My Expectations of Public Relations and the Reality (so far)


Public Relations was never a dream career for me. I stumbled across the Mohawk College program after researching postgraduate certificates, and this seemed like the next logical step. I applied, got accepted and enrolled in the September semester. Enrolling in this course was never an action of passion, it simply gave me a piece of mind, knowing I had some kind of path set up after university.

When my family and friends asked what I was pursuing in my education this year, I never really knew what I was going to do. My 'go to' response was mildly generic and usually consisted of a jumbled muttering that included 'social media’, ‘representative’, and ‘you know like Samantha from Sex and the City'.

On my first day of class, I was surprised to find out that this was not the profession I believed it to be. Tim introduced himself to the class and began his lecture with  “PR is NOTHING like Sex and the City”. Everyone laughed, but I was terrified. From this first introduction, I knew this was not what I wanted to do, and I almost dropped out of the course.

I did not want to follow a rigid structure of writing, I had done that for 4 years writing essay after essay. I’ve always been a good writer, but now I wanted to express myself on my own terms. I shared my fears and doubts with my family and they told me to go through with the course. So I did.

I wasn’t excited to sit in a classroom again after 4 years of university, but I was excited to be somewhere new. I kept a positive attitude, and put my all my effort into this course. After going to a few classes, I realized I actually liked PR. I still had my creative voice; it was just well organized now.

The Public Relations course at Mohawk is really eye opening, after university it’s given me real world experience. I am writing pieces that I will actually write in my career – it’s hands on learning.
Although I still do not believe that Public Relations is the exact field I am going to take, it has definitely been a learning experience, and opened my eyes to what I really want to do.

I still have a semester to go, but so far I am relieved I stayed enrolled in this program and look forward to what else the course has to offer and my future has in store.


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