Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hire in this field and agree with the above poster. If the interest is the marketing side (rather than the art side) of advertising, I'd recommend a liberal arts major too, like English, political science or psychology, from a reputable school. You need to be able to do research and write clearly and persuasively. Journalism and marketing majors from larger schools work too. "Commercials" are going the way of dinosaurs so it helps to take a few media courses to understand the business models and outlooks for ad-based social media platforms. But that stuff in in constant flux so focus on the basics at school and make the media education a focus of continuous adult education.

Big ad industry cities like NYC and Chicago offer great internship opportunities, but there are great agencies in a few mid-sized markets. If you're in VA and looking to focus more directly on advertising, look at VCU/Martin Agency in Richmond. In addition to Northwestern, NYU and Syracuse, BYU is a surprisingly good school for advertising.

My kid is currently going to school for advertising and he says this is a huge theme. No one is focusing on TV that much. It's all social media based.

Indeed. Social media "is where it's at"-- I know several VPs of Social Media under 30 years old at big firms

Emerson College in Boston could be a great choice.

Anonymous wrote:I hire in this field and agree with the above poster. If the interest is the marketing side (rather than the art side) of advertising, I'd recommend a liberal arts major too, like English, political science or psychology, from a reputable school. You need to be able to do research and write clearly and persuasively. Journalism and marketing majors from larger schools work too. "Commercials" are going the way of dinosaurs so it helps to take a few media courses to understand the business models and outlooks for ad-based social media platforms. But that stuff in in constant flux so focus on the basics at school and make the media education a focus of continuous adult education.

Big ad industry cities like NYC and Chicago offer great internship opportunities, but there are great agencies in a few mid-sized markets. If you're in VA and looking to focus more directly on advertising, look at VCU/Martin Agency in Richmond. In addition to Northwestern, NYU and Syracuse, BYU is a surprisingly good school for advertising.

My kid is currently going to school for advertising and he says this is a huge theme. No one is focusing on TV that much. It's all social media based.

Anonymous wrote:VCU

Seconded. My kids is there now for exactly this. Advertising as part of double major program. They can specialize in the business side or creative side of the business. If the kid wants to go on to grad school, the amazing Brand Center is also there. Or they can get internships at a number of agencies in Richmond, setting themselves up for good paying career-starter jobs in an affordable city.

I hire in this field and agree with the above poster. If the interest is the marketing side (rather than the art side) of advertising, I'd recommend a liberal arts major too, like English, political science or psychology, from a reputable school. You need to be able to do research and write clearly and persuasively. Journalism and marketing majors from larger schools work too. "Commercials" are going the way of dinosaurs so it helps to take a few media courses to understand the business models and outlooks for ad-based social media platforms. But that stuff in in constant flux so focus on the basics at school and make the media education a focus of continuous adult education.

Big ad industry cities like NYC and Chicago offer great internship opportunities, but there are great agencies in a few mid-sized markets. If you're in VA and looking to focus more directly on advertising, look at VCU/Martin Agency in Richmond. In addition to Northwestern, NYU and Syracuse, BYU is a surprisingly good school for advertising.

As someone in an adjacent field (communications), my advice would be to major in something broad—like English, History, Psychology, Business—and pursue the specific interest via a few classes, an extracurricular activity (e.g., join the college newspaper on the business side), and/or internships.

So, pick the school based on the availability of those types of opportunities rather than a specific major. I far prefer to see a candidate who has the combination of more broad academic study with focused activities than someone with a very narrow major.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are ranked

https://www.universities.com/programs/commercial-and-advertising-art-degrees

I don't think that list is very reputable...

And it is for Art degrees. I think this poster is more interested in Marketing (which is a subfield of Business).

Good luck!