Throughout Maria’s college
experience she has kept the same degree of marketing, but has still continually questioned
and refined her path. During her time at University of Texas her major went from
a broad, exciting idea to a dynamic choice that would hopeful lead to career. She
will be graduating this December and even now has doubts about her choice of
major.
Her journey to decide a major
began her senior year of high school when she realized that her degree choice
would be a determining factor in where she went to college. Her primary influence was her father, who himself works in business. During her childhood Maria took regular visits to his office, giving her ample opportunities to observe what
the daily occurrences of the business world looked like. Maria’s father also directed
her choice through discussion. Maria and her father bounced the variety of option
she had back and forth through conversation. It became a process of
elimination:
“Do you want to get a degree in
computer science?”
“Yes, if I want to hate my job
for the rest of my life.”
“Do you want to pursue some sort
of art degree?”
“Well, that would be fun, but who’s
going to pay my bills when I can’t find a job?”
Finally she came to marketing. It
struck the balance between fun and practical. She would have freedom to be
creative, but also could make a living out of it. The conversation with her
father also landed her a runner up of International business. She had rarely been
out of Texas and international business would give her an opportunity to
experience new cultures and scenes.
Maria’s interest in international business
was quickly abandoned in her first semester of college. McCombs does not allow
double majors and she had no doubt that marketing was her preference. She briefly
considered the other business majors that she could pursue, but, once again,
quickly came back to marketing. Finance and accounting seemed bland, while
marketing offered the opportunity for variety and creativity. She was fairly
certain this was the right business major for her, but had little idea of what marketing
actually consisted of. Her enrollment in core classes like history and
government kept the major a mystery throughout her first year of school.
It was not until the Maria’s sophomore
year, when she took a long internship with a well-known company that she began
to understand the range of aspects that comprise a marketing career. During her
internship she worked with multiple marketing managers on a range of products. Despite
causing her to realize for the first time that marketing carried an analytical
component, the variety of the internship helped Maria reaffirm her aspiration to
work in marketing. While the internship was encouraging, McCombs’ career
services were not. Maria had always had a passion for television and film, and
was looking to combine this passion with her major in hopes of placing a job in
entertainment marketing. However, this dream was quickly crushed when career
services told her that it would be a very difficult industry to enter, and that
she was on her own.
Despite her setbacks Maria continued working towards a marketing degree and in her junior year began
taking marketing electives that exposed her to the varying sides of marketing. Highly
analytical marketing classes caused her to realize that she was interested only
in the creative aspects of the major. The more classes she took the more she
realized that spreadsheets and number crunching were a large, and growing, component
of marketing. At the time this gave her pause, but being too far into her major to
change her mind she forced herself to believe that marketing could lead to an enjoyable
career. In the spring of her junior year she discussed her major with a friend,
Sophia, who had recently graduated and started a marketing career. Sophia
described her job, which revolved around market analysis. This confirmed Maria’s
feeling that market analysis was not the path for her.
Maria is now in her final semester
of school and having many doubts about the possible careers that lie ahead of
her. Originally she thought marketing would be a lucrative career, but
companies recruiting through the business school want mainly finance and
accounting majors. Of what little marketing jobs are listed, most of them are
looking for analysts. Maria is also aware, more than ever, that any marketing job
will require her to crunch numbers. Fearing that a dissatisfying job might loom
in her future, she wishes she had chosen a major in advertising or public
relations. She is continuing to make the best of her major and is applying to
consulting jobs, which she believes will restore part of the original appeal of
her major. Consulting would give her the opportunity for creativity and variety,
even if she might have to look at a few numbers.
After reflecting on her journey
Maria wishes she had been given more information on what in meant to be a marketing
major. Like many who have limited knowledge about the major, Maria thought it was
going to be solely about creativity. With her graduation date coming fast Maria doesn’t
have to convenience of changing her mind. Since she can’t go back she can only
hope that forward is better than it seems.
