When I enrolled in college, I had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. Still don’t, but that’s another blog post for another day. Anyhoo, I was instructed to declare a major, so I chose economics. Why economics, you ask. I have no idea. Probably because the country was in a recession and I thought I might be able to find a job in that field four years later.
It took me about four hours in an economics class to abandon that career track. What was I thinking?
What next? Well, I was good at accounting in high school. Let’s give that a try. I couldn’t get to the counselor’s office fast enough to change my major after completing Accounting 101. What a snoozer.
Declared major #3: marketing.
This one I stuck with for nearly a year and a half. I completed all of the pre-requisites and figured to start the core marketing and business courses the final quarter of my sophomore year. That plan was derailed the day I walked into a buddy’s dorm room during winter quarter and saw him working on a storyboard for his advertising class.
They offer advertising classes at this university?
I had to check that out. I went to the College of Communication, School of Journalism and perused the course catalog. Not only did they offer advertising classes, they had an area of concentration in copywriting available within their Bachelor’s of Science in Journalism degree. Instantly, I had a feeling that I was going to declare a new major for the fourth time.
Rather than make a rash decision, I thought to myself; take that advertising class as an elective and make certain you have the chops for the profession.
Four weeks into the class, I was hooked. We discussed brainstorming, developing a unique selling proposition, the creative process, advertising design and layout, and persuasive copy. I loved it all and scored very well on most every assignment, particularly the copywriting exercises.
I had found my density, I mean, my destiny late in my sophomore year of college. True, it was far removed from the major I declared on day 1 of my college career (economics? really?) but the journey was worth the misadventures of the academic paths previously strolled.
What was academics became my profession upon graduation and I’ve been on that same path ever since, for better or for worse.
Speaking of worse…considering the economy today, is it too late to change my major?
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