Top 10 Reasons To Choose The Master’s Program Over Portfolio School

1) You get a diploma and a portfolio
A portfolio gets you a job in Advertising, while the diploma opens other doors you may want to open in the future.

2) My sponsor (AKA my parents)
I am one of those rare cases in the Ad world were in which my parents actually know what a copywriter does (only a bit, but I´ll give them some credit). Regardless of this, they don’t understand what portfolio school is, so the master’s program was an option they found viable.

3) It’s shorter
After studying for 4 years in university, another 2 years seems like an eternity. 18 months was the perfect amount of time.

4) The chance of becoming a teacher
Get a jacket with elbow pads, grow a goatee, and grab star smoking pipe. You have sexy professor written all over you.

5) Higher salary
Not that I’m doing this for the money, but it’s good to know employers value education.

6) You become distinguished
You get to include “MS” before your name on your contact cards. What a nice and subtle way to make a mother proud.

7) You develop smarter campaigns
You end up taking a lot of strategic classes. This allows you to think rationally about the product and the target and not wander off from the start. Although, sometimes that’s exactly what is needed.

8) Real University experience
As a foreigner, I’ve always wanted to know what it means to be enrolled in an American University. You probably spend more time at Miami Ad School, but you still get the experience of going to a big campus.

9) OPT (if you are foreign)
After you finish the program, you can apply for a temporary work permit, because it is a certified degree. Isn’t that why you wanted to come to the States in the first place?

10) The challenge
Your brain goes back and forth from being structured on what an academic institution wants and what a creative school wants. It can be exhausting – but it helps to see things from another point of view.