College Life

Private Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• New York University
• University of Miami
• Boston University
• Marquette University
• Southern Methodist University

State Schools That Are Well Known for This Major

• University of Florida
• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Georgia
• Pennsylvania State University

Classes in the Major

Communications: These classes cover just about everything dealing with communications: digital media, print, and everything in between. This is a sort of general course to get you started on your way to an advertising degree. Think of this as more of a way to pick up some useful information that could help you down the road. Learning how to use a camera could be the skill that sets you apart in an interview.

Economics: If your job is based on convincing people to buy stuff, you'd better understand how money works. No, it doesn't appear out of thin air to pay for your new iPhone and contrary to popular belief, it doesn't grow on trees. Having an idea of how the economic world operates will help you be more effective at persuading people to do what consumers do and buy, buy, buy. For example, knowing that we're in a recession might influence the wording of your ad campaign.

Psychology: If you can get inside the mind of a consumer, you can get inside their wallets. It's vital to understand how people think and behave so you can anticipate how they'd react to certain ad tactics, especially since this affects future advertising plans. There's a reason why you often see billboards with young, attractive people and why most fast food restaurant signs are red and yellow. We're onto you, McDonald's.

Statistics: This is the part of advertising that's all about the numbers. Yes, looking at a super complicated and elaborate Excel spreadsheet will become your livelihood as an advertiser and will determine whether your company will advertise with monsters or kittens. Our first choice would kittens (duh), but if we're advertising to a small group of Alfred Hitchcock enthusiasts around Halloween, then a company will know to go with monsters instead.

Advertising: Advertising classes are (you guessed it) all about advertising. Needless to say, if you're going into advertising, you gotta take a class with "advertising" in the title. You'll learn all kinds of crazy stuff, like what's effective, what's not, and why we're such suckers for nostalgia and images in top-left corners. There are so many different strategies when it comes to advertising, and it's important to know 'em all so you can win 'em all.