Studying Public Relations at Uni

As I've mentioned before, I'm currently in my first year of university studying Public Relations (which is why I've been a bit absent from blogging lately). Anyway, I wanted to talk about my subject on here, as it's becoming a more popular course, especially since the rise of blogging/online media.

Obviously the course will be different depending on which university you go to, but most will have similarities. I've completed the first term and am now onto my second one, meaning I have had the chance to experience a lot of modules and can hopefully shed some light on what it's actually like to study PR. PR isn't familiar to a lot of people, so unlike a traditional course such as English or History, you generally have to give a bit of an explanation of what's involved. For me, it's mainly about managing the reputation of a company or individual by building relationships with the public.

At my university, year one gives you quite a broad outlook on a variety of subjects, some more directly relevant to PR than others. For instance, the module 'Introduction to PR' gave us lots of information about the industry, whereas 'Public Administration' lets us learn more about politics and current affairs, which you still need an interest in but may not use specifically in your future career. A key part of our course is that we receive a lot of education about journalism too, as it's part of the same school as PR. I would say this has had a mixed reaction, but all in all it's been interesting to see 'how the other half lives', for example getting to use a variety of media equipment.

Exam wise, it's very different from what I'm used to. I would say my strength lies in written exams, whilst PR tends to rely more on coursework. Whilst I knew this was coming, I've definitely had to adapt. So far, we've written essays, had in-class tests, done presentations and put together portfolios of creative work. We've even run the social media on one of the university's events. I've actually enjoyed this type of assessment as it ultimately allows you to be more creative.

Overall, I'm really liking my course so far. As PR is still new to the academic world, our course is really small which allows us to all get to know each other well. This may vary depending on where you go, but I would say to generally expect smaller numbers, although this may change in the upcoming years.

Hopefully I've covered the main points about studying PR, but if you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments!