Life As a Student

Kristinn asked for more details on my return to grad school, and Todd thinks I should be blogging about school all the time (blog as study tool), so here you go:

I’m taking two classes this semester. The first is called Analysis, Theory, and Ethics, and all Strategic Communications students are required to take it in their first semester. Everyone who started the program this semester (18 of us, only three of whom are guys) are in it together, and by all accounts the prof is a total stickler for good writing. Before classes started we all had to share personal bios on yahoo groups, and I’d say 80% were well written and the rest were just a mess. I feel bad for those people, because everyone says this guy really cares about comma splices, passive voice, etc. We submitted our first written assignment last week, so I guess we’ll find out soon whether he really is that much of a hard-ass. The class itself is ok. It’s the most theoretical of all the courses in the program and is supposed to be the foundation for everything else. The lectures have been fairly theory-based (last week we talked about social constructionism, for instance), and we’ve done a lot of reading about logic and persuasion.

The other course I’m taking is called Survey and Analysis of Communication Practices. The class itself is actually 100 times more interesting than it’s name, I’m very happy to say. Our homework assignment before this week’s class was to watch all the Super Bowl ads (I loved the Hulu one, below). And we started Wednesday’s class by talking about Michael Phelps’s pot smoking and what that does to his brand and how he should handle the media interest. The content of the class (especially brand identity and positioning) is really interesting so far, so that bodes well.

This week is my first group assignment, which is going to be interesting. Working in groups can either be great or miserable. Here’s hoping my group is a winner.