But Sydney is right, these same mute students are the ones frustrated that they have a four year degree and no job. And they stay professionally mute waiting for something to fall in their laps. I’m not sure what the answer is, if there is one at all. I believe it’s a result of the culture. I’m not sure where society went wrong in raising the youth of America.

Instead, you set the groundwork for your current success by doing that little bit more — a combination of intellectual curiosity and internal demand for more/success/etc. Most of your colleagues do not go that extra distance, even though anyone with half a brain can see the positives.

Another example is your self-directed interest in social media. Any student can start a blog and talk about communications. At USF, you and Meg Roberts are star examples of the great things that can happen and we have many others who used blogging as a way to launch their careers. But, I would say that 98 percent don’t do it, even though Dr. Burns and I beg them to.

Your comment about Advanced students bums me out too much to comment on, but I know it’s true. I don’t hold anything against students who aren’t cut out to be communicators or decide that they would rather do something else. I have a really talented former student who is getting ready for law school–blech! I still wrote her a sparkling letter of recommendation.

For those who aren’t cut out, I’ve got two minds. First, if they do the work in my classes, I pass them and hope the spark hits them later. I also create a classroom setting that enables questioning, so often students will talk to me in private about such doubts. Then, we can go through options. I won’t fail anyone who does the work I ask them to do. Perhaps I should do more to dissuade them, but I’m an optimist, so I hope the light bulb will go off for them.

You’re absolutely right when you say that most of us are there because somewhere along the lines, someone told us we’re “good with people”. A little about my journey:

I had been both pre-law and pre-med (at two other schools) before I decided I wanted to do the PR program at USF. I came to this conclusion after sitting myself down and saying: “Okay Sydney, what are you good at?” I realized I am naturally social, well-spoken, can write fairly well and, wait for it, am good with people.

So I enrolled. For my Writing for Mass Media course, I did an informational interview with one of my mom’s coworkers from Florida Hospital. She is 6 years older than me, old enough to know something but young enough to get where I am.

Fast forward to Fall 2008. It wasn’t until PRSSA National Conference that I found my calling, my passion. The lightbulb went off when I met Penelope Trunk, author of Brazen Careerist. She was talking about mentors and how important they are, and I figured, who better to mentor me than the lady that is speaking about mentors. So I approached her, we communicated and long story short, I’m moving to Chicago in August.

If there is some way to get the “What is PR?” part out in the open before junior year, that would be awesome. I had so many classmates saying “wow, this isn’t really for me” after we did our presentations for Advanced at the Gala.

What, then, do you do in the event that you know that they aren’t cut out to be communicators? Do you pass them, allow them to graduate, and they can’t figure out why they aren’t employed? Or better yet, why nobody wants to work with them? Or do you advise them to pursue another major?

End Novel.