Program at a glance
- Duration: 3 semesters
- Curriculum: 12 courses | 48 credits
- Format: On-campus; full-time and part-time options
- Tuition: Per-credit rate; view tuition and estimated living expenses
- GRE: Not required
- Scholarships: Merit scholarships available; no separate application required
- Double Terrier: Eligible BU undergraduate students and alumni receive a minimum 25% tuition scholarship
What is an MS in Advertising?
An MS in Advertising is a graduate degree for people who want to make ideas that move others, and understand why they work. At Boston University’s College of Communication, it’s a 12-course, 48-credit program that combines audience research, brand strategy, creative development, and analytics, with real client work, completed in three semesters (full-time). With real client work through AdLab, you’ll graduate with campaigns, not just coursework.
Learn the business while finding your strengths
Why does one campaign make you stop scrolling while another disappears into the background? What makes people care about a brand? And how do you turn an interesting idea into advertising that works? Those are the kinds of questions you’ll explore at COM.
You’ll discover how campaigns come together, from identifying an audience insight to developing the creative idea, reaching the right people, and evaluating the results.
The program gives you a foundation across the field, with electives that let you pursue your interests.
Creative and copywriting. Want to come up with the ideas people remember? Explore creative concepting, copywriting, art direction, and digital design. Develop campaigns that turn audience insights into compelling messages and experiences across platforms.
Strategy and audience insights. If you’re more interested in figuring out what makes people tick, study consumer behavior, audience research, brand positioning, and marketing strategy. Learn to find the insight behind a strong campaign and turn research into recommendations that creative teams can use.
Account leadership and media strategy. Do you love making complex projects come together? Develop skills in account management, media planning, and advertising leadership. Explore how agencies work with clients, coordinate teams, make strategic decisions, and bring campaigns to market.
You’ll also examine how AI is changing advertising, from research and concept development to media planning and measurement. Beyond understanding the tools, the challenge is knowing how to evaluate their output, make smart decisions, and recognize an idea worth pursuing.
You don’t have to choose just one direction. The combination of core courses and electives gives you room to explore while developing an understanding of how different advertising roles work together.
What makes BU’s advertising program different?
Learn from advertising pros. Your professors have created Super Bowl commercials, led agency teams, and earned some of advertising’s highest honors.
Get real-world experience in AdLab. At the nation’s longest-running student-run advertising agency, you’ll work with real clients to research audiences, develop strategies, pitch ideas, and create campaigns.
Create award-winning work. BU advertising students regularly earn honors in major competitions, including the Young Ones, D&AD New Blood Awards, and Hatch Awards, putting your work in front of advertising pros beyond BU.
Build your portfolio. Graduate with more than a collection of class assignments. You’ll develop a portfolio that shows how you think, solve problems, and turn ideas into campaigns. At the Creative Café event, ad professionals and alumni review your portfolio and résumé, helping you refine your work before you start your job search.
What can you do with a Master’s in Advertising?
Advertising careers go well beyond traditional agencies. Brands, technology companies, consulting firms, media organizations, startups, and in-house creative teams all need people who understand audiences, develop ideas, and know how to bring campaigns to life.
Depending on your interests and experience, an MS in Advertising can help prepare you to pursue roles such as:
- Creative: Copywriter, art director, creative strategist, digital designer
- Strategy and research: Brand strategist, account planner, consumer insights analyst, marketing strategist
- Media and analytics: Media planner, digital advertising strategist, campaign analyst
- Account and client management: Account executive, account manager, client services professional
Where do our MS in Advertising graduates work?
BU advertising alumni have gone on to work across agencies, global brands, and consulting firms, including:
- 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
Some graduates begin their careers in creative or strategic roles. Others use their degree to move into advertising from another field or build on professional experiences they already have.
Advertising isn’t standing still. As technologies, platforms, and audience behaviors change, the ability to understand people, think creatively, and make sound strategic decisions matters. You’ll build those skills at COM.
Industry experience, built into your degree
You don’t have to wait until graduation to start getting to know the advertising industry. Through client projects, internships, portfolio reviews, agency visits and professional events, you’ll make connections and see how the business works firsthand.
AdLab: Founded in 1974, AdLab puts you inside a fast-paced agency environment. Working in teams, you’ll take on real client assignments, from researching audiences and developing strategies to pitching ideas, creating campaigns, and responding to feedback. You’ll handle client briefs for organizations ranging from national brands like Under Armour and Celebrity Cruises to startups and smaller businesses.
Clients have expectations, deadlines matter, and ideas don’t always survive the first presentation. At AdLab, you’ll learn to work with clients, respond to feedback, collaborate with a team, and make decisions when there’s no single right answer. Those are experiences you can draw on when you’re interviewing for your first advertising role or moving into a new one.
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. Students have interned with agencies including Ogilvy, BBDO, The Martin Agency, McCann, and many more. Boston, a top-10 U.S. media market, offers opportunities across ad agencies, global brands, tech companies, independent creative shops, and startups. Through BU programs, you can also spend a semester working in London, Los Angeles, or Washington, DC.
Creative Café: Bring your portfolio and your questions. Through Creative Café, students connect with creative directors, art directors, copywriters, and alumni from agencies including MullenLowe, Digitas, and Arnold for portfolio reviews, résumé feedback, and career advice. It’s a chance to understand how professionals evaluate work, and what you can do to make yours stronger.
New York City Ad Tour: What does life inside a major advertising agency look like? The spring break NYC Ad Tour gives you a closer look, with visits to agencies and companies like Droga5, Saatchi & Saatchi, Amazon Ads, and Giant Spoon. Meet professionals, connect with BU alumni at networking events, and get a better sense of the different roles and workplaces that make up the industry.
AdClub and industry competitions: Join BU’s chapter of the American Advertising Federation to compete in national advertising competitions and attend events and other opportunities to develop your skills and network with professionals in the field.
Curriculum: 12 courses | 48 credits
Full-time students typically complete the degree in three semesters, taking five required courses (20 credits) and seven electives (28 credits).
Core curriculum: 5 courses | 20 credits
Five core courses give every student shared experience in research, strategy, creative thinking, and business decisions behind effective advertising.
- 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
Your electives let you go deeper into the areas that interest you most. You can build around one of the following pathways or combine courses across tracks to create your own focus.
Strategy + audience insights: For students interested in brand strategy, consumer research, account planning, and analytics
- CM 519: Interactive Marketing Strategy
- CM 722: Consumer Behavior
- CM 730: Marketing Communication Strategies
- CM 753: Global Marketing Communication
Creative + copywriting: For students interested in copywriting, art direction, digital design, and creative development
- CM 713: Digital Media Design
- CM 718: Creative Concepting
- CM 743: Advanced Copywriting
- CM 745: Advanced Art Direction
Account leadership + media strategy: For students interested in account management, client relationships, media planning, and advertising leadership
- CM 715: Peer-to-Peer Leadership
- CM 723: Media Strategy & Planning
- CM 724: Agency Account Management
- CM 738: Global Advertising
You don’t need to decide on a specialization before applying. The core curriculum lets you explore different areas before choosing electives that fit your goals.
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.
Award-winning student work
A strong advertising portfolio does more than show that you can write a clever headline or design something beautiful. It shows how you think, solve problems, and turn audience insights into ideas. Through coursework, AdLab, and advertising competitions, you’ll develop work that demonstrates your creative and strategic abilities, and get feedback that helps make it stronger.
BU advertising students regularly earn recognition in national and international competitions. Recent accomplishments include:
- 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 student creative work
Take a look at some of the campaigns our students have created.
- “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)
Learn from industry leaders
BU’s advertising faculty bring experience as creative directors, strategists, agency founders, and researchers, with backgrounds at agencies including BBDO, MullenLowe, Digitas, Deutsch, and Hill Holliday.
They know what happens between the first creative brief and the finished campaign, and bring that experience into the classroom. Expect hands-on assignments, honest feedback, and opportunities to rethink an idea until it’s stronger. You’ll develop your skills with guidance from people who understand what clients expect, how agencies operate, and what makes creative and strategic work stand out.
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 Boston
Boston is one of the country’s major media markets, with national advertising agencies, independent creative shops, technology companies, global brands, and startups. You’ll study in a city where advertising, tech, and business intersect, and where internships, client projects, agency visits, and professional events can become part of your graduate experience. Start getting to know the industry while you’re still developing your skills. The Boston area’s advertising community includes:
- Global creative networks: Digitas, MullenLowe, and Publicis Sapient
- Leading Boston agencies: Hill Holliday, Arnold Worldwide, and Allen & Gerritsen
- Independent agencies: Merge, CTP, MMB, and Amp Agency
Frequently asked questions about BU’s MS in Advertising
That depends on where you want to go and what experience you already have.
If you’re trying to break into advertising, change careers, or develop a stronger creative or strategic portfolio, a master’s program can provide structured opportunities that may be difficult to find on your own.
At BU, you’re not just learning how advertising works. You’re practicing it with real clients, experienced faculty, creative teams, and people working in the industry. Over three semesters, you’ll develop campaigns, get feedback, revise your work, and build a portfolio that reflects what you can do. It’s a level of sustained practice and professional guidance.
A master’s degree doesn’t guarantee a job. But it can help you build the work, experience, and professional relationships that employers want to see.
No. You can apply to BU’s MS in Advertising with an undergraduate degree in any major, and professional advertising experience isn’t required.
Students come from a variety of backgrounds, including business, psychology, engineering, journalism, the humanities, and the arts.
You also don’t need an existing advertising or design portfolio to apply. The program provides opportunities to develop portfolio work through coursework, creative assignments, and client projects.
Portfolio schools typically concentrate on developing creative work for roles such as copywriting and art direction.
BU’s MS in Advertising takes a broader approach, combining creative development with consumer research, brand strategy, analytics, media planning, and account management.
You’ll also have opportunities to work with clients through AdLab and explore different advertising career paths.
If you know you want a highly specialized creative education, a portfolio school may be worth considering. If you want creative training alongside a broader understanding of advertising strategy and business, BU offers this path.
The three degrees overlap in some areas, but they have different priorities.
An MS in Advertising focuses on how brands connect with audiences through research, creative strategy, campaign development, and media planning.
An MS in Marketing generally takes a broader look at marketing decisions, including customer acquisition, product strategy, pricing, and market performance.
An MBA provides a wider business education, typically covering finance, operations, management, and organizational leadership.
If you’re particularly interested in creating campaigns, developing brand strategies, understanding audiences, or working in advertising agencies and creative teams, an advertising degree may be the better fit.
Advertising and public relations both involve understanding audiences, developing messages, and helping organizations communicate effectively. But they approach those goals differently.
Advertising focuses on developing paid campaigns and creative strategies that reach audiences through selected media and platforms.
Public relations focuses more broadly on building relationships, managing reputations, earning media coverage, and communicating with an organization’s stakeholders.
If you’re drawn to campaign development, creative ideas, brand strategy, and advertising media, the MS in Advertising may be the better choice. If you’re more interested in reputation management, media relations, and strategic organizational communication, consider BU’s MS in Public Relations.
Absolutely. Advertising needs people who can identify the right audience insight just as much as people who can turn that insight into a compelling campaign.
BU’s curriculum includes advertising research, strategy, consumer behavior, analytics, and media planning. Electives allow you to explore areas such as brand strategy, audience insights, and account management.
You’ll also gain an understanding of how strategists, creative teams, and account professionals work together.
No. Many students refine their interests as they move through the core curriculum.
The combination of required courses and electives gives you flexibility to explore different areas, build on your strengths, and choose coursework that supports your career goals.
You can also combine electives across creative, strategy, and account management rather than following one pathway exclusively.
AI is changing how advertising professionals research audiences, generate ideas, create content, plan media, and measure performance.
BU’s MS in Advertising explores the role of emerging technologies in the industry while developing skills that go beyond any particular tool.
Understanding people, asking good questions, recognizing strong ideas, evaluating evidence, and making strategic decisions remain central to effective advertising, even as the technology changes.
Yes. AdLab, BU’s student-run advertising agency, gives students opportunities to work on assignments for organizations. Projects can involve audience research, campaign strategy, creative development, presentations, and responding to client feedback. It’s an opportunity to apply what you’re studying to challenges that don’t come with predetermined answers.
That depends on the courses, projects, and career direction you choose.
Students interested in creative roles may develop campaigns featuring copywriting, art direction, digital design, and integrated concepts. Those pursuing strategy may build work demonstrating audience research, consumer insights, brand positioning, and campaign planning.
Through coursework, AdLab, and portfolio development, you’ll have opportunities to create work that demonstrates both your skills and how you approach advertising challenges.
Yes. BU offers full-time and part-time enrollment options.
Full-time students typically complete the 48-credit program in three semesters. Part-time students can spread their coursework over a longer period, and some advanced electives are scheduled in late afternoon or evening blocks.
If you’re considering working while earning your degree, our graduate admissions team can help you understand your scheduling options.
BU combines a broad advertising curriculum with opportunities to apply what you’re learning before you graduate.
Through AdLab, students work with clients. Creative Café offers professional portfolio feedback. Internships, the NYC Ad Tour, AdClub, and industry competitions provide additional opportunities to build experience and professional connections.
You’ll also study with faculty who bring extensive creative, strategic, and agency experience into the classroom.
The combination gives you opportunities to develop your skills, explore different career paths, and graduate with work you can show employers.
Choosing your path: other COM graduate degrees
Still exploring your options? Depending on your interests, another COM graduate program may also be worth considering, including:
- MS in Media Science: Explore audience research, communication theory, and the factors that shape how people respond to media and messages.
- MS in Media Science — Marketing Communication Research Concentration: Develop research and analytics skills to inform marketing and communication decisions.
- MS in Public Relations: Focus on reputation management, media relations, crisis communication, and strategic organizational communication, with hands-on experience through PRLab.
- MA in Emerging Media Studies: Study how AI, digital platforms, and emerging technologies shape communication, human behavior, and society.
- MS in Strategic Integrated Communication (online): A fully online program for working professionals interested in integrated communication, brand strategy, and leadership.
- MS in Human-Centered Design: Explore UX research, interaction design, prototyping, and product strategy through a people-centered approach.
Ready to see what you can create?
Whether you know exactly where you want to go in advertising or you’re still exploring, we’d love to help you figure out your next step. Do you have questions about the program, application process, or what it’s like to study at COM? Reach out at comgrad@bu.edu.
