Advertising Schools

There is much debate among people new to the advertising community over whether advertising schools are really essential if you want to go far in a program of advertising career. While advertising schools can really help you get started in the field, as long as you are a hard worker, interested in psychology, management, sales, and all of the other advertising field related aspects, you really can go far on your own without formal training, however, advertising schools can really give you the boost you need to jumpstart your career in advertising.

This is because advertising schools  provide advanced training that would take years to get on the job in the normal career world. They can show you advanced aspects of psychology which will allow you to more effectively help your clients in marketing, which you wouldn't necessarily learn otherwise. You'll learn to develop your instincts and your nose for a good strategy on the job of course, and much better than you can in advertising schools (there is really no substitute for on the job training), but the formal theory of advertising is best learned in a school environment, and can later provide all kinds of help and reference in finding out what will sell for your clients.

Advertising schools really are not, in my opinion ultimately worth it if you are bright and creative and willing to work hard and do extra research when required. One year of outstanding employment in a reputable advertising firm will do more for your career than a degree in an advertising school. This is because advertising is all about being cutting edge and discarding tradition. No one cares if you have the formal training really. They care only if you can get the results. Advertising firms are not always likely to hire people with business backgrounds – they hire people with backgrounds in English, languages, sociology, psychology – bright people who can bring in unique skills and perspectives that can be used to more effectively sell the products.

As a matter of fact, according to some experts, advertising schools account for only a small proportion of those who enter advertising, and by no means are all of them successful. There is really no substitute for on the job experience, and unless you really feel uncomfortable going into a field without being fully trained in all of its aspects, you'd be better going through college and getting a liberal arts education which will teach you to think and observe the society around you – two skills which will serve you well as a future advertising executive.