Public relations is one of the most rapidly growing fields of study for undergraduate students in recent years. Public relations students are known to get a bad rep, as students not in the major simply assume that there job is to protect celebrities images even if they do something bad. There are so many more aspects of public relations than crisis management. Students in the field can tell you that what may seem to be an easy practice takes a lot of skill and dedication: an affective public relations practitioner makes their line of work into an art form, rather than simply a 9-5 job. There are certain struggles that all public relations majors may be inclined to agree with, as we fight against stereotypes of our future professions.
The field of public relations entails a lot of obvious collaboration with colleagues and practitioners in different fields of media. As college students, this means that public relations students often engage in group projects. This proves to be problematic, because there is always that one member of the team who is either under prepared, or who simply does not show up or contribute to your presentation. This is frustrating for PR students, as we are taught how to deal with crises and crisis management, and so we have to exercise this in our role as students in preparation for a student not being the correct information or materials to your group project. public relations specialists deal a lot with presentation, and if your presentation as a group and as an individual is not up to par, this will reflect badly on your skills as a public relations student.
Public relations students are often required to partake in various credits of internships, where as some other majors are not required to do so. This is very stressful for many PR students, as you are expected to manage both your internship and your school work. Elana Delafraz, junior public relations student at Hofstra University explains this balancing act by sharing how hard it is on public relation students, “you are basically a corporate employee and student simultaneously”. Delafraz goes on to comment that your wardrobe becomes business casual, and while students may make fun of their peers for wearing heels to class, it is a reality that a public relations student may be running right from their 9:35 class to the train station towards New York City for their internship.A lot of the time, internships for larger firms may not be as beneficial. This means that students are actually doing less actual work in public relations, and are instead on the outside of many projects. Smaller firms need the hands on experience, however these internships may look less impressive on your resume depending on the type of experience and interaction with projects the firm is currently working on.
Public relations majors have the opportunity to join PRSSA, which is a pre-professional organization with the purpose of developing skills outside the classroom and making professional connections before entering the workforce. Nathalie Retana, President of Hofstra’s PRSSA explained her position to us:
“Being part of PRSSA has opened the doors to many opportunities I don’t think I ever would have had the chance to take. Because of my involvement and hard work, I have won two scholarships and gained three internships in PR. I not only get the perks of adding to my professional profile, but I also get to be a part of a group of amazing students…without PRSSA, I don’t think I would have had the chance to meet all of these wonderful people.”
While there are many struggles of being a public relations major, there is at least one positive- limited exposure to textbooks! Public relations is truly a very interactive field of work, and rather than studying formulas, filling out lab report books or stressing over concepts in a textbook, PR students are researching current news and campaigns and putting communications tactic into action. It’s time to think about public relations differently, and see that many fields would not be able succeed without the work of pubic relations.
