Buff DADs are so hot right now.

Since opening in Fall 2019, The University of Colorado at Boulder has been one of the strongest and most consistent college pipelines to Denver Ad School. As of Fall 2024, we have 41 Buffs who are either current or former DAD students. CU, like every other university in the country, isn’t the greatest at setting students up with a great portfolio and the connections to get a job after college. Luckily for CU students one of the top advertising portfolio schools is just a short drive away in Denver.

Why the hell do you need this?

You went to CU! Shouldn’t that be enough? The problem is, though, your degree doesn’t get you a killer job – your portfolio does. You could even (somehow) have a negative GPA and still get an agency job because the people hiring you to be creative only want to see the creative things you’ve made, nothing else. And because big agencies mostly hire from the top portfolio schools, that means your college-level portfolio will be judged against all the rest. How confident are you that you’ll stand out?

Your time in Boulder was not wasted, though. CU has great advertising, creative, and marketing programs that have provided you with an awesome foundation which puts you a few steps ahead of other college students, but the university is just not set up and equipped to focus specifically on your portfolio like a portfolio school is. So if you want to make the jump to the job of your dreams then you’ve got to take one more step towards a more polished, advertising gency-ready portfolio.

Never. Ever. Settle. (Ever)

Afraid that you’ll have to settle for whatever place will hire you with whatever you’ve got in your college portfolio? You don’t have to settle. If you’re leaving Boulder wanting something bigger and better, you’re not alone. Waves of CU alumni before you were in the same situation and they came to DAD with the determination and dream to get the job they deserve. Anyone can do it – you’ve just got to want it.

see our student portfolios

Our grads start at the top.

There are two easy ways to track the success of any post-grad portfolio school – the quality of their portfolios and the quality of the agency jobs that their students are getting. See how we measure up by checking out where our CU grads are now working...

And some other cool places where our non-Buffs are currently working…

Buffs helping Buffs.

Because there are now three generations of CU Buffs before you who have gone on to kickstart their ad careers by attending DAD, there’s no shortage of trusted connections you can talk to about your post-CU journey. DAD Grads love to talk with prospective DADs – especially those from their alma mater – so check out their work on our portfolios page and then reach out to any and all of them on LinkedIn below.