When I decided to come to Auburn, I had not yet chosen a major. I felt conflicted. In high school, I had held many different interests. I was an avid and spirited member of my Mock Trial team, so for a stent of time, I was dead set on studying political science and going to law school. Then, I began watching the beloved favorite television show, Grey’s Anatomy, and I convinced myself I wanted to study biology or chemistry and pursue a career in the medical field. A week after that I just knew that I had to study psychology. You’re probably seeing a pattern here: I just truly could not decide!
However, I knew that I was incredibly extroverted – I gain and maintain energy levels by being surrounded by people. I am talkative, friendly, and energetic. I am also a highly relational person. I love meeting new people and interacting with them. With that said, once I began researching various majors at Auburn University, I found one with the word ‘relations’ in the title, and I was immediately interested. Public Relations, at its core, is about creating mutually beneficial relationships between a client and its publics. After learning that I could pursue a career centered around relationships, I selected PR as my major and have not looked back—it has been the best fit for me!
The PR program at Auburn University is unmatched. Public Relations at Auburn is nationally recognized as the #3 PR program in the nation, which is remarkable. Furthermore, being a member of the College of Liberal Arts, in general, has been the biggest blessing. Our smaller class sizes allow us to create meaningful relationships with both our professors, as well as our peers. The student-to-faculty ratio is 10:1, so we receive intentional and personalized attention from our professors. Our professors are also well-versed in all things PR and tailor our curriculum to meet the needs of the ever-changing field.
I also appreciate how relevant our classes are to the field of PR. Each class, each assignment, each project, and each paper is a direct reflection of what a job in the field would resemble. The connections between the classroom and the field itself are so clear.
Additionally, as part of our curriculum, each student studying PR completes an internship. These experiences are invaluable and make us more competitive applicants for future jobs. For my PR internship, I had the opportunity to serve as the PR/Social Media Intern for Auburn University’s Office of Communications and Marketing. Through this internship, I was in charge of creating and posting content to Auburn University’s official social media platforms including Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. This internship was informative, thought-provoking, and gave me a clearer picture of what a career in public relations can look like.
I believe that one of the most appealing parts of PR is that there are so many different avenues and facets to the job—social media, marketing, crisis management, collaboration, public speaking, writing, and group collaboration are all integral parts to PR. This also means that there are so many different types of jobs PR graduates can pursue. I am planning to pursue a career doing in-house PR, hopefully for a university, since I loved my internship; however, I also have friends and classmates going to work for PR firms or pursuing graduate degrees. PR graduates are well trained and qualified to perform several different jobs, making the degree a versatile one.
Public Relations has been the perfect fit for me, and I highly recommend considering it! The world always needs more intelligent, trained, and reliable PR practitioners.