m not so sure won’t change by the time I’m ready to graduate. I find that writing is my greatest strength, but a focus such as journalism could limit my creativity and constrain me to eventually writing about a very specific subject. From what I have read, somewhere along the lines of 80% of college graduates wind up finding work in a field unrelated to their major. This idea is very unsettling to me, as I really can’t imagine what I would be doing if I did somehow find a suitable career outside of the broad communications field. Regardless, the further I get into my major, the more I am considering double majoring to “get the best of both worlds,” in my own way. Hopefully, the answer will come to me in the coming fall semester.

My First Entry

I have never "blogged" before, but I do beleive that my journey through the Communications program at Ricahrd Stockton College will be at least somewhat interesting. I feel that I should start with my background, as it could help give some perspective on my current situation. Out of high school, I was accepted to Ramapo College in north Jersey. Initially, I had chosen to be an English major; this was the only subject that I was ever told I was actually good at. Unfortunately, I soon learned that although there are a multitude of options for English majors after graduating college, the majority go on to become English teachers. This was unsettling to me for two reasons: I hate kids and I have always expected to make a great deal of money. I decided to major in business, which seemed to suit me... for about three weeks. I eventually realized that (at least at Ramapo) in order to graduate with a Bachelor's degree in business, I would have to take finance, micro economics, macro economics, accounting, statistics, etc. I probably should have mentioned that I hate math, and that each of these classes requires a pretty sophisticated understanding of numbers. While trying to figure out what my new major would be, I decided to transfer to Stockton. I won't go into all of the details, but I didn't care for the majority of the people up at Ramapo; I felt like I was living in a long Sopranos episode. As I already had friends at Stockton, I did some research and made my decision. During this time, I also decided to switch to communications. Strangely enough, this choice should have been the obvious one from the start: in communications, I can hone my writing through journalism while also exploring the marketing field. I am still not exactly sure what my career path will look like when all is said and done, but I can definitely say I'm afraid to find out. If a psychic could tell me what I would be doing in ten years, I would rather not know. In my next post, I will discuss my potential career options and what I have learned from my communications classes thus far.