Why I Chose to Study Advertising at UIUC

Lucy Ganser

The college decision process is a stressful and overwhelming period of time a majority of students go through during their life. Before you can even drive a car, parents, teachers, friends, and more are all bombarding with you an all too familiar question; where do you want to go to college? This is a loaded and emotionally overbearing question that contains a lot of factors when deciding on a college to attend such as size, location, social life, club/organizations, and most importantly academics.

Growing up in a suburb of Chicago I told myself I would never go to a college in the state because I wanted to explore more. I thought this factor would begin my search correctly, but I first determined that I would like a larger university, a thriving social life, and a multitude of clubs and organizations to choose from. After these factors had been considered the next and most important factor, choosing a major, then came into play leaving me to reflect on my interests and future career path. Growing with my dad being a creative director at a graphic design firm I have always been surrounded by the creative aspect of advertising and marketing, however I never knew how much his presence influenced me. Knowing that I cannot draw, I decided graphic design was not for me, however, I was still interested in the ways companies create specific advertisements or messages to convince consumers to purchase their products or to have a positive outlook on their brand, bringing me to advertising. I began to notice advertisements on my phone, on billboards, on commercials, and even social media apps and would have riveting conversations with my dad about all the aspects that went into creating that particular advertisement. After realizing advertising is the major fit for me due to my interest in the overall field, I began to take all my criteria to the internet to search for the university right for me.

After researching for months surrounding colleges with outstanding advertising programs, The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign continuously popped up. The internal struggle then began as I wrestled back and forth between staying in-state or going out-of-state, a plan I had all of high school. I decided to ignore the voice in my head and visit the university in person and see if it could be the right fit for me. At this point I had already poured multiple other campuses along with a front runner, Mizzou. These two tours stuck out the most to me due to their beautiful campuses, however Mizzou fell short in one extremely important area: academics. Although the journalism school at University of Missouri-Columbia is extremely well-known, they lacked a specific advertising major, meaning I would have to major in communications during my four years instead. This began to deter me as I knew academics are what I am going to college for, leading me towards Illinois. After meeting with the head of the Advertising department here at UIUC and hearing of all of the amazing opportunities, hands on classes, and esteemed reputation this department has in the country, I knew that Illinois is the school for me; more specifically that studying Advertising at Illinois would set me up for more success later in life than studying this same major at a different institution. I encourage all students considering studying Advertising to look into the program at The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign because it has already been one of the best decisions I have ever made.