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frigidfire86 posted 9/18/2013 13:24 PM

I'm undecided between three majors. I want to work in either public relations or marketing/advertising...or possibly in editing/publishing. I'm currently majoring in English, but I wonder if it's the right choice. I'm not sure how learning about poetry or British novelists from the 1800s is supposed to help me. I am thinking of changing my major. I have two options I'm considering. Either Communications or Mass Communications and Media Studies. I honestly don't know what the difference between the two is. The longer one (MC&MS) is a journalism degree whereas the plain old Communications major is a liberal arts degree. Can someone tell me the difference? Should I change my major or stick with English? Any advice/suggestions welcome!

Brandon808 posted 9/18/2013 13:33 PM

I briefly took some Mass Comm and it seemed to focus on more how to write for news and how tv news is produced. I don't what your school's curriculum focuses on for Communications but it sounds like it may be broader in its scope.

In my experience marketing is a focus area of the business school. Does your school offered a marketing specific degree under a Business Administration program?

Rebreather posted 9/18/2013 13:39 PM

Is there no direct marketing or PR degrees offered? I would go as direct as possible, consider double majoring in a compliment, and grab a minor in another subset.

JanaGreen posted 9/18/2013 13:44 PM

Can you do a concentration within your English major? I was an English major with a concentration in Rhetoric and Writing (common for people planning to go to law school) and a minor in Journalism. My roommate was an English major with a concentration in Technical Writing. My editing classes in the Journalism department were my favorite classes. If you like editing, you might want to take some technical writing/editing classes, because working in a technical setting is not a bad gig for an English major.

frigidfire86 posted 9/18/2013 14:40 PM

When I chose my English degree it was mostly because I really didn't know what I wanted to do and it gave me a lot options. Plus, I love reading and writing so I figured "Why not!" I'm living in Europe and had to find a college that offered an English degree entirely online (difficult to find from a brick and mortar school). I will not transfer to another school. It's a pain in the ass to change over the GI Bill, plus it would screw up my time table and I rather like my school. I am limited in my options though. They only offer certain degrees entirely online and the three I mentioned are the only three I'm interested in. Even if they offered a major in public relations or marketing, I don't know that I would choose them. I'm still not sure which career I want and don't want to be limited to public relations, for example, only to realize I'd rather be an editor.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I am majoring in English right now, but I am also minoring (is that a word?) in Media. I thought about switching to a major in Communications or MC&MS and maybe minoring in English. I just don't know the right way to go.

And right now I can't get on to the school website...either my internet sucks or they're having issues. Ugh. I need to do more research.

authenticnow posted 9/18/2013 15:00 PM

You sound like my DD (and you are not much older so I technically could be your mom ). She had similar difficulties choosing a major. She was deciding between English and Communications. She went with Communications Studies. Mass Comm is more about radio, broadcasting, etc. She wants to get into PR, advertising, along those lines but like you she isn't exactly sure.

She is majoring in Communication Studies with a minor in PR and another one in event planning. She is doing an internship with a marketing company and is learning what she does and doesn't like (so far, she likes all of it and is getting great experience).

She also added a second major at one point (Dietetics) but then realized she wanted to focus more on the communications stuff and leave the food stuff as a hobby, not a potential career so she dropped it.

My brother majored in English and minored in Communications and now works for a huge advertising agency. As far as a career, I don't think the major will matter that much. They are both broad enough. It's when it's more specialized when it matters much more IMO.

DD's decision wound up being based on what she enjoyed the most. She started to really enjoy certain aspects of the Communication Studies major, so she stuck with that, and added the minors based on what she was most interested in.

Good luck!

[This message edited by SI Staff at 3:01 PM, September 18th (Wednesday)]

Crescita posted 9/18/2013 15:20 PM

I'd print out your transcripts, and all of the program requirements of the degrees you are considering. If you are early enough in your degree that the transition would be seamless, it sounds like Communications would probably be a better focus. If you are so far in your degree that changing majors would delay your graduation, I'd just stick with the English major and take Comm and business classes to supplement.

fireproof posted 9/18/2013 22:11 PM

If you are interested in Marketing or PR I would see if there is a major offered in that area. If you are leaning towards being an editor then I would keep English as either a major or minor and Journalism as your major.

All that said I know tons of people who never had formal education in their field and are quite successful. English is a strong major because you will develop your literary skills and provides a foundation for any of the careers you listed in your post.

Good luck! I think the other good option would be the longer program and still minor in English.

[This message edited by fireproof at 10:44 PM, September 18th (Wednesday)]