wallstreetjosh

From what I understand, communications major study the art of communication, such as rhetoric, interpersonal/small group communication, public speaking, argumentation, etc. That all sounds very fun, especially for a chatter box like me. What else do you study? Do you study in-depth on non-verbal communication and things like that, and is this a practical major? I'm thinking about minoring in it to compliment a major in finance or econ, being that I want to go into the Sales and Trading industry.

solangesand

I major in Communication at SUNY Buffalo. I'm not sure how different that is from Comm studies. But a BA in Communication can cover diverse areas such as media studies, speech, journalism and so on..

In communication, apart from the areas you mentioned, you also study a lot of communication theory, advertising and principles of persuasion (which is relevant to what you want to go into), public relations, and inter-cultural communication. You may also study some courses on Mass Communication, and courses like Psychology and/or Sociology...

As for the practicality of the Communication major, its value is very underrated.. the fact is, employers actively look for communication majors,especially those who've completed internship. It's an indispensable skill no matter what your profession, and I would really advise you to go in for it, especially if you're a chatterbox- I'm sure you'll enjoy it too!! =)

Your post is about half a year old, I hope I'm not too late! I hope this helps.

the_hitch_hiker

thanks solangesand and wallstreetjosh. I was wondering what exactly communications was...

nm1158

and to ad to the question above...how is media studies different from communication studies...and are either of them better than the other?

solangesand

From my understanding media studies is more technical than communication studies - it focuses on film-making, film production, how to make documentaries, things like that. While Communication offers a broad range of career prospects from public relations and advertising to journalism and international realtions, and hones your speech and presentability in general, you could say media studies pretty much narrows your scope to journalism, film, and so on.