For those of you who are statistically minded, you may be thinking this blog is about the relationship between public relations and statistics, and how one affects the trend of the other. For those of you who are not thinking this at all, don’t worry, it’s just me trying to make a stats joke. This blog is really about how I came to decide to declare a statistics minor. So, all good stories start in the beginning, and that’s exactly what I will do.
Much like the rest of you guys, I too took a statistics class in high school. Up until this class, math wasn’t really my jam. I took calculus, trigonometry, algebra III and all those other weird sounding subjects, and throughout the entire class I was like “Okay I think I might get this, but WTF?” Then, by the grace of God, I took a statistics class during my senior year. Finally, after stumbling through math for years, I found a subject I was really good at. I was able to breeze through the homework, ace the exams, and actually follow along in class.
Now, your next question might be; "Why didn't you just major in stats?" Well, I don't really have an answer for you. Going into college I didn't really know what I wanted to do. My mom suggested something in communications and I just kind of fell into PR. Once I got here, I thought to myself “Okay, this is pretty cool. Something is missing though.” And as you might have guessed, it was statistics.
After taking Research Methods, I realized that I might be able to combine my love of statistics and this cool new major I found. I actually went up to Tiffany Mohr and asked, “Am I in the right major if I want to do this for a living?” And she answered something along the lines of, “Yes of course! Let me take you under my wing”.
And now, here I am, taking statistics courses right alongside my public relations courses. I'm thriving and I couldn't be more interested in my education. My advice for those of you who have a unique interest is to explore it in college! Public Relations overlaps with literally everything, and exploring a passion might help find the best job for you in the future.
This blog post was written by Amelia Wilt, Assistant Conference Coordinator.