Program at a glance
- Structure: 48 credits spanning 12 specialized courses
- Duration: 3 semesters
- Format: On-campus; options for full-time or part-time enrollment
- Tuition: Per-credit rate
- GRE: Not required
- Scholarships: Merit scholarships available — no separate application required
- Double Terrier: 25% tuition discount automatically applied for BU undergraduate students and alumni
Great advertising starts with understanding people
What captures their attention? What motivates them? What makes an idea stick, or a brand matter?
At COM, you’ll learn to answer those questions and use what you discover throughout the advertising process:
- See opportunities other people miss. Uncover audience insights to inform strategy and brand development.
- Turn great insights into unforgettable ideas. Master creative execution through conceptual thinking, copywriting, and art direction.
- Know what works—and why. Interpret campaign performance analytics and optimize work across channels.
You’ll also explore how AI is reshaping creative development, audience insights, media planning, and campaign optimization, learning how these tools can strengthen strategy while understanding where human creativity, judgment, and storytelling remain irreplaceable.
Because great advertising benefits from diverse perspectives, our cohorts welcome students from a wide range of academic and professional backgrounds. Whether you’re coming directly from undergraduate study or pivoting from another field, you’ll learn to collaborate creatively and generate ideas that move people.
Why earn your MS in Advertising at COM?
Learn from the people behind the ads. Your professors bring experience as creative directors, strategists, researchers, and agency leaders into the classroom, helping you develop the judgment and perspective to lead campaigns, solve client challenges, and build brands.
Run AdLab. Put what you’re learning to work in the nation’s longest-running student-run advertising agency, collaborating with classmates to work like an agency team for real clients.
Win awards before you graduate. Don’t just create spec work—create award-winning work. BU advertising students regularly earn honors from Young Ones (The One Show), D&AD, and the Hatch Awards.
Graduate with a portfolio that proves what you can do. Creative Café connects you with advertising professionals and accomplished alumni who review your portfolio and résumé, helping you refine your work, strengthen your story, and stand out to employers.
What can you do with a Master’s in Advertising?
A master’s in advertising prepares you to shape how brands connect with people, combining creative thinking, audience insight, strategy, and data to solve communication challenges across platforms.
And the field continues to evolve. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that employment for advertising, promotions, and marketing managers will grow 6% over the next decade—faster than the average for all occupations. As platforms and technologies change, employers need advertising professionals who can adapt, make informed decisions, and connect with audiences in new ways.
More than 90% of COM graduate students report finding employment within six months of graduation. BU alumni work at leading agencies, global brands, startups, consulting firms, and in-house creative teams around the world.
Where our graduates work
- Creative agencies: BBDO, Wieden+Kennedy, Mischief, McCann, Saatchi & Saatchi, Digitas, Amp Agency, Barbarian
- Global brands: Amazon, Apple, Alibaba Group, AstraZeneca, Lego, ASICS, Blue Bottle Coffee, Boston Beer Company
- Consulting firms: Accenture Song, C Space, Chadwick Martin Bailey
Common career pathways
Whether you’re drawn to creative storytelling, strategic thinking, audience insights, or client leadership, you’ll graduate prepared for roles such as:
- Creative: Copywriter, Art Director, UX/UI Designer
- Strategy + audience insights: Brand Strategist, Data & Analytics Lead, Marketing Insight Analyst, Head of Strategy
- Client leadership + account management: Account Executive, Client Partner, Brand Director, Senior Integrated Marketing Manager
Industry experience, built into your degree
You won’t wait until after graduation to start building professional experience. Through AdLab, internships, industry programs, and networking opportunities, you’ll put what you’re learning into practice and build connections while you earn your degree.
AdLab: COM’s AdLab puts you inside a fast-paced agency environment. You’ll handle client briefs for organizations ranging from national brands like Under Armour and Celebrity Cruises to emerging tech startups, collaborating with strategists, writers, designers, and account teams just as you would in an agency. You’ll learn to balance insight, strategy, collaboration, and ideas under deadlines.
AdLab is almost like a job you’ll have while you’re studying–it’ll definitely challenge you, but it’s worth it. My team worked with a healthcare company on a complete brand overhaul. Since I’m on the creative track, I got to design the logos, write the taglines, and reshape their brand image altogether. Recruiters respect the fact that you have agency experience on your résumé before you even graduate.
Tanishka Singh, MS in Advertising
Internships in Boston + beyond: Take your skills beyond the classroom. Complete internships in Boston—a top-10 U.S. media market—or spend a semester working in London, Los Angeles, or Washington, DC. Students have interned with agencies including Ogilvy, BBDO, The Martin Agency, McCann, and many more.
Creative Café: You’ll be paired with creative directors, art directors, and copywriters from agencies like MullenLowe, Digitas, and Arnold—many of whom are accomplished alumni—for candid portfolio reviews and career advice. You’ll refine your book and receive the kind of feedback that helps you stand out during interviews.
Spring Break NYC Ad Tour: Trade the typical spring break for a week inside agencies like Droga5, Saatchi & Saatchi, Amazon Ads, and Giant Spoon. Meet the leaders, see how breakthrough campaigns are developed, and wrap up the week at a COM alumni networking mixer.
AdClub: Join BU’s chapter of the American Advertising Federation to connect with industry professionals, compete in national advertising competitions, and expand your creative network.
What you’ll learn
You’ll build a foundation in consumer behavior, audience research, advertising strategy, creative development, media strategy, analytics, ethics, and client management, then customize your degree around the areas that match your career goals.
Whether you’re drawn to copywriting, art direction, strategy, account management, media planning, or analytics, electives let you deepen your expertise while building the cross-functional skills to understand and contribute across the advertising process.
Core curriculum + specialized pathways
Core foundation (5 courses / 20 credits)
Five core courses give every student shared experience in research, strategy, creative development, client management, and analytics.
- COM CM 708: Research Methods in Advertising | Learn how to gather and interpret consumer insights, analyze market trends, and turn raw data into creative and strategic recommendations.
- COM CM 712: Advertising Strategy | Master the art of positioning brands, mapping consumer journeys, and defining the “big idea” that drives modern creative work.
- COM CM 717: AdLab (student-run agency) | Work as a team inside America’s oldest student-run agency, managing real-world client budgets, timelines, and strategy.
- COM CM 721: Advertising Management | Understand the business side of advertising, from client-agency relationships to budgeting, campaign optimization, and creative evaluation.
- COM CM 726: Digital Analytics & Metrics | Build fluency in tracking campaign performance, understanding user acquisition, and analyzing digital media ecosystems.
Advanced electives (7 courses / 28 credits)
Choose electives that let you specialize in the areas you’re most interested in. While many students build around one of these pathways, you can combine courses across tracks to create your own professional focus.
Strategy + insights (Best for: Brand Strategists, Data Analysts, Account Planners)
- CM 519: Interactive Marketing Strategy
- CM 722: Consumer Behavior
- CM 730: Marketing Communication Strategies
- CM 753: Global Marketing Communication
Creative + copywriting (Best for: Copywriters, Art Directors, UX Designers)
- CM 713: Digital Media Design
- CM 718: Creative Concepting
- CM 743: Advanced Copywriting
- CM 745: Advanced Art Direction
Account leadership + media strategy (Best for: Account Executives, Brand Managers, Media Planners)
- CM 715: Peer-to-Peer Leadership
- CM 723: Media Strategy & Planning
- CM 724: Agency Account Management
- CM 738: Global Advertising
I chose this program because there was so much flexibility in how I could shape my courses. Landing a strategy role right out of school is incredibly difficult, and I knew I needed a highly competitive portfolio. At BU COM, I was able to build a custom course experience where I mastered consumer insights, creative brief writing, and campaign execution—exactly the soft and hard skills I rely on every day to lead major global brand accounts.
Niharika Verma, Senior Brand Strategist at VML Chicago. Read Niharika’s story.
Build the work you’ll be known for
From your first semester, you’ll develop integrated campaigns, solve real client challenges, and create work that showcases your creativity, strategic thinking, and craft. By graduation, you’ll leave with more than a degree—you’ll have a portfolio that proves you’re ready for the next phase of your career.
Award-winning student work
Many portfolio courses are built around national competitions, giving you the opportunity to have your work judged by industry professionals before you graduate.
- Top 5 global ranking in the One Show student awards
- 37 Young Ones awards in the past five years
- 16 of 21 total Hatch awards swept by BU teams last year
- D&AD New Blood Pencil distinctions for breakthrough creative work
Recent campaigns include:
- “Escape from Level Zero” for Xbox — D&AD New Blood Pencil, 2025 (Ahalya Bahuguna, CW; Rohan Carlo Sugapong, AD; Matt Gill, AD)
- “Life Begins With Coach” — Grad Portfolio II (Ahalya Bahuguna, CW; Carly Hansen, AD; Xinru Jiang, Strategy)
- “Slurp Juice” for Fanta — Young Ones 2024, Triple Pencil Winner: Gold, Silver, Bronze (Kairen Shi; Iraj Chaudhry)
- “Make it Peanut Better” — Young Ones 2024 ADC Merit, Hatch Silver (Maria Paula Arizabaleta)
Students have recently created these campaigns for clients:
Learn from industry leaders
BU’s advertising faculty are creative directors, strategists, agency founders, and researchers who shape today’s advertising industry. They’ve led award-winning work at agencies including BBDO, MullenLowe, Digitas, Deutsch, and Hill Holliday, creating campaigns—from Super Bowl commercials to global brand launches—that have earned advertising’s highest honors, including Cannes Lions, Clios, and The One Show.
Their ongoing work and connections across the industry bring client challenges, emerging trends, and perspectives into the classroom, helping you build both your expertise and your network.
Having been on the agency side before I came to BU, I loved hiring people who went through the BU AD program because they had real hands-on experience. They understood the language, the assignments—the work they did as students replicated the work they did when they came in. You graduate well-prepared to hit the ground running.
Professor Karen Mascott
Study advertising in one of America’s top creative markets
Boston is home to national advertising agencies, global brands, technology companies, startups, and nonprofits—all looking for creative thinkers who understand audiences and know how to solve communication challenges. Through internships, client projects, agency visits, partnerships, and networking, the city becomes an extension of your classroom and a place to start building your professional network before you graduate.
- Global creative networks: Digitas, MullenLowe, and Publicis Sapient
- Leading Boston agencies: Hill Holliday, Arnold Worldwide, and Allen & Gerritsen
- Independent shops: Merge, CTP, MMB, and Amp Agency
Frequently asked questions about the MS in Advertising
While all three degrees touch the business world, they focus on completely different stages of the corporate pipeline:
- MS in Advertising: Focuses on creative strategy, audience insights, campaign development, and media planning. Best for students who want to create campaigns, shape brands, and lead creative work across agencies, in-house teams, and media organizations.
- MS in Marketing: Focuses on product strategy, pricing, customer acquisition, and market performance.
- MBA: Focuses on organizational leadership, finance, operations, and executive management.
Advertising is paid, controlled communication—brands pay to place targeted messages in front of audiences across specific media channels. Public relations focuses on earned media, reputation management, and organic relationship-building with journalists and organizational stakeholders. If you’re drawn to creative strategy, copywriting, art direction, media planning, and paid campaigns, advertising is likely the better fit.
No. You don’t need a design portfolio or professional communications background to apply. Our curriculum is designed to help you build a professional portfolio from the ground up, and students join the program from backgrounds including business, psychology, engineering, journalism, the humanities, and many other fields.
Yes. You can complete the program part-time and pace your coursework to fit your professional schedule. Many advanced electives are offered in late afternoon or evening blocks to accommodate working professionals in the Boston area.
No. Many students refine their interests during the core curriculum before choosing electives that deepen their expertise in creative development, strategy, analytics, or account management. Because every student begins with the same core foundation, you have the flexibility to mix and match electives—or even change direction entirely—as you discover whether your strengths lie in data-driven strategy, creative copywriting, art direction, or client leadership.
BU’s program combines classroom learning with multiple opportunities to put that learning into practice, from real client work in AdLab and portfolio development through Creative Café to the NYC Ad Tour, global internship options, and international creative competitions: top 5 globally in the One Show student awards, 37 Young Ones awards in five years, and consistent Hatch and D&AD recognition.
While all three degrees touch the business world, they focus on completely different stages of the corporate pipeline: Advertising is paid, controlled communication—brands pay to place targeted messages in front of audiences across specific media channels. Public relations focuses on earned media, reputation management, and organic relationship-building with journalists and organizational stakeholders. If you’re drawn to creative strategy, copywriting, art direction, media planning, and paid campaigns, advertising is likely the better fit. No. You don’t need a design portfolio or professional communications background to apply. Our curriculum is designed to help you build a professional portfolio from the ground up, and students join the program from backgrounds including business, psychology, engineering, journalism, the humanities, and many other fields. Yes. You can complete the program part-time and pace your coursework to fit your professional schedule. Many advanced electives are offered in late afternoon or evening blocks to accommodate working professionals in the Boston area. No. Many students refine their interests during the core curriculum before choosing electives that deepen their expertise in creative development, strategy, analytics, or account management. Because every student begins with the same core foundation, you have the flexibility to mix and match electives—or even change direction entirely—as you discover whether your strengths lie in data-driven strategy, creative copywriting, art direction, or client leadership. BU’s program combines classroom learning with multiple opportunities to put that learning into practice, from real client work in AdLab and portfolio development through Creative Café to the NYC Ad Tour, global internship options, and international creative competitions: top 5 globally in the One Show student awards, 37 Young Ones awards in five years, and consistent Hatch and D&AD recognition.Frequently asked questions about the MS in Advertising
Choosing your path: other COM graduate degrees
Learn more about our other graduate programs in communication and media, including:
- MS in Media Science: For students who want to understand why communication works through audience research, behavioral science, and communication theory.
- MS in Media Science — Marketing Communication Research Concentration: For students who want to use consumer research and analytics to improve communication strategy and marketing decisions.
- MS in Public Relations: For students focused on reputation management, media relations, crisis communication, and organizational storytelling—with hands-on experience through PRLab.
- MA in Emerging Media Studies: For students who want to understand how AI, digital platforms, and emerging technologies shape human behavior, communication, and society.
- MS in Strategic Integrated Communication (online): A fully online master’s for working professionals who want to lead at the intersection of branding, integrated marketing, crisis communication, and digital strategy.
- MS in Human-Centered Design: For students pursuing UX/UI careers through user research, interaction design, product strategy, and prototyping.
