Ready or Not!

As my college graduation date comes closer, I find myself wondering just how prepared I am for the "real world". December 10th is the date that I continue working so hard for. While this may seem like a bit of time, the next 7 and a half months are going to fly by. I catch myself worrying about finding a job, getting prepared for interviews, and knowing exactly what to do within a job of my major.

I am a public relations major. I have been studying at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville. While I love the area and USI, I don't know how prepared I really am. I feel like the schooling system may be a bit flawed.

I am all for being a well-rounded individual. However, when only two full semesters (30 credit hours) of classes for your major are required out of a 124 credit hour degree, one begins to feel like they are wasting their time with classes they have no interest in. That's barely a fourth of the time you spend in college on your actual major. One fourth. What are we doing with the rest of that time?! My last semester at USI has zero classes that pertain to public relations. That's an all elective semester. I can feel my GPA slipping now.

I believe the classes I have had in public relations have started preparing me for a job. I have learned many useful skills in writing, resume preparation, learning about case studies and what would be done in certain situations, and basically all the fundamentals that are public relations. However, I don't feel like right now, seeing as I've had all the classes for my major required to graduate, that I am 100 percent prepared for a position in the field. I understand that sitting in a class room will never fully prepare you for what you will learn when you get thrown into a job, but I think that better preparation at the university level could make you a lot more confident in the job you are being thrown into.

I don't know how many classes I have sat through and thought to myself, "Why am I here? Why am I learning this again?" There is a reason students pick a major, it's what they are interested in! I am a huge believer in doing what you are passionate about. Teachers are passionate about teaching. Musicians are passionate about music. Public relation practitioners are passionate about public relations! I want to learn more about public relations! Not sit through a political science class that I have no interest in! (There is nothing wrong with political science, I personally have little interest in it.) Like I said before, only a fourth of my college career is spent devoted to public relations. I guess I just don't understand why there isn't a larger requirement for courses in your major.

I personally think that half of your time should be spent learning about other subjects. This includes your maths, sciences, psychologies, etc. Like I said, I believe that students should enter the "real world" well-rounded. Then I think that the other half should be devoted to your field of study. With public relations I would need to study communications, advertising, journalism, etc. I also think that students need to be put in more real life situations. Internships are great! However, not many students participate in internships because they are not required. Real-life studies are a must have! I feel like this would prepare students more, and I know that it would put my mind at ease knowing that I had studied as much as I possibly could within my major.

So what do I do now? I guess pray that I have soaked up as much knowledge as possible needed to survive out there. Well, I guess there's always grad school...