My name is Hannah and for those of you who don’t know I’m a current senior double majoring in COM and like most seniors – I did exactly what every advisor, teacher and alum tells you not to do – I saved the vast majority of my intro courses for senior year. The only difference is I saved the vast majority of my intro courses for both Film/TV and Advertising.
Now after experiencing it first hand, I’m siding with those wise, wise people who told me not to, but probably not for the reason most people think. It’s not because I already know everything from the intro courses or because the courses don’t relate to my career path. It’s actually the opposite. I’ve learned so much in the courses that my brain has been on overload for the past month and a half trying to take it all in.
Intro courses are actually inundated with information – so it’s really nice to have time that you can dedicate to understanding and mastering the concepts. As you work your way up the class chain – there’s a lot more work outside of the classroom. It can be really difficult to take the time necessary to focus on intro courses when you feel pressured to get work done for your other upper level classes. If you don’t take the time to learn the concepts from intro courses then it really won’t benefit you though. Even if you think you know everything the course is going to teach you – I guarantee you you’re wrong. I find it’s best to go into these types of classes with an open mind and some open time.
Technical classes can seem daunting if you’re an advertising major like me who’s never even spent time in photoshop (who knew there was a whole suite of similar applications? Not me). Whereas I was comfortable in my film/TV technical world – I was more than happy to hop on Production I and get a camera in my hands – it was the opposite with digital and creative classes which was totally absurd on my part. If anything – I enjoy my design class now more than my production one.
Another common misconception is that studies courses are boring, lengthy classes with not a lot of applicable information. Not the case at all. In Mass Com Research I created one of the most thorough projects I’ve ever done in my time at BU, which I now use in my book. Let me tell you, future employers are all about those fancy graphs and Questrom level numbers. Also as it turns out, you learn some really interesting and transferable concepts in film studies classes so I really wish I took that intro class sophomore year rather than my last semester of senior now.
Long story short, I don’t think I’ll be changing my focus to design or film studies anytime soon, but I do wish I was aware of the potential sooner, because it most definitely plays more of a part in copywriting or filmmaking than I ever thought it would. Don’t write off the intros right off the bat.
