Shayal
How can I improve my chances of getting into a college while majoring in Marketing?
I'm currently a Junior in high school and I'm not sure what field I want to study, although I'm fairly certain that sciences are not for me. I'm interested in Marketing but I'm not sure what steps I should take to get there, Are there any internships that would be recommended for high school students that don't already have experience in Marketing? #marketing
4 answers
Ben’s Answer
When going to college you are not expected to deeply understand marketing. Sure a good understanding of what Marketing is will help you as your entering your marketing classes, but it is not needed. To be honest as a high school student it is extremely difficult to find a marketing internship. However, I recommend you start looking for a marketing internship during your Sophomore or Junior year of college. (It still is hard to find one during your freshman year of college, but it is a bit more likely you can get one if you're applying as college freshman rather than as a high student.)
Most colleges will have an intro marketing type of class that will prep you for the rest of your marketing classes (Examples are Business to Business Marketing, Business to Consumer Marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications, etc.) Your next steps are to just apply for the bachelors in marketing degree program at whatever college you are attending. It's simple as that no prior internships are required. :)
Thank you so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to give me some advice :) In terms of applying for a marketing internship during my sophomore or junior year in college, what can I do to strengthen my application or stand out?
Shayal
I would recommend getting good grades obviously and join one or two college clubs or organizations see if you can get a leadership position. Also, talk to non-profits around the area see if they need help with their social media or marketing. You might not get paid, but you will get valuable experience. And if possible if there are networking events where you attend them. (Google Marketing networking events in the Bay Area.) Talk to and befriend real life professionals connect with them on LinkedIn. If you ask them for help are likely to help you out and might know of opportunities you can pursue in the future.
Ben Landis
COACH
Kim Gravell
Kim’s Answer
Hi Shayal
You have been given some excellent advice already. One additional thought to consider is to gain insight into your true strengths and use them as a guideline for your educational and career options. My favorite assessment is StrengthsFinder. It will produce a great report that not only reveals your true strengths, but also provides insight into how to best utilize those strengths in your professional (and personal) journey. You may want to start with the assessment to see if it helps define potential path(s).
Kim recommends the following next steps:
Parth Gandhi
Parth’s Answer
Hi Shayal,
Agreed with what has been said that it is difficult to find marketing opportunities while still in high school, but that doesn't mean you can't. I used to an unpaid internship in office inputting their customer information into Salesforce and managing their customer database. Also helping them develop monthly newsletter which taught me a lot of research and tools. So you can definitely look into something like that.
But #1 thing I think you can do in high school is figure out what excites you about marketing. There's a lot of information about different fields within marketing. Look at LinkedIn profile of people and see what they do. If you can figure out 1) if Marketing truly excites you and 2) what about marketing that excites you, it will make choosing major, classes, internships, jobs much easier in the future.
Hope this helps.
Thank you for your time in replying to my question! This helped me a lot :) When applying for the internship, do you know of any specific things they could have helped you get chosen over others in terms of experiences or recommendations? If so, what could help me strengthen my own application? In addition, in your own experiences, are there many companies looking for interns during the school year or just over summer break? I'm taking the marketing class this fall in school so I will hopefully be able to figure out what excites me about marketing! Thanks!
Shayal
Lauren Barriere
Lauren’s Answer
Marketing is a big field, so I would first start by considering which parts of marketing you really enjoy. Do you prefer the more creative, social media, and brand side of marketing? Are you more interested in analytics? Or would you rather interact directly with people through community events?
I recommend focusing on the skills that would make you a good marketer rather than entire profession of marketing. So if you decide you really like brand/creative, perhaps take a graphic design class or run social media for an organization. If you like interacting with people, then help plan events at your school or in your community.
I also recommend exploring the topic areas that get you excited. That way, you have a better idea of what type of company or group you want to work for. Are you excited about new technology? Or perhaps you enjoy theater and the arts? Or maybe it's environmental causes? Once you decide on that, get involved with organizations or take classes that match those interests. Often, the best marketers are the ones who are passionate about the topic they're advocating for.
Best of luck!