Elon University to Offer Influencer Status Major

Photo credits: Elon University, Pexels.com

Beginning Fall 2021, Elon University’s School of Communications will offer students a guaranteed way to get rich after college without the hassle of scheduling internship interviews, sitting through LinkedIn polishing sessions, or clawing their way into exec positions in campus organizations like students in the existing five comm majors face. This new major will lead to graduation with a BA in Influencer Status.

“I put down strategic communications as my intended major because I didn’t know what I wanted to do in college besides rush, and now that’s not even happening,” one first-year student told A.S.S. “But now that I know the influencer major will be a thing, I actually have something that motivates me to wear more than just the same five pairs of leggings every week.”

Required courses for influencer status majors will include INF 251: Getting the Most out of Pretty Privilege; INF 311: Staging and Airbrushing iPhone Tripod Photos; INF 321: Writing Captions that Make Your Followers Envy You; and INF 361: The Ups and Downs of “DM Me for Details.” The School of Communications will waive internship and senior seminar requirements for Influencer Status majors if students are verified on TikTok by the end of their junior year.

The major’s capstone course, INF 451, will give students a chance to do hands-on influencer work for a real client. Companies that have already expressed interest in working with the program include the "Three Geese of Elon,” as well as GoPro and Lululemon.

While these opportunities will let Elon graduates go straight from living off daddy’s money to independent millionaire status, School of Communications faculty are just as thrilled about the new major. One journalism professor said, “When I’m getting my third cup of coffee before I meet my new first-year students, I always think to myself, ‘This will be the semester that the next Barbara Walters or Steven Spielberg is in my class.’ But teaching the next Kylie Jenner…that would be the crowning achievement of my career.”

Elon will hire three new permanent faculty members to form the Influencer Status Department. Application requirements include having 100,000 Instagram followers and being sponsored by at least three major brands (advanced degrees are optional). The School of Communications will also create the rotating position of Influencer-in-Residence and is rumored to be considering Lilly Singh, Paris Hilton, and Addison Rae for the job, among others.

“I’m excited that the influencer status major will bring many more talented students to Elon,” President Connie Book said. “Plus, it'll raise university rankings in the areas of graduates' income and innovation. We can never have too many banners hanging around campus!”