"and what exactly are you planning to do with that?"

one of the most exciting things about being a young single college graduate is that every time you meet people they get to ask you what you're doing now. usually this requires an answer such as, "working" or, "going back to school." those are, after all, the only options after you graduate-- there are no alternatives. i happen to fall into both categories at this point, which is now a huge relief.

before i was "going back to school," however, i had to explain to people what i did for work. for the next 6 days i will be working for kelly management services which, yes, is a staffing service well-known for providing temp jobs, but no, is not a temporary job. i work for intel who contracts out to kelly long-term. so even though my job is permanent and everything i do is for intel, i technically work for kelly management services and thus, have the world's crappiest benefits (or would have, if i had opted to) and mediocre pay.

since this career path does not necessarily require a college degree, many ask me what i majored in at byu. i then grit my teeth and try to reply without cringing, "communication studies." then i wait for the automatic and reliable response:

"and what exactly are you planning to do with that?"

true, there are different variations on this theme such as:

"and what can you do with that?"

or the ever-popular:

"what were you thinking when you went into that?"

i will now attempt to answer all of these, and other just as genuine questions. and from now on when i get these responses, i will simply refer them to this blog.

originally at byu, my major was advertising. at byu, this major falls under communications (although now i would think it should fall under business.) i had no particular desire to pursue this degree. but i definitely had even less of a desire to pursue something else. it was the lesser of all the evils, if you will.

to get into the communications department regardless of what track you are in (pr, advertising, or journalism) you must take an entrance exam. every track that is, except for communications studies. (that is the track people take who are too lazy to take the entrance exam.) i had opted to take a lot of my generals to get them out of the way, and to kill time before actually committing to this major. when i was in my junior year* i went to take the entrance exam.

the exam consisted of a current events test, which required reading the new york times daily, and a writing test. the average percentage was 75%. if you got above this average, you were in. i scored a 95%. however, when i checked the list of those admitted into the program, my name was absent.

i checked with a professor about this, and he looked over my file. "hmm, oh, wow, very impressive," he muttered. and then his eyes dropped down further and so did his tone. "oh. that's the problem. you have a lot of credits. enough to graduate in one more year." he went on to explain to me that because the communications department was so over-crowded, that students were highly encouraged to finish in exactly four years. starting the advertising program now would delay my graduation a semester or two. thus, my only option was to be funneled into the communications studies program.

not liking this idea, i sent a letter of appeal to the department. it was promptly rejected, and i was placed in the last few classes i would need.

i must admit i was upset at first. communications studies? no one even knows what that is. it was the least prestigious track of all the tracks in the communications department, and the communications department wasn't even prestigious. (just ask my father, he's an electrical engineer.)

well, i'll tell you what it is. it's the study of how people communicate: observations from intercultural interactions that reveal so much about why miscommunication happens and the severity of such results (to name one thing). to spare you of my conversion to the field of communication studies, i will simply say that i was SO relieved that i was forced into this. i was much more intellectually stimulated and challenged, and now have so much more respect for this field than i could possibly have for advertising.

now that there is some context, let's return to the previous phenomenon. just because i happen to realize the value of communication after my experience doesn't mean that the rest of the world does. especially not middle-aged adults whose children are my peers. i guess to describe the feelings that go through me each time someone asks one of the aforementioned questions, i would have to say it's a process that looks like this:

1) i know what you're thinking because i thought that before: that this degree is analagous to underwater basketweaving

2) i know what you think i'm thinking now: that i'm very proud of my major and oblivious to the fact that some people actually plan on having a career

3) i know what you think i should think about my own major: see # 1

4) i know you have no idea what communications is or why it's so important and worthy of your respect.

and this is why i grit my teeth and try not to cringe when people ask.

*because of AP credits i had earned while in high school, technically credit-wise i was a senior. so just remember to never go the extra mile because it will come back to kick you in the neck.