If you want to work at a legit agency you need a portfolio that shows off your creative ideas. Ad agencies hire junior creatives based on their portfolios – not their degrees, resumes, or GPAs. Hate to break it to ya, but agencies couldn't care less about your college degree.

The unfortunate reality is that few universities have programs that can give students the specialized instruction it takes to create an industry-accepted portfolio, which is why most creatives working at big agencies attended a portfolio program after college. It's pretty much a prerequisite these days if you want to be competitive in the job market as agencies have come to expect that their junior hires have that kind of specific ad training.

Because we know the last thing you want to do is drop another 50 grand and spend two more years in school, we specially crafted our portfolio program to be a more comprehensive, affordable, and efficient alternative to the other major programs.

Ad agencies don't care what you majored in, what kind of degree you have. Hell, they don't even care if you dropped out and didn't get any kind of degree. What matters most is your creative portfolio. That's what shows them you've got the smarts and the skills to work in an ad agency. Getting an undergrad degree is more personally beneficial because you get to experience college life and learn about all sorts of new things that can make you a more well-rounded individual.

A masters degree is really not worth your time or money unless you one day want to get out of the agency world and go teach at a university. Otherwise, for agency creatives a masters degree is total overkill. Why keep learning at a university that isn't equipped to teach you the ins and outs of advertising to get a meaningless degree when you could spend that time and money learning the business from industry professionals at a portfolio school?

Ask yourself these questions and you'll start to get a sense of whether art direction is right for you.

Find out if you're an art director

Ask yourself these questions and you'll start to get a sense of whether copywriting is right for you.

Find out if you're a copywriter

Ask yourself these questions and you'll start to get a sense of whether strategy is right for you.

Find out if you're a strategist

Generally, art directors handle bigger conceptual ideas while designers are better with the smallest details. Art directors make decisions about campaign visuals, photography, typography, colors, etc. Then designers take the art director’s vision and execute it, dealing with smaller decisions like type setting, coloring, photo retouching, and other final details. Designers are often better artists, whereas art directors are more focused on the conceptual side. At bigger agencies the roles are distinctly separate, but often smaller agencies ask their art directors to be good designers, as well.

If there's a better career than advertising for creative people to make a good living, we haven't heard of it. Salaries obviously will vary from market to market, but generally the numbers below are standard across the more legit agencies in bigger markets. Creatives can move up the ranks quicker or slower depending on a lot of factors, but people who've attended a portfolio program often find themselves at the higher paying agencies faster than those who didn't. For instance, DAD Grads on average receive between $60k and $65k at their first agency after school.

Junior-level (0-2 years): $55,000 to $65,000

Mid-level (3-5 years): $65,000 to $80,000

Senior-level (5-7 years): $80,000 to $99,000

Associate Creative Director (7-10 years): $100,000 to $140,000

Creative Director (10+ years): $150,000 +

It's hard to imagine people like us working anywhere except an ad agency. You can wear whatever you want to work, there's ample amounts of cursing, pretty good access to free drinks and food, and you're surrounded by like-minded people who are just as creative/weird/fun as you are. Culture is a very big thing for most agencies as it directly correlates to creativity and productivity, so they work hard to make sure the office environment is a great place to hang out all day.

Sure, sometimes there can be deadlines and late nights, but generally the work is very fun and it doesn't really feel like work. The pace can be fast and solutions are always needed faster, but that just adds to the excitement and creative energy in the office.

Let's get real, at the end of the day you're a creative –– where the hell else are you gonna work, a bank?

One of the nice things about advertising is that it's one of the few careers that will always be needed. Even during recessions or pandemics, brands still need to advertise. Sure, layoffs may happen if things get really bad and ad budgets may be slashed, but when those brands start advertising again they're going to need our help. And as a creative you want to feel needed, because that means job security.

A new industry trend that some see as troubling, though, are brands working with agencies on a project basis. This can have huge ramifications for how frequently agencies collect their fees and will subsequently structure their agencies. Some brands are also taking work away from agencies entirely to bring it in-house, which means the brand will operate its own advertising team in its house rather than working with an outside agency. It's often cheaper for a brand to do this and they usually see it as easier.

But even with those seismic shifts to the way agencies operate, it doesn't change the fact that creatives will always be needed. Whether the work is done in an agency or in-house doesn't matter much, as creatives will always be leading that work which means their services will always be in demand.

Oftentimes students are never even told about portfolio school in college because their university doesn't want you thinking that your degree is worthless and won't get you a job. But, a lot of the time, that is the unfortunate reality.

Big ad agencies, when given the choice, hire junior creative candidates from portfolio schools and not colleges because the additional training from an ad school means the agency won't have to teach as many things to their new hires.

Look around and see what types of jobs students from your college are getting. Are they big agency jobs? Are they creative jobs? Compare your college portfolio to the portfolios of students from ad schools. Which ones look more polished? Everyone has room to grow after college and no one should have to settle for whatever low-tier jobs are available. Portfolio school is what can help you step up to the next level and get to where you want to be in your ad career.

Portfolio school is better for two reasons – our programs are more focused and all our instructors work in ad agencies.

Think of how many non-ad classes you took in college. In portfolio school, all you take are ad classes. Every single class you take is a building block towards you crafting the perfect portfolio, which is why our portfolios are so much more polished than portfolios you see from college grads.

Our instructors are also what makes this a more focused experience than in college. A lot of university professors either have never worked in the ad industry, or they worked in an agency decades ago, or they worked in an agency in a non-creative role like account management or media planning or sales. Do you want those people giving you creative feedback on your art direction or copywriting efforts? Or would you rather get feedback from active ad agency pros who are art directors and copywriters for a living?

We get it, jumping back into school after finishing college sounds incredibly sucky. But don't think of us as a school – we're more like a training agency. Everything about our classes and structure emulates an ad agency so you get used to the rigor and expectations of your future employers.

Consider the extra money and time spent here as a down payment on your future earnings. Settling for whatever job is available to you after college can decrease your immediate salary and also your earning potential in the future. Basically, if you start off at a small marketing agency it's harder to break into the big leagues and work at a larger ad agency.

If you go to DAD, our grads are making on average 65k after leaving Denver and starting their careers off at the biggest ad agencies in the country. So if you think about it, that's why you're spending more time and money in the short term – because it pays off in the long term.

You didn't get a quality portfolio out of your college experience, why would grad school be any different? It still comes back to the instructors in college vs. portfolio school instructors. Compare the portfolios coming out of your college program to DAD portfolios and you'll see the difference.

The only reason to consider a master's degree over portfolio school is if you absolutely plan on leaving the industry to teach full-time at a university one day. Ad agencies do not ask to see your degrees, nor do they care if you even have one. The ad industry is different from other careers in that they do not pay you more if you have an advanced degree.

Advertising is full of misfits and creatives and artists. College degrees never factor into the hiring equation – for us it's all about your portfolio.

We offer comprehensive programs in Art Direction, Copywriting, and Strategy. These are considered full-time commitments, offered either in-person or online, and last 5 quarters for a total length of around 15 months. We enroll new students into the Art Direction and Copywriting programs three times a year in fall, winter, and spring. We enroll new students into the Strategy program twice a year in fall and spring.

The last thing you want to do after spending at least 4 years in college is spend another 50+ grand and two more years in another school. That’s a big reason why we think a 15-month program is the best fit for most people. Also, a portfolio doesn’t take years to develop. As with any piece of creative, you could theoretically work on it and refine it forever – most of us are perfectionists, after all – but the reality is at some point you just need to finish it and move on. In this case, we want to get you out of school and into an agency as fast as we can.

Even though we're shorter, our program doesn't skimp. We've removed the fluff from our curriculum that bogs other schools down so you take all the classes you need and nothing you don't. So in the end you'll feel prepared and hit the ground running with the exact kind of portfolio that agencies are looking for.

Welp, ya get what ya pay for. Shorter programs are great for people who don't mind getting a lower-paying job at a lower-tier ad agency. There's no shade there, we get that not everyone wants to work in a big market.

Our program is built off the traditional creative model of training reps. Basically, the more you work at something the better you get, and over 5 quarters at DAD you get in a ton of reps. So if you're expecting to get a quality portfolio in a matter of weeks from another program, then you might be disappointed with the results.

It's no guarantee that you'll get the necessary skills and portfolio from a shorter program that will help you compete against the students who put in twice the time and effort at a full-time portfolio school.

A lot of the shorter programs are really great for some people and we respect that, you've got to ask yourself what kind of result you're seeking.

Nope. We don't worry about degrees or certificates because ad agencies don't care about those things. All they care about is your portfolio, so that's all we care about. Our instructors help you create a killer ad portfolio and then we help you get your first job in the business, which to us is worth a lot more than some piece of paper from a university.

Sure, as long as you decide by the end of your first quarter we’re cool with you switching to another creative discipline.

It’s best to complete the program with no interruptions, so we don’t recommend taking a break once you’re enrolled. But, life is unpredictable and we are happy to make it work for you based on your circumstances even if it takes you a bit longer to complete the program.

Yeah, you could give it a shot. But at DAD we're constantly pushing you with assignments, deadlines, and the type of structure you'd see in any big agency. Plus, you're surrounded by experienced guides every step of the way. We're more than just a portfolio school, here you'll get immersed in every facet of the business from those who know it best, all while making the important connections with teachers, recruiters, and agencies that will get you your start in this business. That's definitely something that's harder to do on your own.

The biggest thing to consider is you could absolutely try to do this all by yourself, but when it comes time to apply for an agency job your self-made portfolio will be competing against all the other creative portfolios that came out of an ad school.

This is another way we're very different from other ad schools and from your college/university undergrad program. Most often those schools have professors leading classes who have never worked in an ad agency. Nothing against those professors, but we kinda feel like you already went through four years of working with them in college and learned some good basics, so at this point we think you'd benefit more from working with active industry professionals. Which is why every single one of our teachers have big agency experience and are currently working at some of the best agencies in the country. Get a glimpse of our instructors by clicking here.

With all the recent ad school closures, we wish we could help every single student who's been displaced. But, because of the quick nature of our program structure and proprietary curriculum we can't 100% say that we can fit you in part way through. If you're in this situation, though, please hit us up. If we can find a way to help you then we absolutely will.

We use "ad school" and "portfolio school" interchangeably as they're the same thing to us. We're an advertising school that helps you create a portfolio. So feel free to call us whatever you'd like!

Because the agencies that hire our students are the best of the best, we have certain standards for how our portfolios should look. Because of this, we don't offer part-time programs because we need our students fully committed. We believe creative muscles are best built through lots of reps and if we had students who only worked half the time then we wouldn't feel as confident about getting them jobs at the same big agencies our full-time students were working.

Follow our mantra – be willing, be curious, be bold.

Be willing and open to new ideas, feedback and creative paths that may appear in front of you. Being stubborn doesn't get you far in this business.

Be curious and driven to explore and learn all that you might not know. Recognize that there is always more to seek out and have the motivation to do so every single day. Never stop growing.

Be bold with everything you do. Go big, be memorable, always do work that commands the audience's attention.

We don't judge apps based on skill alone. If we did, few people would be admitted. We recognize that you're coming here because you want to get better so we're more interested in your potential.

We like to see where you get your inspiration. It's cool if you're a big advertising nerd with David Ogilvy quotes all over your bedroom wall, but most times we like students who are interested in culture at large. Know what's going on in the world, keep up with the newest shows on Netflix, go see an arthouse movie every now and then, read a dang poem. Be inspired by the whole world, not just what you read in AdWeek or AdAge. It's kinda hard to connect with people and influence culture with your advertising work if you don't know what's cool.

But the biggest thing we look for are students who don't take themselves too seriously and are comfortable being themselves. We'll be spending a lot of time together over the course of 15 months so we want students who are fun, funny, and decent people. Give us that and we'll teach you the rest.

You don’t need to have prior experience in advertising or design to put together a great portfolio –– in fact, sometimes it's even better if you come from a completely different background.

People who work in advertising are filmmakers, photographers, painters, sculptors, doodlers, comedy writers, dramatic writers, poets, actors, stand-up comedians, musicians, and other fun things. The fact that you're researching portfolio schools shows you've got some sort of creativity inside you that's just waiting to be unleashed, whether you know it or not.

So what does it take to succeed here? A curious mind, a penchant for taking risks, and the desire to work really hard on stuff that is really fun. Spend some time with us and we’ll help you unlock your full creative potential.

We get it, a lot of people can't commit to a full-time training program because they gotta work to survive. The majority of our students are able to hold part-time jobs while attending DAD, but we don't like to enroll students who are working full-time. Most classes are held in the evenings Monday-Thursday, but you’ll need to set aside time during the day all week long to work on campaign assignments with your partners and complete your solo work. While at DAD, you can expect to treat our program like a full-time job and commit well over 40 hours a week.

Your portfolio is a direct result of the time and effort you put into it, which is why we love working with students who keep DAD as their main focus.

Students who enroll for the same quarter go through this program as a cohort class all through the DAD program, which means you'll end up spending a lot of time with each other in and out of class.

Art directors and copywriters will always pair up in campaigns classes to work on brand assignments together. Then the entire group gets together in class to discuss the work in class along with the teacher. But there are times where the art directors and copywriters have to go off by themselves to work on their respective jobs.

So, it's a mix of all three. But the group dynamic is arguably the most important. We've seen time and again that a good group always pushes each other to do better work. Plus, ask any agency leader and they'll tell you that truly creative ideas are formed when people from different backgrounds work together.

We enroll new art direction and copywriting students three times a year in the fall, winter, and spring. We enroll new strategy students twice a year in the fall and spring.

Fall is typically our fullest quarter as that's when most people naturally start school, so if you wanna be part of a big fun group then that's the time to come. But we do have plenty of students every other quarter so the honest answer for us is it doesn't really matter what time of year you come.

By design, we keep our class sizes small. In any given class, you could expect around 10-14 students. But when art directors and copywriters break off for their specialized classes the groups are even smaller, with sometimes as few as 4-8 in a class. We do this so students can get longer feedback sessions that are more focused on you and your work. And not only does this allow your teacher to spend more time making a personal connection with you, the rest of your class will be involved with giving feedback so everyone gets a more intimate space to really dive in deep and help make the work as good as it can be.

All you'll need are things you most likely already have:

A good Apple laptop
Adobe Creative Suite
Notebook for sketching and/or note taking

The online programs are no different than the in-person programs, aside from being 100% online. Both share the same curriculum, teachers, standards, and results. If you attend DAD over Zoom or in Denver you'll end up with a killer portfolio and job just the same.

For us, what it comes down to is how social you are. In Denver we have an awesome space that's always bustling with student activity. People are constantly working together, hanging out together, and going out together. We play in sports leagues 3/4 of the year, we have tons of parties, there's always something going on at DAD.

Students in the online programs obviously miss out on all that, but they're probably cool with that. They've got their own lives in their own cities and they're the kind of people who love the comfort of being able to work from wherever and aren't bothered by hanging out on Zoom all day.

We like Denver, it's fun out here. But whichever location you choose you know you'll end up with a killer portfolio and job just the same.

All three of our programs cost the same. What you see below is what you pay – there are no hidden fees or costs because we're cool like that:

Tuition: $27,000

We offer three different ways to pay: In full, quarterly, or monthly. If paying in full you receive a small discount and if paying monthly it costs slightly more. Here's how each of those payments break down:

Full payment: $25,000 x1 – ($2,000 discount)

Quarterly payments: $5,400 x5

Monthly payments: $1,600 x18

All payments are due before the start of the quarter. We accept credit cards, personal checks, or briefcases full of tons and tons of cash.

Our tuition cost is the biggest point of differentiation from other ad schools. The creative programs at DAD cost a flat $27,000 – no extra fees, ever – while at the other big schools you can expect to pay upwards of $40k and on up, plus fees.

Their tuition is overinflated because of the second big point of difference between us – our program is more efficient than theirs. At the other schools you spend your second year either in classes you've already covered in the first year or working in an unpaid internship at an agency that you're paying your school to attend – if you ask us we think that's kinda shitty.

We also are an independently-owned school, which means we aren't run by some corporation that is focused solely on profits. That makes it so we can value our students and their portfolios over yearly earnings and other bullshit.

We purposely chose to not be accredited for a variety of reasons, but here's the gist – if your school is accredited that just means they fill out a stupid amount of useless paperwork and pay a considerable sum of money to a random third party group with no guaranteed expertise in your school's relevant field and in return your school gets no true benefit other than it's now eligible to receive federal funds for FAFSA loans.

If you want to read up on why accreditation sucks or your parents want more info, check this out and check this out for starters.

Instead, we are approved and regulated by the Colorado Department of Education’s Division of Private Occupational Schools. Visit their website to find out more information.

Nope, because we chose to not be nationally accredited unfortunately we're not eligible for FAFSA loans. Luckily, though, there are plenty of private lenders you can work with to help pay your tuition to DAD.

You bet, check out our Scholarships page.

Yep, this is one of the bigger differences between us and an undergrad/post-grad university advertising program. Our entire focus is getting you into an ad agency when you're done and our entire business model is dependent on it.

Our recruiting connections span both coasts and we have relationships with all of the biggest ad agencies in the country. What that means is when you’re done here the best agencies all across the country will have the opportunity to get to know you and see your finished portfolio.

Our job is to get you a job and that never goes away. Even after you've left DAD and have started working in the industry you can always keep calling, texting, emailing, and sending up signal flares if you need advice or help finding a new job. Yep, this is a forever type of thing. DAD alumni also receive super secret newsletters with industry news, job opportunities, and other cool stuff to help you stay a step ahead of everyone else.

Most students kinda accept the fact that they're paying higher tuition prices at the other schools because the connections they'll get in the end will be worth it. But what most students don't know is all of the big ad schools have the very same connections. There are only a hundred or so top agencies in the country and we know all of them, just like the other schools do. At the end of the day, agencies care less about the ad school you went to and more about the portfolio you created while you were there.

We have a proven track record of placing our students at the biggest, best ad agencies in the country. We're so confident in our job placement prowess that we publicly list where every single one of our students is hired.

We work with recruiters and creatives from the top agencies in the country. We hire our teachers from the top agencies in the country. And we send our students to the top agencies in the country. Sensing a theme yet?

Click here to view just a small list of some of our top agency connections. We make it our top priority to get you the best job we can, so if that means hitting up a new agency that we haven't worked with before then we have the means and connections to do that.

Since our first class graduated in 2020, we've been sporting a cool 100% placement rate. That number can fluctuate after each quarter because every student is on a different timeline when it comes to getting hired, factoring in things like their city preference, agency preference, readiness to move, and more. But generally we expect all of our students to get jobs anywhere from 2 weeks to 4 months after finishing DAD.