My degree prepared me for "the real world."

Using my photography minor at a recent event for my job.

This is always a really important topic when determining which school to attend and what degree to seek while in attendance. You don’t want a degree that’s out of date, irrelevant, or doesn’t prepare you for what you’re going to face when you get a “big kid” job in the “real world.” When I walked across that stage a few months ago, even I was skeptical as to whether or not my degree in Communication with a concentration in professional communication would actually be what I needed to survive. Just weeks into my full-time position as a Public Relations Rep, I can safely say that it’s exactly what I needed. My degree has more than prepared me for my career.

Just today I was given the task of creating a press release for an upcoming event my we’re hosting. No problem. I’ve taken two different Public Relations courses that gave me multiple opportunities to create mock press releases. I was done with the press release and asking for edits in under a half-hour. Without my PR courses I would still be searching Google to find a good template to use. One of the goals given to me when I started this position was to create an extensive three- to four-year marketing strategy with a coordinating budget. That’s a huge task. Luckily my PR courses as well as my Advertising courses have given me the opportunity to work on real advertising and PR campaigns where I’ve had to do smaller scale versions of marketing strategies. It’s still a big task to do by myself, but at least I’m not completely lost.

Sure I haven’t applied my knowledge in research methods to anything I’ve done yet, and my knowledge of the history of graphic design hasn’t been tested. I do, however, feel like my money and time were already well spent here at UM-Flint. I’m using what I learned within months of graduating. I can’t imagine entering the work force and discovering the last three and a half years of school were for nothing. Good thing I won’t have to.