Academic Plan

I applied to Media Studies program in my first post-collegiate year. As the social media marketing director for a software company, I dreaded going to work everyday. Totally unsure of my future, I knew three things: I wanted to be in New York, I wanted a career in the media and I wanted to go to graduate school. My theory heavy undergraduate work peaked my interest in the New School’s critical theory courses on race and gender and, although I’m not really production savvy, I thought the production element added a welcome challenge. Now, after just one semester, I feel that my plans have completely changed. I never thought I’d be interested in business much less actually passionate about it. My career interests had always circled around journalism, PR or marketing (and all on the creative side, not the management side). A month ago when I was browsing through the course offerings for spring, I made a list of courses that I found attractive with reckless disregard of what was required of me to complete my program. The list is as follows:
Mashup Culture
The Producer’s Craft
Digital Media: Strategy and Implementation
Media Economics
Music Business in Media
Avante Garde and the Moving Image

After going over this list, I felt like a participant in a study who was asked what she eats on a daily basis, was subsequently asked what was in her refrigerator and found the two to be completely different. Half of the classes I chose were under the Media Management umbrella and I was both surprised and enthused but this.
After Kit Layborne’s visit to our class, I began seriously considering my interests and my talents and trying to merge the two. As somewhat of a musical snob, I pride myself on finding out about bands, shows, and happenings about town before other people. Likewise, I feel like I have a pretty good ear and eye for what people like. Why not put these things to use in a career in artist management, producing or television programming? As such, next semester I am registered for Media Studies: Concepts, Media Economics and Music Business in Media. I initially intended to register for Digital Media: Strategy and Implementation, but the class was full. If there’s room in the class when it starts, I’ll take that in lieu of Media Economics.
The courses I’ve selected will help me narrow my focus and, while I’m at the New School, I’d hope to achieve the management skills I’ll need for future endeavors and sharpen my creative problem solving skills. Right now I feel that my weaknesses lie in not knowing enough about the business element of media so these classes will help fill in that gap. I also know that I don’t always speak up when I have ideas and I need to work on that if I truly do want to be in a management or leadership position. In addition, I’d like to be exposed to career possibilities and opportunities I haven’t yet considered. I plan on interning at a talent management agency in the spring, which will give me a better idea of what is expected of me and what the job entails. In subsequent semesters, I will continue with the media management track with courses such as Competitive Strategies: Branding, Film Distribution and New Media and Media, Corporate Responsibility and the Law.
Competitive Strategies: Branding will increase my knowledge of branding, how to go about creating a successful branding campaign and how to stay one step beyond competition. Film Distribution and New Media will be beneficial because I will learn more about the business side of the film industry, a field I may someday pursue. I’m especially interested in the distribution and marketing of films in light of new online media, and this class would merge both of those interests. Law is a large part of any business and to excel in business, I believe it’s especially important to understand the legal background of the business you’re working in which is why I want to take Media, Corporate Responsibility and the Law. In this increasingly homogenized media world, this class will be especially relevant.
For my methods course, I plan on taking Market Research for Media Managers. Although market research seems like the least interesting part of being a manager, I know it’s a necessary part of the job and one that most managers don’t know how to do well. I’m also very interested in the use of social media and other new technologies as tools of market research. While I see them as an invasion of privacy, I also want to look at how people are readily giving up this privacy on facebook, twitter and other social media sites.
As far as production courses, I’m currently looking at Media Practices: Design simply because I’ve always been interested in design. I currently do some very minimal graphic design for friends and I’d like to learn to hone my skills and make my designs more interesting. I’m also thinking about Media Practices: Interactive because I know nothing of coding or any other skills described in the course description. I’d like to challenge myself to explore classes that I know won’t be easy for me, but will ultimately be very beneficial not only to my career goals, but also to my non-career life.
Networking is something that happens naturally in classes, but I also plan on attending events outside of class to meet other students and faculty. I’m especially interested in meeting some of the Parsons Design school students and seeing what they’re up to in terms of fashion design. Faculty I’m excited to work with include Kit Layborne, whose presentation in our Understanding Media Studies class blew my mind, Mario Paoli, whose background in music seems really cool, and Douglas Rushkoff, who just seems like a really interesting person to be around and someone you can learn a lot from. Upon looking at other programs available at the New School, there are many courses that interest me, but I will probably stick to the courses in Media Studies as I have limited time. However, if I could manage to slip in one class, I’d chose to take a shoe making class at Parsons because I think it would be awesome to make my own shoes.
When I first entered the New School, I was set on doing the thesis option, but now that my goals have changed and I’m less focused on theory, I think I’ll go the non-thesis way as I have a lot of classes I want to take and have time limitations and financial constraints to consider. I plan on having a part time job throughout my time at the New School. However, I won’t make the mistake of juggling a full time job, internship and 9 credits after this semester. I plan on finishing in 4 semesters and to do so, I’ll need to take a course over the summer or get credit for my internship.
Immediately upon completion of the media studies program, I plan on packing up my boyfriend and dog and taking off in a van for a trip across the country. I want to take at least 3 months off and explore the holes in the walls and doors in the floors of the smallest, most obscure places in the United States. During the trip, I’ll amass some treasures (records, vintage furnishings and clothes) for an online store that I’m currently creating a business plan for. I hope that some of the business and marketing techniques I’ve learned in Media Studies will help me with my venture into retail. When I return to the “real” world, assuming that the financial fiasco has sorted itself out some, I’ll begin applying for jobs in the television, film or talent management world, depending on what I have decided by that point.
To be honest, I feel like so much has changed for me just in the last 4 months I’ve been in New York, I don’t know how true I will be to this academic plan. I can only speculate on what I will get out of this program and I know that most of what I get out of this program depends on me and how much I’m willing to get out of it. Ultimately, I want to be a more well rounded person with actual marketable skills to navigate through this insanely terrifying yet electrifying exciting new world. I want to know what to do when someone comes to me with a problem; I want to know how to create a graphic; and I want to be part of the solution on building smarter, more sustainable business, not part of the problem. In short, I guess I want to do what most other people in the world want to do: I want to make the world a better place and I hope this program gives me the tools to do so.