A Regretful Journey

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.