<p>I'm interested in becoming a publicist in the entertainment industry, so I'm planning on majoring in communication. What should be my concentration? Public advocacy and rhetoric, organizational communication, or media studies? Also, I am an introvert and I suffer from social anxiety. Can I still be a successful publicist?</p>
<p>For an undergraduate I’m reasonably well experienced in the entertainment industry and have held a number of internships and may have some helpful insight. Particularly because I have worked in the publicity department of one of the major movie studios.</p>
<p>To answer your first question, when it comes to the entertainment industry your degree immediately doesn’t matter once you’ve had a few internships. I’m majoring in economics and political science, and get plenty of interviews and offers. Concentrate in whatever you like, hell if you want to be a publicist you should know how to spin a degree in neuroscience as ideal for whatever position you’re applying to anyway.</p>
<p>“I am an introvert and I suffer from social anxiety”</p>
<p>Then you may have chosen an industry and a profession you will hate. I’d really take some time to think about your goals and realistically assess whether its something you really want and truthfully think you would be good at. From your post it seems like you’re just beginning college, you are still quite young and your personality is still very much malleable. Social Anxiety goes away the more you force yourself to experience it. Putting yourself in overwhelming situations while painful will do wonders to help you overcome it. Anxiety fades as your confidence builds.</p>
<p>Trust me, I’m speaking from some serious experience. My personality completely changed over my 3 and half years of college.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the advice. I need to think through this some more. Being a publicist sounds like an amazing and exciting job, but I’m not sure if I will be able to handle the amount of socialization necessary to be successful. Like you said, my personality might change, so I will just wait and see what happens. Meanwhile, I will look into other career options that I know will most likely match my personality as is.</p>