I entered my freshman year as a second-semester sophomore majoring in marketing. But after taking an intro into human communications class at Kennesaw State, I decided I wanted to do something with that too. I spent the summer after graduation identifying as a double major in marketing and mass communication. I came to UGA orientation to quickly find out that "mass communication" is not actually something you can major in here. I talked with my advisor and decided on Public Relations without even really understanding what that meant. I wanted to work for a makeup company and all my favorite YouTubers talk about their "PR boxes", so this is the major I chose. Come to find out, the PR in the infamous makeup gifts doesn't actually stand for public relations at all.
I applied to the Grady college of mass communication and journalism and was accepted into public relations within my first semester on campus. I started taking basic business classes that I needed to take before applying to Terry college of business in the fall. I took economics. I hated it. I suffered through accounting this semester and dread studying for it or doing homework and the tests are some of the most painful experiences of my life- and they're multiple choice. After my second accounting test didn't go as well as I had hoped, I started to reevaluate. Even though I was a marketing major and would probably not use a lot of what my accounting class was teaching me in my everyday career, I hated it.
For so long, I loved the reputation of a business major, a girl boss, a Terry gal, a double major. It made me feel tough. It made me feel respected and I clung to that title. I knew was marketing was but I didn't understand all the specifics of what I had just signed my life away to on my "major of study" box on my application. I put my pride aside and started to think about what it is exactly I wanted to do and what I enjoy. Because even though every major has hard classes, the major that's right for you shouldn't have miserable classes. What you take towards your degree should be at least interesting even if it's tough. And my classes just weren't that for me. However, I loved all my Grady classes. I look forward to the principles of advertising every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and journalism writing right after.
After putting "quarter-life crisis" as the subject line in my emails to my advisors, I talked through every single possibility of a double major, co-major, minor, certificate, double dawg, etc that in some way related to what I want to do. After hours on courseoff and about seven advising appointments:
I am majoring in Public Relations, but not marketing. Instead, i'm earning a minor in general business so I still have the background for the business world but through the creative side. I am also minoring in communication studies to spend some time learning how to communicate effectively within my career. I plan to earn a certificate in new media where I will gain experience with the programs and platforms I want to work with. I also am considering getting a certificate in leadership both for myself and for my job. I intend to double dawg and spend my senior year taking upper-level electives that count towards a masters in mass communication and journalism emerging media that I will earn the following spring. This pathway combines everything I want to do: technology, people, creativity, communication, advertising, business, etc.
When you tell people you dropped a business major or changed it completely, they assume you couldn't handle it. That you weren't smart enough. That they're superior because they can understand everything you couldn't. But the truth is, I didn't change my business major because I was any less than the people around me in my class. I changed because that wasn't my strength, it didn't make me happy, it took time away from what I enjoyed and didn't push me to where I wanted to be. I didn't fail at business- it failed me. It failed to be what I wanted to do with my life. And that's what matters a lot more than labels and titles and business school clout.
