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Subject Expert
Go to college. Especially since “creative” in advertising is a dying business.
When the time comes for you finally leave, unless you go into tech, not having a college degree will drastically limit your opportunities since most companies require them.
Subject Expert
That’s youth talking.
Yes, not having a college degree is fine for agencies and even some tech companies but a majority of clients are and will always be archaic in their employee mandates. Candidates without one will be automatically rejected.
Times may have changed, but most of the writers I knew when I started didn’t have degrees. People thought it stilted their creative thinking and writing.
My CD preferred hiring writers without degrees. (I was the exception.)
My well-respected copywriter dad retired as a VP at NW Ayer and didn’t finish college. ( He was also at McCann, B & B, and Y & R. )
He, Jerry DellaFemina and Evan Stark ( a brilliant writer best known for his legendary Alka Seltzer spots) all started in the mailroom of an ad agency, along with ten guys who all had Ivy League degrees.
The only three who made it in advertising didn’t have college degrees. The ten college guys at the agency all crashed and burned.
Advertising copywriting is one of the few careers where a college degree isn’t needed. Good luck!
Thissssss
Yes, no need for a degree. Just killer work and real leadership skills.
Senior Copywriter 4, what is funny about that?
You don’t need one, but it’s not a bad thing to have. Not having one would be a problem if you tried going client side/working outside of advertising.
I’m from South America thinking I had no chance here in the US because my degree is from there and they’ve never asked for my degree in any of my jobs. Read books about advertising though, it never hurts to educate yourself
No degree + social connections + talent = OK.
No degree + social connections + no talent = OK.
No degree + no social connections + talent = Hard
Think the first one is wrong, that’d = good.
Not going to matter at all as a creative
If you ever want to work abroad, they will ask for your education.
Not true. Europe especially.
the way this industry has been evolving a background knowing business fundamentals might be an asset
same with biology, what's your point
Have your parents ever worked in, you know, an advertising agency? If not...and they sound like lovely people but...they don't know wtf they're talking about. :)
You probably don’t need a traditional 4 year degree to succeed in advertising, but you do need to study like a mother before and during your career. Study the industry, what inspires/drives it (psychology, art, business, etc). Being naturally curious is a massive advantage
Not sure but I do think at that level a degree is required. However my partner is SVP level without a degree.
A degree is not needed if you have experience and a book to show your craft. My advice would be to write copy and create a portfolio to showcase your level of expertise in the field. Case studies can help as well.
You definitely don’t learn how to run an agency from a college course. Nobody cares.
Visual Storyteller
In advertising it doesn’t matter.
In the chance that you decide you don’t like advertising, or want a job client side, or do like advertising but struggle to keep or get a job with the industry in a good amount of turmoil… not having a degree probably wouldn’t effect your ability to DO the job. But it might effect your chance to GET it
You don’t need a degree to land a creative job in advertising. But unless you already have your foot in the door at Leo Burnett…
You often need college or portfolio school experience as a stepping stone for an internship or your first gig.
You honestly just need killer work. Problem is all your competition is going to school to learn how to make killer work and build a book.
You are correct. I’ve been doing this for 25+ years and no one has ever asked to see my degree. That said, going to college helped make me who I am today. I was an immature brat from a small town, so going to a big school was the culture shock I needed. Those 4 years helped me grow up and made me see the world from different perspectives. And I ended up loving the classes - English lit (all that reading!), econ, history, even geology…it all just helped give me a good foundation to think bigger. And the part-time jobs I had to pay for school taught me that if you want something, you gotta work for it.
Not everyone needs that. If you don’t want to go to school, don’t go. It will be a waste of your money. Just be the best you can be, try to improve daily and never stop learning. You’ll do just fine.
Apprentice work can still get you through, if they like you, and if you happen to be at top ad /marketing agencies, being mentored by top people - who DID go to college, and if your writing is actually as good as you may think it is. You are then dependent on others for your skill set as opposed to you obtaining the range of fundamental storytelling techniques taught and then adding to your own take on things when you are mentored.
There's a buzz over past couple of years about College is a waste of money. Well, colleges and legislation have made it money grubbing, when boomers got reasonably priced college.
College is not just learning 1subject matter...it's where you learn critical thinking skills, take classes that broaden your understanding on a deeper level than what you'd learn in high school. You meet people from all over the country /world who are all there to become better informed. My college I had a program to study abroad in Europe for a semester and utilized their program to then do a semester in LA. I was challenged in classes to problem-solve with my creativity in ways I wouldn't have realized to do - but I saw how much Better my competition was, and it pushed my own creativity even higher. College informs your ingenuity across many things. It shows ppl that you had the commitment bandwidth to do 4 years of studies and made it out.
The annoying feeling you may have with all ppl you go to high school with...don't let that fool you thinking college will have those same types of ppl - especially if you go out of state. The college you go to can also open doors at the jobs you want because the hiring mgr went there.
I've never met one person who didn't hit a ceiling of wishing they had at least an AA or basic BA as they try to move up.
And to be really honest, on an extremely practical level, Copywriting is potentially a dying art if Ai doesn't get regulated. You need an environment where you can become a triple threat. Learn statistics so you can do data analytics, learn graphic design so you can photoshop/Adobe suite and design artwork, learn video editing for social media needs, learn business economics for budgeting a market campaign, learn excel, and learn some type of coding. College will teach you the latest advancements...that your mentor may have no idea about what is coming to wipe out what is working now.
You riding the backs of other people's knowledge...means you are at the mercy of not knowing how good or bad they are. 😬
And if you hate the grind of copywriting after 10 years...then where ya gonna go? You wouldn't even have a basic journalist or creative writing degree to fall back on to have credibility for something else.
You are only thinking right now, as if you will love a job forever...people now change careers 4 or 5 times. Your College degree allows you to expand and let's you try different avenues. even doing an internship could blow your mind of what you thought you wanted.
Also, I find it hard to date someone who willingly chose to turn down college. There's something off, or this feeling like if they couldn't handle 4 years of college, or even they went for 2 years and dropped out. That is not to say I haven't dated the school of knocks ppl, and there are so many hardworking ppl that don't have a degree, but they didn't necessarily have the choice. But there's a difference.
Community Builder
Droga doesn’t have a degree
Yes a good designer is good at copywriting also