AMC’s classic drama Mad Men glorified the advertising scene in 1950s and ’60s Manhattan. The field may look different in the 2010s and ’20s with the fall of traditional media and the takeover of smart phones, the internet and on-demand programming, but this profession is anything but on the decline. The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects 6% job growth in the advertising sector through 2032 and the profession remains a rare space where corporate and creative interests can coexist symbiotically. Be prepared to learn everything from psychology to copyediting, graphic design, and marketing. Our list of Best Colleges for Advertising predominately features public universities which offer affordable and accessible degree programs while also allowing entry into the highest levels of this often high-paying and exciting career.
Methodology
Click here to read our methodology for the Best Colleges in Advertising.
Best Colleges for Advertising
Here’s a quick preview of the first ten advertising institutions that made our list. Detailed profiles and stats for these and many other ranked instiutions can be found when you scroll below.
1) The University of Texas at Austin
2) University of Southern California
5) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
8) Southern Methodist University
All of the schools profiled below have a history of sending graduates to the top advertising & PR firms in the country. For each of the best accounting colleges, College Transitions will provide you with—when available—each school’s:
- Enrollment
- Cost of Attendance
- Acceptance Rate
- Median SAT
- Median ACT
- Graduation Rate
- Retention Rate
We will also include a longer write-up of each college’s:
- Academic Highlights – Includes facts like student-to-faculty ratio, average class size, number of majors offered, and most popular majors.
- Professional Outcomes – Includes info on the rate of positive outcomes, companies employing alumni, and graduate school acceptances.
Salary Information
Want to know how much money graduates of the best advertising colleges make when they begin their careers? For each college listed (and hundreds of additional schools), you can view the starting salaries for advertising & public relations majors.
Rankings of Related Programs
After reviewing our list of best advertising programs (below), you may also be interested in our rankings for other related fields: