Relevance of major requirements - how prepared are you?

Lately, after hearing much discussion among my friends and classmates about requirements for their major I got to thinking. What classes offered here can actually be applied to the real world? For many majors, that answer is few.

As a senior English major with a journalism concentration and a minor in communication arts, I've struggled to find classes that I feel apply to life after college. I frankly have little interest in being an English teacher or scholar, and while many English majors here do aspire to be educators, many in fact do not. In my seminar class alone, there are at least 7 or 8 students who don't want to be educators and even more who have no idea what they want to do at all. Students are forced to fulfill the English requirement by taking mostly literature courses, and have less time to take classes like professional writing, persuasive writing, technical writing, business writing etc. because they have to focus on the requirements. Even a concentration is only worth four or five courses out of the total we're all required to take. Many students struggle to complete the requirements and by the time they're seniors they have no idea what they want to do when they graduate. The majority of the classes which I feel have prepared me for lifeafter college were journalism or writing courses and I don't even want to be a journalist. All of those courses were writing intensive and demanding. There were deadlines and a lot of responsiblity was involved. Whether or not I end up as a writer someday, those courses taught me how to act in a professional environment and to take responsiblity for my work.

As a communication arts minor, I am also familiar with the department and its course offerings.
Although FSU has an excellent visual communications program with photography and graphic design courses, it lacks in the business or corporate courses. There are few which can be used in the real world. Advertising, public relations, and marketing are some of the few courses corporate communication arts majors can apply to their careers. Many communication arts majors hope to do event planning or public relations after college, yet we have one pr class and no event planning courses. Many students take more classes on the "idea or theories" of communication arts. As important as they can be for freshman who need to build a foundation before taking upper-level classes, how do they actually help students after graduation?

Although there are strengths of many of the departments at FSU, there are weaknesses which need to be addressed. Many students don't feel prepared come senior year. They have completed their requirements, but what have they actually gotten out of them? Departments need to do a better job of assessing the relevance of major requirements. Everyone needs specific classes for certain majors, but students also need courses which will prepare them for life outside the classroom. Students should be able to feel ready for life after college and although internships are a great way to do this, preparation needs to begin in the classroom with the courses students take.