by Brooke Elliott

Going into my freshman year of college at the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK), I had zero inclination towards what I wanted to do with my life. I was in the top 11% of my class in high school, participated in varsity track and cross country for all four years, and worked at Panera along with babysitting several weekdays. I had my life “figured out” in all areas except college. I enjoyed all subjects in high school but there were none that stuck out to me as one that could be the gateway to my future. As orientation for UTK approached, I had to declare a major. I decided on business, but after attending an information session on the College of Business, I quickly realized that was not my forte. I did a complete 180 and declared my major as kinesiology. 

After my freshman year, and receiving a B in Chemistry 100, I knew I did not want to pursue anything in the field of science. In Summer 2019, I started an Instagram account called “Skincareglowblog.” For years, I had been passionate about skincare, makeup and beauty in general, so I decided to create an account to showcase my favorite products and provide tips and tricks to my followers. I did not anticipate anything to come out of this account, but after posting consistently for a few months, several brands reached out to me about collaboration opportunities. At the time, I did not know that there was a whole field of work dedicated to forming relationships and reaching out to influencers. However, one day my good friend, Kate, was telling me how she loved her major, public relations. She told me about the general premise of public relations, and I was hooked! It seemed right up my alley and something that I could foresee myself doing in the future.

Fast forward to today, I now have an internship at Judith Bright, a custom jewelry designer,  as their Social Media Manager Intern. It is such a joy working there and learning more about what it takes to market a brand on social media. I have completed nearly all of the requirements for a degree in public relations, and I have loved every class I have taken in the PR department. Each professor genuinely cares about your success and education, and they are constantly checking in with new job or internship opportunities. I believe that public relations is the perfect fit for me, and I want to encourage others who may be uncertain about their major to take a step back and reflect on what they are truly passionate about. For me, skincare and beauty is and has been my passion for years. It has been such an amazing experience figuring out how to intertwine my passion with a major that I could use to fulfill it. 

Here are 4 key tips to help determine what major will be best for you:

1. Write down 5-10 ideas or activities you are passionate about. Go through the list and add possible careers that could correlate with each passion. Find the correlating major for each career. 
2. Make a pro and con list for each possible major. This is a great way to visualize what aspects would make you happy or not in the future. Determine which cons you could tolerate and which pros outweigh the others.
3. Talk to professors that teach courses in the major you are interested in. They can give you a deeper insight into how a particular major could play out in the future. 
4. If you are in between 2-3 majors, take elective courses in each of the majors. This will give you a better understanding of the expectations of each major.