The Perks of Being A Communication Student

I know I said I would blog yesterday, but I lied. Headache hit me like a rock and caused me to sleep earlier. I planned to write my review about a great book I have been reading for months, but sadly I haven't finish it, so yeah next time I PROMISE I WILL.

Today, I want to straight up the facts about communication science students. Basically these are my personal answers based on my personal experiences as a communication student. Frankly because I don't seem or heard like one.
I am writing this because I am tired of people's prejudices, perceptions, and expectations about what a communication student should be or do. I have heard comments, whether it's about communication students in general, or about me, not being "communicative" enough to be one. Well, enough for the opening, let me clear it up for you one by one:

Rumor #1: Communication is all about public speaking, means if you are a communication student, you should have a good public speaking skill 

That is up to a point, that as a communication student, we were taught about public speaking, thus we have the basic knowledge and should be able to do it well. BUT, communication is A LOT MORE than that. It is not only about speaking. To be able to communicate well, we should first LISTEN. Listening skill, I believe is harder than speaking skill. I did not get that subject for specific, but we were thought that in order to speak effectively, we should understand our partner's field of experience and frame of reference. To understand, we MUST listen.

Second, communication also simply means conveying your message. Conveying messages can be done, not only by talking or verbal expression, but also writing, drawing/ showing images, singing, and even without talking, your non verbal expression itself can convey certain messages.

In college, how to convey messages in various channels. From writing journals, news, PR releases, to social media status in order to get the publics (people who are meant to get your messages) understand and do what we want. We were also taught to create video or graphic images effectively to send the messages to the target audience.

In short, there are so many things we learnt to be a good communicator, whether it's through our languages, our intonations, our facial expressions, and our writings. So, please do not offend us, that all we can do is speak well.

Rumor #2: Why would you spend 4 years of college learning communication? You can learn it at the nearest course and master it within 4 months or less!

One of my high school friend, said this statement to me, and I haven't got the chance to explain it, so here is my answer:

It still relates to rumor #1, in order to communicate effectively, we have to learn about cross culture communication, their politics and perceptions. Communication happens in many other forms, so we learn about organizational communication, interpersonal communication, and mass media, and digital media. And, just like other science, communication have theories too. And There is A LOT, as communication methods shift quickly. You name it: Agenda-Setting Theory, Uses & Gratification Theory, Media Dependency Theory, Cultivation Theory, Spiral of Silence Theory, Diffusion Innovation Theory, Social Learning Theory, Semiotics theory, and a lot more.

Do the courses offer that theories to learn? I doubt it :)

Rumor #3: So, You Are a Communication Student? You Must Talk A Lot!

If you are a communication student and you DO talk a lot, then you may stop reading. No offense, but I dedicated this to my fellow quiet and (maybe) introvert friends out there who happen to be a communication student.

As I have stated above, communication is not just about talking and PERFORMING. Many people assume that communication students must be active, extroverts, and love to be at the center of attention. But not all of them are like that, at least, I'm not.

Given all those theories, communication student must also be able to analyze and interpret data, gather information, and create & design communication materials. You may have seen the difference between a brainy comedians and not-so-brainy ones. So, I assume you must know that there is actually a lot of skills to acquire to communicate well, not just being able to speak and perform in front of the public. To be able to communicate well, one must think well, too. For those who have both skills, congratulations, you just strongly marked your title as communication students. But those who are more the thinker-type, they still have a lot of options to do, from being the behind the scenes and create concepts, to shifting to another career (like me!).

I am a shy and quiet ones, did an internship in a global PR agency, graduated from communication science major with excellent GPA, applied for PR analyst vacancy but was over-directed to HR field. And here I am, analyzing job value, doing productivity calculation and man power planning (In fact, one of my reasons to join as communication student, is because I do not want more maths in my life). In my previous experience, I was even "forced" to develop and improve macro tools and do some codings, yet I managed to get it done, despite all of the underestimation.
One of my superior at office once said, "I admire you because, despite you learn communication in your college, but you have your logic thinking, and able to do things that weren't taught at college."
I was sure, it was a compliment, until she smiled and said, "I am not sure though, if you will be able to have a career as a PR officer, I just could not imagine it." (I was like: whaattt? Beware ma'am, your words could be my motivation and my sweetest revenge ever, HA HA).

So, my point is: To my dear fellow quiet ones, don't be discouraged, because you know that being a communication student requires brain too, not just beauty.