Public relations is writing.

What comes to mind when someone says public relations? Maybe glitz, glamour, parties and celebrities? When I declared my major in public relations, I thought that I was writing myself a one way ticket to New York City to be just like Samantha Jones from “Sex and the City”, but wearing Carrie’s clothes of course.

Now I had heard my Intro to Public Relations professor say over and over that public relations is all about writing. Yet, somehow I guess I convinced myself that she meant writing celebrity guest lists and gala invitations. When I began my classes I quickly realized that I was very wrong. The writing proved to be overwhelming and incredibly involved.

Public relations teachers seem to love the learning by doing, so guidance can be vague leaving a student second guessing themselves. You will quickly learn to use every resource available to you, but never stop looking for more help! The link below is a really basic site to help guide someone through the beginnings of a PR plan.
http://www.mediatrust.org/online_guides/Writing%20a%20PRcomms%20plan.pdf

A frustrated public relations student will fall in love with their major when they realize that having an ABJ in PR can take you anywhere. You need to find what you are passionate about outside of the PR world and then dig in your heels and try to find every available opportunity. There is a PR world outside of corporate, non-profit and agency work.


I think these sites pretty accurately explain what a public relations major entails. They are not joking when they say you are going to write!
http://www.aboutpublicrelations.net/index.htm
http://www.prssa.org/resources/resources.asp
http://www.uwec.edu/Career/Students/Major/prelations.htm#A2