Communication Major

Even today, after having been productively employed for most of my adult life, when I indicate my major in college as communications, I get 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 your friend over the telephone of discussing something in class is an altogether different matter than communicating to the shareholders of a company, writing informational articles for newspaper readers and disseminating policies made by organizations and governments.

Communications majors are professionals who have undergone a course of study that enables them to communicate across a wide range of situations. Your neighborhood newspaper reporter is most likely a communications major. As is the public relations manager of a large, multi-national corporate. Even that beatnik documentary film-maker you know is in all probability a communications major. Communications majors are gainfully employed in all major and minor organizations all over the world.

What do 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 can be either a graduate or an 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.

But there’s an altogether different kind of communications major. This is a communications major who has undergone an information technology course. These communication majors generally work in the information technology fields, especially pertaining to satellite development and deployment, cellular phone companies, traditional communications service providers like telecommunications companies, defense related organizations and even people who work behind-the-scenes to ensure that the e-mail you send out reaches the intended recipient! Their job of such communications majors is to ensure that the systems and processes that facilitate communication between individuals, machines and computers are in place and are functioning effectively.

So, as you can see, there are a whole range of communications majors out there. And they are the people who ensure that when you are able to communicate effectively in your everyday life. Whether it is through the phone, through a fax machine, a cellular phone or even e-mail.