72U Summer Session

Our friend, Maria Scileppi, says 72U is "looking for Wonderful Weirdos." The application deadline for the program's summer session is February 10th.

How to Pick a Portfolio School - updated July 17, 2015

[SPECIAL GUEST POST FROM THE VCU BRANDCENTER'S ASHLEY SOMMARDAHL.]

Thanks for the opportunity to share my thoughts about portfolio schools. As Director of Student Affairs for the VCU Brandcenter, my POV may be a bit biased but hopefully some of this advice will be helpful. I’ll start by saying a few quick things about the VCU Brandcenter (I can’t help myself!) and then I’ll focus on portfolio schools in general.

The first thing our faculty, students, and alums will tell you about that Brandcenter is that we don’t consider ourselves to be a portfolio school. The Brandcenter is a comprehensive graduate advertising program focused on creativity, commerce (remember, advertising is a business!), collaboration, and culture. We have five tracks (Copywriting, Art Direction, Strategy, Creative Brand Management, and Experience Design), and while the students work together in cross-functional teams, each student develops an expertise in his/her individual track. Assignments at the Brandcenter are as realistic and practical as possible including actual "real world" assignments from companies like Google, Barnes & Noble, Audi, and HBO who've asked Brandcenter students to work on some of their most challenging marketing issues. Students are supervised by full-time faculty who’ve all had successful careers as Creative Directors, Planning Directors, Agency Presidents, Designers, Directors, and Editors. Most of our faculty members continue to work or consult in their field in addition to teaching. Brandcenter students earn a Master of Science degree in Business/Branding from Virginia Commonwealth University. Our students tell us the Master’s degree is important to them, more for the long-term, as it may give them an advantage if they choose to take on management roles or teach at the college level in the future. All of that said, the VCU Brandcenter is often included in the portfolio school “category" b/c all of our students (brand management, strategy, creative, and experience design) graduate with portfolios that showcase their strategic and creative thinking abilities. Our copywriters and art directors are often competing for jobs against graduates of Miami Ad School, Creative Circus, Chicago Portfolio School, and Portfolio Center. So, if you’re thinking about attending one of these schools, here are the questions I would ask each portfolio school you apply to (and if they don’t have the answers, that’s a red flag!)

QUESTIONS TO ASK OF PORTFOLIO SCHOOLS YOU ARE APPLYING TO: 

Answers for the VCU Brandcenter are below each question so you’ve got one school’s answers already! 

1.) What is your school’s job placement rate? (That’s why you’re going back to school, right? Most students go to a portfolio school to get a job in advertising vs. to continue on with a Ph.D in advertising.)

The VCU Brandcenter’s job placement rate is consistently 97% within 6 months of graduation. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of job placement rate using the Class of 2015 as an example. For reference, they graduated on May 9, 2015.

Job placement by graduation (May 9) = 25%

Job placement by June 1st = 56%

Job placement by July 1st = 83%

2.)  Can I see a list of where your most recent grads got jobs? (It’s important to see which agencies/companies currently recruit from the school. Who will be recruiting YOU when it’s time for you to graduate?)

Here’s a list of where the VCU Brandcenter Class of 2015 is getting jobs. All of the best agencies are on the list but it’s also important to note that brands like Facebook, Apple, Google, IBM, Coca-Cola, Capital One, Nike, etc. are also recruiting Brandcenter students and alums.

3.) What does the school do to help students get jobs? (Your portfolio/work is important but so are the connections your school has to the industry.)

The Brandcenter hosts a Recruiter Session event each April for recruiters to come meet our graduating students. Over the past 5 years, we’ve consistently had 200+ recruiters from the best agencies in the country attend our event. That’s more than a 2:1 ratio of recruiters to students! Check out who attended in April. 

4.) Can I see the portfolios of your most recent grads? (Look at the “end product” of your investment. Check out the graduates’ portfolios. Are you impressed by their work? Are you envious of their  portfolios? Hopefully, the answer is “yes!")

Here’s a list of VCU Brandcenter Class of 2015 student portfolios, organized by track.

5.) What does the school do to help students get summer internships? (I’m sure most grad programs talk about internships, but how many curate the opportunities and facilitate the application process for you?)

During the summer between the 1st and 2nd year of the Brandcenter program, the school facilitates PAID internships at some of the best agencies/ companies all over the US.  We curate all the available opportunities and our students can search the opportunities by agency/company, location or job title.  You can see where the Class of 2016 is interning this summer here. Internships are a great way to apply what you learned in school in the real world and make valuable industry connections. 

6.)  Who are your faculty? (How many of them are full-time vs. adjuncts who have other full-time jobs? How many of them actually worked and/or continue to work in our industry?)

Here’s a list of VCU Brandcenter faculty w/ bios.

7.)  Do you have salary data for your alums? (You are making a huge investment in yourself and the school you choose to attend. What’s the ROI (return on investment) going to be?)

Here’s a link to the VCU Brandcenter’s Alumni Salary Survey Results. It’s organized by discipline.

8.) Why do recruiters and creative directors say they like to hire graduates from your school? (What recruiters and CDs think about the school is important. They are the “gatekeepers” to your dream job.)

Here are some quotes from recruiters, CDs, and industry leaders about why they recruit from the VCU Brandcenter.

9.) Do you stay engaged with your alumni? (Again, grad school is an investment so make sure you choose one that will “pay dividends” long after you’ve graduated.)

Your relationship with the VCU Brandcenter doesn’t end when you graduate. Being that we are a small, elite program, we stay in close touch with our alums. And, our alums stay in close touch with each other helping one another interview, network, etc. We keep a job postings board for our alums so they have access to the newest job openings from agencies and companies all over the world. We also feature the work our alums are doing and we share their work and accolades with our industry contacts.  Check out a few of these recent projects from our alums.

10.) Why do so many Brandcenter alums end up marrying each other? 

I have no idea but it’s one of my favorite “statistics” about our students/alums. We always joke that we should make our recruiting strategy something like, “Come to the Brandcenter to get an amazing portfolio and job + find your soulmate.” 

Makinads is an amazing resource so keep reading what these guys have to say. You may also want to check out books like Pick Me (by Nancy Vonk and Janet Kestin) and Hey Whipple, Squeeze This (by Luke Sullivan) and Breaking In: How to Build a Portfolio that Will Get You Hired (by Burks Spencer.) Good luck to all of you as you pursue careers in advertising! Hopefully, I’ll see some of you at the VCU Brandcenter one day!

Ashley Sommardahl

VCU Brandcenter / Director of Student Affairs and Industry Outreach / 804-827-8874 direct / 103 S. Jefferson Street, Richmond, VA 23284

www.brandcenter.vcu.edu / asommardahl@vcu.edu

The Best of Makin' Ads

This is post #797 for makinads.com. But if you want just the very best of the last 796, we've compiled them into this book, now available at blurb.

It's over 200 pages of our most popular posts. And it comes with a review of major portfolio schools - something we haven't put on our blog. We've listed websites, tuition, tracks, locations, application deadlines, and more for schools like 72U, the VCU Brandcenter and everything in between to help portfolio school hopefuls figure out which school's best for them.

Preview and order your copy at The Best of Makin' Ads here.

(High fives to our pal B.Thibbs who designed the cover.)

The New 72U

Maria Scileppi doesn’t like to call 72U a portfolio school. Before heading things up there, she was the director of the Chicago Portfolio School, so she knows what a program full of art directors and copywriters looks like.

“This is really strategic art school for the maker,” she says.

Oh, yeah. And it’s backed by and housed in 72andSunny, AdAge's Agency of the Year.

72U Application is live from 72U on Vimeo.

I had breakfast with Maria last week and asked her about the new program. I gotta say, I’m jealous something like that wasn’t around when I was trying to break into the industry. Here are some of the highlights:

Forget what you thought you knew about 72U. It’s a new program. It used to be 10-months. Now it’s 12 weeks. It used to cost applicants $10,000. Now it’s free. (Students will pay $1,000, which goes toward their final project.)

Six applicants will be selected, and they’ll work individually, in groups of two, in groups of three, and all together. They’ll be sharing space with 72andSunny employees. They won’t be grouped together, and they won’t be separate from the agency. They’ll be seamlessly integrated.

They’ll have a range of assignments. Not all – in fact, very few – will be making ads. One assignment will be to develop and market a brand that embodies who they are. Another will be to fix a broken system. Maria says the purpose of each exercise is to make sure students come out with a stronger creative process. They’ll think and make faster.

Who should apply? Maria says, “It’s an intense curriculum, so people won’t be able to hold a job while they participate. I imagine they’re a couple years out of college. Maybe they got stuck at the wrong job and don’t know how to switch over. They don’t have to have any advertising experience, but they do have to have talent.”

Applications for 72U can be found at 72U.org. The deadline for applications is April 5^th. The program will begin May 27^th. The next session is planned for October 2013.

If you've got questions, reach out to Maria and 72U on Twitter.

If You're Interested In Portfolio School...

The VCU Brandcenter is holding two info sessions for prospective students on November 9th and November 30th.

For those of you not in Virginia, the November 30th session will be live streamed.

Click here for more information.

Shout Out to Ronny

We don't normally highlight current work on Makin' Ads, but since this great piece was written by a friend and former classmate, we had to give a shout out to Ronny Northrop. Be sure to read Ronny's post on being too old for portfolio school. You're never too old for portfolio school if it can help you create stuff like this.

The Maker Generation

Last week, I was able to catch up with my friend, mentor and first boss Kevin Lynch. Over lunch he said a few things worth sharing here. Paraphrasing, of course. My hands were too busy with my pulled pork sandwich to take notes.

According to Kevin, you portfolio students and recent grads are the Maker Generation. When Kevin or I were looking for our first jobs, if we wanted to pull something real together, we would have had to find a typesetter, a photographer, maybe a sound engineer. Nothing got produced that didn't involve a team.

But today, people are producing work all the time with nothing more than a great idea and maybe a little tech shrewdness. I go to portfolio school reviews each year and more and more, there are students developing their own apps, fonts, websites, radio programs. It's not just theory.

Kevin said this democratization of maker-iness means there's no reason any portfolio school grad should go into a job interview where the person interviewing hasn't already heard of them.

That's a pretty high bar. Thing is, there are plenty of examples out there where portfolio school students (your competition) are already clearing it.

7 Things for Portfolio Grads Should Be Doing

This is a repost from a year ago. But if you're a graduation portfolio school student, I think it's still valid.

Portfolio-Launch.com Beta Testing

[Portfolio Launch is currently off-line. We'll repost once we find a new server. 8.29.12]

Before I launch this site officially, I'm announcing the beta version on makinads.com.

There are five concepting exercises on this site meant to help portfolio school applicants put together a competitive book.

The art direction of the site is admittedly underwhelming. I'm working on that. Comments and criticism of the content is very welcome.

WWW.PORTFOLIO-LAUNCH.COM

VCU Brandcenter, The Most Innovative Business School in the World

The VCU Brandcenter beat out Harvard, Wharton, Notre Dame and the London School of Business to be named The Most Innovative Business School in the World. Couldn't be more proud of my alma mater.

While this speaks volumes for the Brandcenter's success, I think it also says a lot about a creatively focused organization versus more traditional approach. I'm not about to knock Harvard or Wharton. But I've got to believe they don't approach problems with the same level of creativity you'd find in most portfolio school programs. (Don't let the suits and ties in the photo fool you.)



I especially love the quote from Lee Clow in the interview: "If you wish to outsmart, out simplify."

Temerlin Advertising Institute

For a long, long time, if you wanted to get a job in advertising, the Portfolio Center in Atlanta was your best (and maybe only) shot. By the time I applied to the VCU Adcenter, the pool of legitimate, post-graduate portfolio schools was up to three (including the Creative Circus). Students today have a much greater selection, and I think that's to everyone's benefit.

I recently met Dr. Patty Alvey, who heads up the Temerlin Advertising Institute at SMU in Dallas. Dr. Alvey's helped build the creative programs at UT Austin at the VCU Brandcenter. Like Luke Sullivan joining SCAD, It's exciting to see someone with such a successful history building a new program and giving more options to those looking to break into the industry.

If you're scouting out portfolio school programs, do yourself a favor and see what Temerlin at SMU has to offer.

Do ad schools turn out the best talent?

If you're a student in a portfolio school, you need to watch this video on creativity-online.com.

Sorry I can't embed it. But I've got to say I agree with a lot of what they say. (Craft is often neglected, junior creatives struggle to create "scaleable" work, a lot of schools turn out a vanilla product, etc.)

You should spend eight minutes watching then, then go back and reassess your book.

I'm curious to know what some of you portfolio school students think about this. Love to hear your comments.

Whipple Went Down to Georgia

Our recruiter visited SCAD a couple weeks ago and came back raving about the place. The fact that Luke Sullivan just announced that he'll be joining SCAD as the Chair of their Advertising Department ups those raves exponentially. As if eating at Paula Deen's restaurant between classes wasn't a good enough reason to go there.

Good luck to Luke. Looking forward to SCAD being a serious contender in the college shows.

Why Portfolio Schools?

When I was in portfolio school, there were two girls who quit after the first semester. When I asked them a few months later what they were up to they both gave me the same answer "Working on my portfolio." They were still pursuing a career in advertising. They'd just given up on portfolio school.

In my opinion, that was a huge mistake.

A lot of undergraduates have asked my advice on their books. After reviewing their work, I've always told them the same thing: "You should look into portfolio school." And they almost never want to take it.

Here are some of the reasons I've heard for not going to portfolio school:

1. It's too expensive.
2. I can put my book together on my own.
3. An internship at an agency will be just as good.
4. I want to get a job now, not in 1-2 years.

Here's my one reason for going:

1. Portfolio school graduates have books that are lightyears ahead of non-portfolio school grads. Lightyears.

Is this true 100% of the time? No. But it is, maybe 98%. The rare exceptions are top-of-the-class wunderkids from dedicated programs like the University of Texas or the BYU Adlab. Sure, you can get by without portfolio school. Just like people make it into the NBA without playing college ball. It happens. But that's a huge bet.

So let me address each of these concerns as best I  can.

COST: Portfolio schools can be expensive. But it's your career you're investing in. Skimp on your education, and you're only limiting your job prospects.

GOING SOLO: In portfolio school, you'll be paired with writers and art directors who are hopefully trying to do their best work, too. You'll be instructed by people with more experience and more interest in your success than you'll ever get from a book or magazine. If you're putting your book together on your own, you may as well be doing it in a dark closet.

INTERNSHIPS ARE A WAY IN: They're really not. Don't get me wrong, internships are very valuable. But if you want a job as a writer or art director, it's not like Mad Men, where you take a job as a receptionist and eventually work your way up into the creative department. More and more, internships at top agencies are for portfolio school students in between semesters.

I DON'T WANT TO WAIT: The year or two you put into a portfolio school program will give you more of a jump on your career than taking a menial job at a direct mail shop that lets you put your book together in your down time. Portfolio schools are a launch pad, not a time suck.


Which portfolio school should you look into? That's your call. Jim and I are both graduates of the VCU Brandcenter, and we can't say enough good about that place. We've also both taught at the Chicago Portfolio School, which we're big fans of, and Jim's taught at the Miami Ad School in San Francisco, which is a killer program. We've seen great books come out of all three, as well as the Creative Circus, Portfolio Center, and Brainco. If you can get into W+K 12 or the new school from 72 and Sunny, more power to you.

Is this US-centric? Probably. But I gotta be honest, I spent two years working in Europe, and I didn't see any program that comes close to those I've seen in the US. Maybe the Bergh's School of Communication. They've won some notable student awards, but I can't read their homepage. I've also seen some great student books out of Brazil, but, again I'll plead ignorance in my native tongue. (If you're a graduate or teacher of a portfolio school outside the United States, let us know. We'd be happy to sing your praises here.) Also, it's no surprise the number of foreign students coming to American portfolio schools has been on the rise.

[Update 3/22/13: 72U has revised their program. Read about it here.]

[Update 5/16/13: For a comprehensive list of portfolio programs, check out The Best of Makin' Ads now available on Blurb.com.]

[Update 6/30/14: VCU Brandcenter's Ashley Sommardahl wrote this great post on How to Pick a Portfolio School, and offers a list of questions students should ask when applying to programs.]

Your real asset

I left portfolio school with what I think was a pretty solid book. But the real asset I left with was the network of my peers.

People I used to go to movies with and make waffles with and go to karaoke bars with and laugh really hard with and stay up really late trying to do better ads while downing a box of Krispy Kremes with now work in almost every major market in America at places like Goodby, GSD&M, DDB, Fallon, Publics, david&goliath, Burnett, BBDO, Chiat/Day, Crispin and Vitro/Robertson. Most hold leadership positions, and I'm pretty sure collectively, we've won every major award out there. It's good company.

If you haven't decided whether or not portfolio school is for you, consider the fact that I haven't needed my student book in almost a decade. But I keep in touch with these people very frequently.

Why'd You Go Where You Went?

Taking the questions from this post a little further, why did you choose the portfolio school you're attending?

If you're not going to a portfolio school, why'd you choose not to?

Ontario College of Art & Design

If you're looking for a portfolio school, here's a recent ad from the Ontario College of Art & Design. Click to enlarge.



Out of curiosity, does seeing this make you want to go there? Does this?

Extra Bold Portfolio School

I've just learned about a new portfolio school in Madison, Wisconsin. It's called Extra Bold. Here's a Madison news story on it:

Exciting stuff. If you're a student at Extra Bold, best of luck. If you're a student at another school, you've just put some faces to your competition. Which is always a good thing.

Shhh!

Portfolio Night is almost here. Can you feel the power?

One piece of advice: When you sit down with the person reviewing your book, feel free to exchange pleasantries, but once they open your portfolio and begin perusing the fruits of your labor, resist the urge to speak.

Do not talk. Do not explain. Do not comment.

Enjoy the awkward silence that is the interview process. If the reviewer has questions, by all means, answer them. After they've gone through your work, ask them all the questions you want. But during the review, it's quite time. Don't even preface a campaign with, "The strategy with this one was..." The strategy should be apparent.

This isn't protocol. It's just common sense. When you talk as someone is trying to look at your ads (even the purely visual ones) this is what happens:



Thursday night, let your book speak for you.

The Bar

When I was a student, I thought creative directors wanted to see ads that looked like they could win awards. I thought that was a high bar. I used to open up a One Show, CA or D&AD after completing a campaign and ask myself if it were good enough to appear in those pages.

Now, having flipped through countless student books and having observed co-workers do the same, I realize we're not looking for ads that might win a Pencil.

We're looking for ads that make us jealous.

We're looking for ads we wish we had in our own books.

We're looking for ads that honestly make us think, "I wish I'd done that."

That's your bar. I wish I could tell you how to reach it. All I can tell you that the easiest way to never reach it is to tell yourself that your campaign is "good enough."