By Jolee Edge
As an incoming college freshman, I was expected to know exactly what I wanted to be for the rest of my life. However, I had many interests from all over the spectrum: optometry, criminal justice, exercise science. I had no clue what public relations was until I took an introductory to college class that’s sole purpose was to help college freshman decide what career/field of study fits them best.
Through all of the personality tests and exploring the majors that Ball State had to offer, one particular major that I would continuously cross paths with was public relations. In the simplest terms, public relations is the way that organization, companies and individuals communicate with the public and the media.
To succeed in public relations, one needs to have people and professional skills. I have always been an outgoing person, so when I learned about what public relations does, I became very interested. One thing that I had no idea about until recently, was how many different aspects of public relations there are.
Something else that many people do not know about public relations is that a degree in that field can go far. A public relations degree can be beneficial in any aspect and take you so many different places. Public relations includes public affairs, community relations, investor relations, public press conferences, media events and internal communications. However, even with “public” in the name, public relations also involves a lot of behind-the-scenes activity such as writing press releases or coordinating events/conferences, etc.
Public relations is needed because it plays an important role in communicating the public and media on behalf of the company which helps create and maintain a good relationship between the public and the company.
Now that I am a junior public relations major that came into college having no idea what I wanted to do, the best advice that I can give for someone that is undecided, is take the ID 101 course. Finding something that you are good at but also love to do is the main goal, and going in with the push that ID101 gave me made me even more excited to become a public relations major.
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