I apologize for the very long break in posts. Work at The Make-A-Wish Foundation got pretty busy! I recently left since school started again this week and I miss the office. It was a wonderful working experience and I learned a lot about nonprofit!
One of the things I love most about Chapman University (besides the fact that it is home to the national champion NSAC team, Circle Advertising) is that the class loads can diverse at any level. I've just left a 300-level internet communications class and now I'm headed to a beginner's Business class. After a heart-to-heart with one of my co-workers at Make-A-Wish, I think I may start taking first-year accounting as well.
General education courses have always baffled me, but I've enjoyed working in other areas of the school and refreshing skills that I haven't used since middle school (I'm looking at you, Statistics). But what are some classes that AREN'T general ed that every person, especially Ad and PR should take?
In my experience, classes I've taken that have really supplemented my degree and encouraged me to expand my view of my future industry have been the following:
1. Communications classes. This should be fairly obvious - if you want to talk to the masses, you need to know how they listen and interact. I took Mass Communications and Gendered Communication specifically.
2. Sociology classes. The impact that mass media communications, such as advertising, has upon the minds of its constituents is incredibly important not just for the purchase, but the social implications that it brings. An advertisement for Dove Beauty that encourages women to think about their bodies differently, the Old Spice man communicating with "women" right in front of their husbands, boyfriends, brothers... these successful campaigns have had a social fallout that goes far beyond the purchase. Understanding the impact they have is essential in keeping your work ethical and anticipating success of a campaign. Social psychology is an examples of courses.
3. Research classes. Social research, communication research, psychological research - the kind doesn't matter, as long as you end up learning how to write an unbiased survey for the purest nuggets of information.
What classes did I miss? I'll let you know how this accounting idea pans out...
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