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A real conversation about Mass Communication and Media Courses
May 26,2026
Having spent a lifetime with students and their parents there is always some experience to look back at or some anecdote or incident to share. Life and its many colours, people and their many facets always there with something new.
Having spent a lifetime with students and their parents there is always some experience to look back at or some anecdote or incident to share. Life and its many colours, people and their many facets always there with something new.
The other day a colleague’s niece from a small mofussil town, contacted me and wanted advice and counselling about her higher studies in Mass Communication from Delhi. Since she had access and exposure to this industry as her uncle was a senior and successful member of this profession, she had lots of doubts and queries.
“Which course, which college or institute?”
“Learning opportunities and training.”
“Professional openings, growth and path of progress.”
“Career openings, scope and options.”
“Life pattern and suitable choices in the various fields.”
“How to choose, what to prioritise for the profession and for the educational institute also.”
“ Which field - Journalism or Film Making or Advertising or PR or Digital Media or Event Management?”
And so on and on…………
- She wanted to know about doing a Bachelor’s Degree [BA] in Mass Media from Delhi as this seems to be the best place for undergraduate education in this field. Which course to select and which college or institute to choose.
- She said that her research about best Mass Communication colleges and best journalism colleges did result in a list of suitable ones but then how to select from them, what criteria to follow, what aspects to keep in mind.
- I told her that the search on the internet would give her a list of Top Mass Communication institutes in Delhi or Top Ten Media colleges in Delhi or the like but this is only for guidance and is only a start point. Go deeper into the criteria used for generating the list and make your own choices. The ratings and ranks are done keeping many aspects in view like faculty, placements, training, industry exposure and the like so delve deeper into the process of the ratings. You need to examine these lists based on your own parameters and requirements.
- Look at the faculty and their profile, see how much of practical exposure they give, what facilities they use for giving you the experience. Look at the infrastructure, equipment and syllabus of the college or institute. Are they able to give you industry like exposure?
- I added that you and your generation are great believers of ratings and reviews for making your choices and believe so much on influencers and others for taking a decision. So why not in this case also?
- Yes, remember we are not looking at popularity here, see the reviews about the teaching and learning, see what people have to say about industry exposure and not about placements, see the faculty profile – not their age or qualifications but how much of real life professional knowledge they bring into the classroom, go for the infra structure not in terms of building and campus but in terms of labs, studio and training equipment. So, ask questions from reviewers and alumni on these aspects and don’t just stick to the list on the basis of Top or Best. Remember every person can have a different reason for rating something as top nor best. So be clear about your own criteria when looking for this information.
- Ask and consult employers about what they expect from their trainees and interns and where do they think these skills and knowledge is available from the list of Best Media Colleges or Top 10 Media Colleges. Ask the industry people to identify the best from this list based on their experience and requirements.
- I also advised her that a lot of importance is given to the past placements of the educational institute but as important as it seems, one must know that this is a very subjective thing in today’s scenario. It does show the opportunities available at the initial stage but looking at where the alumni are at present is a better indicator of how much they grew in the field and how much their learning and qualifications and the alma mater contributed to their growth.
- Talk to the senior alumni of any institute or college, they are the best evaluators of how much they learnt and how much the learning at their educational institute contributed to their growth and success. They are able to review things more critically and judiciously after being in the profession for some time now and are able to tell you how useful the studies were for their career growth.
- Then the discussion went on to choosing from the various fields of Mass Comm. She was very unsure of her choice and that gave me a chance to counsel her on another aspect too. I advised her that since you are entering this field right after finishing school, you are still not fully aware of the scope and width of the field of Mass Communication. So, don’t decide on Journalism or Film Making or Advertising or PR or Digital Media or Event Management at this point of time. Go in for a holistic exposure to all the options in this field and then along the way make a decision of which one excites you the maximum and choose that. As it is, today most areas converge and overlap so get exposure to all aspects and that would make you a perfect professional in this field, ready to take off for a bright and successful future ahead. So, look for a Media college or Mass Media studies, don’t limit yourself to a Journalism or an Advertising college.
In this interaction I kept one important thing in mind, this child has access to a lot of inputs about the profession as her uncle is from this field and she would be able to seek clarifications whenever in doubt. I gave her pointers and leads that would push her to ask questions and seek answers from him, I purposely coloured the conversation to lead her to this, thinking that getting guidance from a known person or rather a relative would add weight to the guidance and add to her level of comfort.
This went on for a while and then she very hesitantly posed a very unexpected question to me – “Ma’am, can you speak with my parents about all this and convince them? Will you do it?”
That caught me a bit off-guard but my instant reaction was “Yes of course I can………. but your uncle runs a PR firm and who better than him to guide you and your parents and put you all at ease about this field!”
Her response, in a very low tone – “Nahin, woh toh ghar wale hain toh woh baat nahin banti, unki kaun sunega.”
I was most amused. Here we have a successful PR person who runs a set up which is doing so well and is quoted in our circles for its performance and growth and we cite his success story to others but when it comes to your own people I guess it’s a case of ‘Ghar ki murgi dal barabar”
Author Bio: Dr. Simrat Gulati is a veteran advertising professional and educator. An alumna of IIMM Delhi, she is a visiting faculty at various management and mass communication institutes across India.
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