My experience as an Advertising student in the College of Media

I’m a sophomore here at Illinois, and even though I’ve had two majors during my time here, both of them have been inside of the College of Media. If you aren’t familiar with college terminology yet, all of the majors and minors offered at the University of Illinois are split into several different colleges. The College of Media is one of the smallest on campus and offers majors that deal with mass communication and different types of media.

I came into school as a Journalism major, but decided to switch after taking some Advertising classes that I really liked. In this article, I am going to give you a quick tour of what the College of Media has to offer and my experiences in the college over my time at the school so far.

Majors and Classes

The College of Media is pretty light on majors as there are only 3 – Media and Cinema Studies, Advertising, and Journalism. There is also a general Media Minor offered if you don’t want to make any of these majors your full path, and a Public Relations minor as well. The low number of majors creates a tight knit community among Media students, advisors, and faculty, which I really enjoy.

Being in a small major means I get to take classes with pretty much the same people year to year and get to make good relationships with my professors. The classes are also smaller, which I like because, if I need help, I can get more individualized attention. All of the classes I have taken in the College of Media have allowed me to be creative and really express myself.

I think that if anyone has the opportunity, College of Media student or not, they should take ADV 150 with Steve Hall. He is a fantastic award-winning professor and I always looked forward to going to his classes. We learned practical real-life knowledge about advertising campaigns about brands everyone knows and loves. Most of my favorite classes that I have taken at the university so far have been in the College of Media.

Supportive Staff and Resources

College can be tough to navigate and deal with, and the College of Media has provided help for me every single step of the way. They provide top of the line advisors, support staff, and other resources to help you navigate your time as a student here at Illinois.

My advisor has been an invaluable resource here since before I even got to school. Advisors are your go-to for any questions you might have, and in the CoM, everyone gets their own personal advisor. Anything you could think to ask about about University of Illinois can probably be answered by your advisor. The CoM is a pretty small and tight-knit community, and I love the personal connections that it affords.

Exploration Opportunites

The College of Media encourages two levels of exploration that are incredibly important to every person’s college expereince. Not only do they offer depth for exploration within your major, they really encourage you to get outside of your comfort zone and try things out that you never have before. Majors like the Journalism major have you complete a specialization as a part of graduation, so you have to look outside and find something else you like. The goal is to have every student discover more interests in college, and I think it works really well.

The other great part about the College of Media is the depth of which you can explore each major. The classes offered give a deep dive into whatever you want to learn and offer a breadth of different opportunities. Lots of hands-on experience is offered, even during COVID, so you can figure out if you really like what your doing. You can explore as many interests as you want, and to whatever depths you want. That’s the beauty of Illinois and especially the College of Media; it really is up to you.

I hope you guys enjoyed this insight into being an Advertising major and part of the College of Media as a whole. If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below about any classes I might have taken or just my college experience up to now.

Noah

Noah

Class of 2023
I am a sophomore studying Advertising on a Pre-Law track. I’m from Park Ridge, Illinois, about 30 minutes outside of Chicago. I've loved getting involved on campus through my job at Campus Recreation and participating in Greek Life. UIUC is my second home, and I think it should be yours, too!

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