OPINIONS OF THE COMPETITION
The "ranking" of any program depends largely on who is doing the ranking. One of the groups best equipped to judge is advertising educators, since they tend to know which schools represent their most serious competition. Although relatively little research has been done to determine the opinions of advertising professors, one study asked professors across the country to rank undergraduate advertising programs. The University of Texas is ranked number two in that study, as shown below.
TOP UNDERGRAD PROGRAMS AS RANKED BY FACULTY
Rank School
1 University of Illinois
2 University of Texas
3 University of Florida
Another study asked the heads of advertising programs at universities around the country to rank the top three undergraduate and graduate advertising programs. The University of Texas was mentioned more frequently as a "top three" program than any other school in the country, as you can see below.
MOST MENTIONS AS A "TOP 3" UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM
Rank School
1 University of Texas
2 Michigan State University
3 University of Illinois
MOST MENTIONS AS A "TOP 3" GRADUATE PROGRAM
Rank School
1 University of Texas
2 Northwestern University
3 University of Illinois
3 Michigan State University
And in its first effort to rank graduate advertising programs, U.S. News & World Report asked Deans and faculty at schools of journalism and mass communication to rank advertising (as well as some other disciplines frequently taught in those schools) programs. The results gave the Advertising Department at The University of Texas its lowest ranking of any national ranking published to date. As you can see here, it ranked only 4th!
RANKED BY U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT
Rank School
1 University of Illinois
2 University of Florida
3 Northwestern University
4 University of Texas