Why I Decided to Double Major in Advertising

I’ve always known that I wanted to be a broadcast journalist and report on stories that I could pour emotion and passion into. Growing up watching the TODAY show every morning, I dreamed of anchoring on TODAY or E! News and being able to make a long-lasting impact on my community. I never wanted a desk job where I went to work every day with a cookie-cutter to-do list, living the same life day after day like a Russian doll. I wanted a job where I was constantly moving and the day is filled with unexpected events and tasks. I wanted a job where when I got home, my work felt rewarding. 

I’m from Los Angeles, a city surrounded by entertainment, fashion, and beauty. So naturally, I’ve always been interested in entertainment news and the entertainment industry. 

When I applied to Boston University and other colleges, I had a clear path in mind: study journalism, work at the student newspaper, and anchor at the student news station. While I’ve accomplished all of that and worked my way up to being the Blog Editor of The Daily Free Press and becoming the first entertainment anchor on BUTV10’s The Wire, my career goals didn’t feel whole. I was yearning for something more, but I couldn’t figure out what. 

During the fall semester of my sophomore year, I contemplated adding on a Film and TV minor to dive deeper into the entertainment industry, but it still didn’t feel like I was fulfilling my passion. Rather, it was almost as if I wanted to do it just to fulfill credits. I realized that, as the workaholic I am, I needed to jump into a major that gave me the creative fulfillment I craved while also having a growing job field with variables changing by the day. 

The journalism curriculum at BU on its own wasn’t enough for me, and although I was learning valuable and exciting things, I wanted to learn more about the logistics behind newspapers and magazines reaching audiences through social media marketing and advertising in a digital age.

So, I added on a double major in Advertising. I’ve always been interested in creative marketing, but didn’t want to major in business. But somehow, I completely overlooked the Advertising major in COM. It’s a perfect combination of creativity, marketing, logic, and design. In the Advertising major, you can take part in AdLab, which is BU’s student-run advertising agency. When I heard about AdLab, I was immediately intrigued and thought of it as an invaluable aspect of a degree that will help me advance my career to exactly where I want to be. 

Advertising and journalism go hand-in-hand to fit my specific interests and passions in the entertainment industry. With growing job markets in social media, writing, audience engagement, and brand marketing, the Advertising and Journalism curriculum will merge and give me an ocean of opportunities and knowledge to do exactly what I want to do.

When I dove deeper into looking at the Advertising curriculum, it brought happiness back into my life to discover that what I wanted in life was right in front of me this entire time. Luckily, it wasn’t too late to add on a double major, and it fits perfectly with my degree plan to study abroad in London. I realized that I can make Advertising and Journalism my own unique degree to satisfy my goals.

Sometimes, you really can have the best of both worlds and learn two things that you’re passionate about, even if they’re different. Never settle for less than you deserve. 

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