Comments on: Colleges Send Marketing/PR Graduates to Workforce Ill-Prepared

By: Robert.R.Cathey

Robert.R.Cathey — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 14:21:00 +0000

Found this post while searching “tech pr” on your site, Brian. What’s amazing to me is how comms schools largely have kept their curricula consistent in the past five years. To be sure, there are some notable exceptions, but overall, we’re still producing graduates who are not prepared.

By: shelby

shelby — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 15:36:00 +0000

I’m a senior at Auburn University, and this style & design class I’m in right now has been the most helpful so far as to aiding me in the “real world” when i get out of college. We are blogging every week, making podcasts, using dreamweaver, learning about rss feeds etc. This is truly preparing me for the pr world when i graduate.

This article highlights my fears, that when I graduate, my good grades won’t mean much in the professional world. The few actual pr classes I have taken have been informative, but like you said, theres more than knowing the correct answer to being successful in this business.
Before we graduate we have to intern for a semester and I hope this will help prepare me more for when I graduate.

By: Evan - NYC

Evan - NYC — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 04:45:00 +0000

Great blog addition to this post at NYU’s PR graduate program blog…”Solis is the founder of FutureWorks Inc. and writes with another confidence that one is inspired to believe him.” It’s boats and the rising tide. It’s all about closing the gap. http://nyuprprogram.blogspot.com/2006/06/value-of-academia.html

By: Media Mindshare

Media Mindshare — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 21:20:00 +0000

In a perfect world, I’d hire someone with at least a year’s experience in a newsroom any day over a well-trained p.r. grad without that experience. There’s no real substitute for knowledge of the mindset, professional parameters and daily working reality of journalists and other media practitioners — know and understand that and you’re more than halfway home. Advice to recent grads? If you can, get an internship or an entry-level job in a traditional or digital newsroom anywhere — a weekly community paper, a local daily or radio or TV newsroom or online news portal. It will hone your writing skills and the newsroom knowledge you gain will serve you well later in your media relations career.

By: Owen Lystrup

Owen Lystrup — Tue, 27 Jun 2006 19:11:00 +0000

I've been reading many many posts on this very topic lately.

I think your post offered more solutions than most I've seen. Often bloggers will simply make the observation that students are ill prepared and leave it at that. Like a huff of frustration.

As a student, this is disconcerting.

However, I also find it optimistic in a way. It means that someone who tries hard to learn and be the best he can may get ahead without much effort.

If it's true that students are less prepared, could it also be sharpening standards on the behalf of agencies and companies?

Is it all on the university/early training level?

By: triumph181

triumph181 — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 21:51:00 +0000

It’s not what you learn from a course that will get you out of any hole you manage to dig for yourself, what you learn in college will allow you to see the hole, identify the size type and stickiness of the hole. As you blithely fall into the hole, you will be the best informed hole resident in that particular hole. Experience is what gives you the ability to stay away from the holes or turn them into opportunities.

A solid internship will lead you to the edge and not allow you to do damage to yourself or your client.