A communications degree can be the right move for you. Strong communication skills are invaluable as they build meaning and resonance. If you are looking to get a communications degree, consider the many other opportunities that this can open for you. If you’re deeply interested in communications, then consider specializing in communications science. Here are a few things you need to know about this specific field of study before you decide to pursue it as a lifelong career.
What is Communications Science?
Central in this study is the role of communication and media. Meaning, how both are important to society. When you check out a communication science degree in North Carolina, what you are likely to find is a program that studies the content of communication as well as its use and effects. How does communication in several forms of media work? How are they created? For instance, there’s communication designed for radio and television to other media platforms like newspapers and the internet. How does the communication affect people’s lives? How does communication and media affect citizenship and political participation in the country? What are the effects of communication and ads? Those are just some of the questions that you’ll end up answering once you earn a degree in communication science.
What Do I Need?
If you plan to take up communication science, then you’ll need to learn how to apply research methods to construct scientifically testable theories about human communications. How are they created, transmitted, and received? You’ll need to learn more about the many ways communication can persuade people. How does global communication lead to social change, changes in politics, or even attitude change? Communication shapes and changes human behavior. A communication degree helps you understand all that.
What Can You Do with the Degree?
After you graduate, you have a host of job opportunities that you can explore. You can choose a career in business communications, for instance. You could also find work in a marketing department, art direction or e-commerce sites and development. Jobs in these fields make use of your ability to come up with content and put together persuasive messages. You could also work for the PR team of a political candidate if you plan on effecting change on the political level. That’s because a communication science degree helps you identify what factors make a message convincing to a given market or demographics. That’s an ideal skill for anyone who plans to work in politics. Speeches and communication sway people. If that sounds like a job that you can do or that you’ll excel at, then consider earning a degree in Communication Science.
What’s Your Career Path?
- Bachelor’s Degrees. If you are pursuing a bachelor’s degree, you can pick courses that allow you to study how messages influence and change human behavior and thinking. You can look for courses that tackle how government control over media messages or how advertising influences patterns of consumption or the way media impacts the political life of an area or country. There are programs that allow you to take electives from other courses. Some programs also offer internships, so be sure to check those options out.
- Master’s Degrees. If you work further on a Master of Science or a Master of Arts in Communication Science, then you’ll learn more about work that involves research studies. You’ll tackle research data and how they support theories of communication. If you’re already thinking about the kind of student projects you’ll do, then that will likely include tasks to organize focus groups or learn how to manage the communications aspect of a political campaign. There are programs that require students to work on a thesis or pass a comprehensive exam.
- Doctoral Degrees. When you work on a doctoral or pursue a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Communication Science, you’ll strengthen your research and theoretical skills. Some programs might need you to participate in research projects. Typical requirements of these programs, though, as you to work on a dissertation and to pass a comprehensive exam.
Where Do I Study? Look for a school that offers online programs. That makes it much more convenient for you to get to your classes. Online classes offer a host of benefits. Learn to take advantage of every single one.