Communications Major
As each year or decade passes, the benefits of being a communications major expand. So, too, do the requirements for qualification for jobs. But the coursework is engaging, the field wok is intriguing, and the impact on the future is remarkable. Twenty-five years ago, many of us were creative individuals with a range of talents—researching, writing, public speaking, filmmaking, editing, etc.—and not finding our niche, we chose the all-encompassing communications major for starters (especially when there were no singular majors for a writing degree, say, or a degree in radio announcing…). Then, we would study the individual courses across the curriculum that were communications-related: film appreciation, creative writing, general broadcasting….
Today, the communications major has definitive courses and specific curriculum choices, so the complete course set is not nearly as generalized. We can more intensely focus our goals. For example, at University of Maryland University College, a communications major would take the required introductory courses (Math, English, History, Biology, et. al.), and then would launch into the requisites and electives, such as Technical or Business Writing; Language in Social Contexts; Technical Editing; Textual Editing; Writing for Managers; Standard English Grammar, Usage, and Diction; Advanced Grammar and Style and Advanced Expository and Research Writing; Communications and the Law or Critical Perspectives in Mass Communication; Graphics and Textual Integration; Speech; related Psychology courses, such as Communication and Persuasion or the Psychology of Advertising; Marketing Principles and Organization and other marketing courses; and seminars in Workplace Communication or Organizational Presentations.
As you can see, this exemplary course load allows for a more concentrated communications major, as opposed to the general Reading, Writing, and Film Appreciation courses of yore. Based on the intended goals for communications majors (again, according to UMUC: to come away with ability to 1) apply communication theories; 2) identify and implement effective strategies of creating, editing, and presenting; 3) understand, describe, explain, and demonstrate societal roles of mass communications and the media; and 4) define, analyze, describe, and use effective communicative styles in any communications situation), these concentrated offerings allow for the communications major to prepare, build skills, and find experience for an expanded range of future jobs—from teaching, reading, and acting to specializing, advertising, editing, producing to writing, consulting, and engineering. The world for the communications major is much wider and much more open and accessible, in other words.
