Panicking over possible course transfer?

LegacyUser

I am doing a Media course at the moment, which I like doing, but the thing is there is a lot more to it than I realised, more than in my PLC. Also it deals a lot of having to speak up in class, which i have not done for years and I am also socially awkward in front of crowds. But even then it's not like I dread every class, I still like it.
But I do have my moments of wanting to transfer over to an IT course, since it still deals with Media in some subjects and also might be easier to get a job in.
But I am panicking now, because the IT course just does not look appealing to me at the moment, even though there are some parts of it I like, and it has already been a month, and I just have a feeling that if I transfer now, i coudl find it a lot more difficult than i thought, and end up dropping out completely. If I completely hated the Media course, I would not hesistate to transfer over, but I do still like it, there is just aspects of it I am finding difficult.
I asked at admissions office and I should be hearing today if places are available, because there are still people who applied on CAO for vacancies for the IT course. But now small part of me hopes that there are no vacancies. I don't know, i really cannot make up my mind, I just don't want to be the type of person who wants to get out so soon when the going gets tough.

What do you think, will I just stay with my original course, since I do actually like it?

ivytwine

One thing is jumping out at me is that if you find it difficult to talk in public, unfortunately that is a huge thing in media. Even if you are in the production side of things you will need to be able to pitch ideas and communicate effectively with presenters, etc etc.

A good thing about doing a media course is that it gives you the confidence to speak in public. I'm a journalism grad and like you I wasn't great at speaking in public. I'd been bullied and would rather die than read aloud. But we ALL had to do it. We had to listen to ourselves back on radio, we had to conduct interviews, do verbal pitches. I remember being furious that our lecturer made us read out of a book. We felt like we were back in primary school, but looking back now she was just getting us used to reading and speaking in front of others again.

I had my own radio show (the station is now defunct sadly) thanks to the course and now I wouldn't hesitate to speak in public.

Also things aren't great in the media sector either jobswise. Hours are long, pay is small, and rather worryingly only seven out of my class are actually still in media (and at least two of them had their jobs secured before the course). A high proportion have emigrated (one for a media job) or are doing different things while keeping journalism/media as a hobby.

You have to REALLY want it, I know from my own experience. I quite frankly didn't find it worth the financial and emotional sacrifices and there's no point in going in half-hearted.

I know I'm really putting the dampener on it but if you want to do it and enjoy the course, go for it. Don't let the public speaking side of it put you off at least, because that will really stand to you. While I could regret doing the course because of various things, I am currently editing a short story anthology featuring my own work and the works of others. All that directly came from the course, the radio show, and the confidence it gave me.

Best of luck with whatever you go with

LegacyUser

ivytwine wrote: »

One thing is jumping out at me is that if you find it difficult to talk in public, unfortunately that is a huge thing in media. Even if you are in the production side of things you will need to be able to pitch ideas and communicate effectively with presenters, etc etc.

A good thing about doing a media course is that it gives you the confidence to speak in public. I'm a journalism grad and like you I wasn't great at speaking in public. I'd been bullied and would rather die than read aloud. But we ALL had to do it. We had to listen to ourselves back on radio, we had to conduct interviews, do verbal pitches. I remember being furious that our lecturer made us read out of a book. We felt like we were back in primary school, but looking back now she was just getting us used to reading and speaking in front of others again.

I had my own radio show (the station is now defunct sadly) thanks to the course and now I wouldn't hesitate to speak in public.

Also things aren't great in the media sector either jobswise. Hours are long, pay is small, and rather worryingly only seven out of my class are actually still in media (and at least two of them had their jobs secured before the course). A high proportion have emigrated (one for a media job) or are doing different things while keeping journalism/media as a hobby.

You have to REALLY want it, I know from my own experience. I quite frankly didn't find it worth the financial and emotional sacrifices and there's no point in going in half-hearted.

I know I'm really putting the dampener on it but if you want to do it and enjoy the course, go for it. Don't let the public speaking side of it put you off at least, because that will really stand to you. While I could regret doing the course because of various things, I am currently editing a short story anthology featuring my own work and the works of others. All that directly came from the course, the radio show, and the confidence it gave me.

Best of luck with whatever you go with

I heard back from the admissions and heard there was a space open if I want it, but I am going to try and stick this course out, because I actually do want to be more confident I just think I came in this year with the wrong state of mind because of all the new things that comes with college. That and the fact I am after buying so much utensils at this stage ha. I don't know, I think I need to have a taster course in IT to see what it is like instead, since having an interest in computers is one thing, having to build websites and develop software could be a whole different ball game altogether that I might not be able to do at all.

ivytwine

Well having no interest in computers is probably a bit of a barrier to IT!

Media is good for tech stuff as well, especially a lot of programmes in the broadcast side