Is studying Communication and Digital Media (BDCM) really worth it?

By Lucía Nogales Montero

As an entrepreneurial-minded university, IE approaches learning by motivating students to engage in an innovative vision, entrepreneurial spirit, and a focus on humanities and academic excellence. The studies it offers align with this vision: Degrees in Business Administration, Data and Business Analytics, Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence… and, yes, Communication and Digital Media (BCDM).

I know, I know… let’s pause for a moment. You see, I’m confident that any Communication student reading this will understand and agree that we’ve come across these questions at least once since we started our studies. 

What exactly do you do in Communication and Digital Media? Do you learn how to communicate? Why are you even studying this Bachelor? Isn’t it kind of useless? What are your plans for the future?

Let’s be honest here: Architectural Studies, Design, Data Analytics… these degrees can’t be compared to Communication and Digital Media. They cover different areas, using different methods and models to explain and obtain specific information. However, are these studies meant for everyone?

Personally, ever since I started school, I’ve tried to discover my passion. The closer I got to entering college, the harder it became for me to choose what to study because I honestly had no clue about my academic strengths. It wasn’t easy seeing friends excel in subjects like maths and the sciences while I, a more creative mind, struggled without knowing what I was good at.

Please, imagine waking up at 4 a.m. every morning (and I’m not joking; anyone who really knows me knows this is true) to study maths, trying to understand the logic behind it, and working hard to get good grades on tests. And yes, the girl in the picture is 11th-grade me at 1 a.m., crying and desperately trying to fully understand integrals before my final IB maths exam.

I did achieve good grades, but I realized that friends who studied much less or only the day before the exam got the same or even better results. Trust me, dealing with this for years was exhausting, and at times, it really made me question my abilities, feeling ‘stupid’ and ‘worthless.’

Of course, the sciences are something that we obviously need in this world. What would we do without them? The whole world is full of it! But what about communication? Have you ever stopped to think about what businesses would look like without corporate communication, web and app designers, photographers, and videographers… and now, with evolving technology, without digital and social media managers? Seriously, think about what the world would look like without these positions.

I’m not aiming to explain word by word what we do in our bachelor, but as a Communication student, I want to point out how—even though I’m only in my second year —this bachelor’s degree has opened my eyes. 

So, coming back to the never-ending question many BCDM students confront, ‘What are your plans for the future?’. My response is this: I’m not clear about my path yet. I don’t know what I want to do or what my focus will be, but I think many of us, regardless of our field of study, still don’t know exactly.

However, I do know I’ve learned how to face one hundred people inside an auditorium while giving a persuasive speech. I’m learning how to read people like a book just by watching their behavior. I’m learning how to build my own personal website and how to strategically use photos and videos for storytelling without saying a word. In this degree, I’m learning how to convince a whole audience to be interested in a product.

What I’m trying to say is that we might not be the smartest economists or scientists out there, but we, as communication students, are diving into all sorts of diverse evolving topics. We’re all exploring different paths and all progressing in the same creative world, which is helping us discover what really lights us up and opens our creative minds. 

Of course, it is your decision whether you want to make the best out of the Communication and Digital Media degree or not, but if you do, I can assure you that you will learn so many things about yourself. Not only do you get to learn about all the different areas encompassing communication and their application in both personal and professional worlds, but also how to become a better person and get to know yourself better. 

And, as Albert Einstein once said, 

“Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

Cover photo courtesy Lucía Nogales Montero