Principia Mass Comm. major

What students,
faculty, and
recent graduates
say about Mass
Communication
at Principia.
At Principia,
you gain a work
ethic—how to
dig in-depth
for a story, to
be thorough, accurate,
and on time.

A hands-on major
"The best part of the mass comm major," says one student, a junior, "is the practical experience. Not only are the classes hands-on, but you can write for the newspaper, broadcast your own radio show, or work as a camera operator on a campus TV show. It really gets you ready for the field you'll be going into after graduation."

Along with hands-on opportunities, a senior mass communication student adds, "there's a high demand for quality and precision." This student chose mass comm because she loves to write. Then she discovered film editing and set up a production internship with CBS to explore her new interest further.

A senior, who is combining minors in English and computer science with his mass communication major, interned at CNN last summer. "While CNN's equipment was extremely high-tech and expensive, it was fundamentally the same system we have in the Mass Comm Department," he says, adding that what he has been doing at Principia directly applies to what he'll be doing after graduation.

Plenty of contact with faculty
"The mass comm faculty are not only great professors," says a third senior. "They're great friends. They want to know what you think, how you feel, and where your direction is. They go out of their way to help." At the same time, as another mass communication student says, "If you want to do well, you have to invest lots of time, you have to be driven by your own desire to succeed."

"My freshman year I took both radio and video production," says a junior. "During class there were only eight of us, so we each had time with the professor. He would encourage us to go back to the studios and editing labs that same day and work further on our own. You get good experience and start getting it earlier at Principia."

She had expected the work in mass communication to be mostly technical, but discovered "how wonderfully creative" mass comm courses are. "Also," she adds, "the professors have a lot of experience to share with us. They flat out tell you how it is. They don't make the business look pretty when it's not, and that's a really positive thing."

Demands for professionalism
Besides teaching subject matter, says a mass communication professor, "I teach patience, how not to be afraid of technology, how to get along with other people under pressure, and how to meet demands. If you want to purify gold, you've got to put it in the fire. So we create situations where the heat gets turned up a little—but the only way students can get burned is to hold onto false securities."

An international student majoring in mass communication and minoring in political science says, "Everything we do here has to be done well and in a limited time frame. In newswriting class, we have the same deadlines we'd have on a newspaper. If I want to interview someone, I have to call ahead and make sure I'm there on time, ready to ask what I need to ask and get the story out. The same thing applies to radio and television. You have to prepare your show and have it ready for broadcast under tight deadlines."

Students are also encouraged to collect their projects from mass communication classes into professional portfolios to use in securing jobs after graduation.

International study/travel
In addition to individual mass communication internships within the United States and abroad, Principia students enjoy a variety of group-abroad options to different parts of the world. A Principia Abroad to London, Paris, and Brussels, led by a mass communication professor and designed specifically for 20-25 mass comm students, is scheduled for spring quarter of 1996. Students will combine exposure to these three major centers of Europe with a focus on how the media operate in other cultures.

Up-to-date communications facility
"I was incredibly impressed with the facilities here on campus," one student said when asked how she decided to major in mass communication at Principia. "In my freshman year I was taking both radio and video production and was working in studios and editing labs without having to wait for my junior or senior year."

Mass communication as a second major
Some students choose mass communication in combination with a second major in order to have more depth in a particular field. Currently, students have double majors in conjunction with mass communication in political science, business administration, world perspectives, sociology, theatre, history, Spanish, English, and environmental studies. And the mass communication curriculum includes specialized courses in business reporting, environmental reporting, and sports reporting.

Recent grads look back
"I had the best of both worlds," says a 1992 grad who majored in mass communication. "Principia's smaller size gave me the opportunity to be a part of everything—radio, newspaper, and television. My internship at a large, top-ten television station gave me a taste for what it is like out in the business world. I was able to integrate what I had learned as an intern into developing an on-campus TV program. While I tried everything at Prin, television seemed to be my forte, and that's where I am now, a weekday-morning anchor and reporter at a CBS affiliate."

"I'm a reporter for a TV station in a major market area," says another 1992 grad. "In addition to the basics of journalism—how to cover a story and how to approach it in a fair and honest way—the most important thing learned at Principia was a good work ethic."

Back to
Academic
Options

College

Please report any comments, suggestions or problems concerning this site to our Webmaster.