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PR Senior, Grace Kos-Dondlinger, Shares her Experience and Advice for Underclassmen in the Major

PR Senior, Grace Kos-Dondlinger, Shares her Experience and Advice for Underclassmen in the Major

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By: Liv Ceithaml

Michigan State University public relations senior, Grace Kos-Dondlinger, is taking her first step into the professional world thanks, in part, to the guidance and many resources provided by MSU.

Kos-Dondlinger is an out-of-state student from St. Charles, Illinois. She currently serves as the communications marketing intern for MSU Human Resources, as well as an undergraduate learning assistant for PR 225: Writing for Public Relations and PR 325: Intermediate Social Media and Public Relations and Techniques.

“I was in a spot where the junior year was coming to a close and I thought, ‘I need experience!’ so I applied to around 15 internships, and I didn’t think I would get any,” said Kos-Dondlinger, “It can be really hard when you start applying because everyone else is applying, too, and some of them require one to two years’ experience, but when you’re starting off you don’t have that.”

Kos-Dondlinger says she encourages underclassmen to use MSU’s Handshake. The website provides insight to students about local opportunities for work experiences.

Kos-Dondlinger credits much of her success to the MSU PR program. She also encourages future students to embrace all that the college has to offer.

“The public relations program here is really awesome. Take advantage of all the opportunities and you can take what you are doing in class and put it into your portfolio which is really important,” said Kos-Dondlinger.

Kos-Dondlinger now applies the skills she’s gained from her PR courses at her MSU HR internship.

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“The team I work with is awesome and gives me the space to learn more,” said Kos-Dondlinger. “I write blog posts and social media posts, and I run social media analytics every month.”

MSU PR students have required PR Field Experience of at least 250 hours. They can be acquired through internships or other PR-related work experiences.

“I would say the field experience hours can be intimidating, but there are so many opportunities that can fill that requirement,” said Kos-Dondlinger, “Make good relationships with your professors because a lot of them were in the industry for a lot of years.”

For more resources on how to connect to PR Field Experiences, check out the PR Field Experience Program website.