Choosing Your MA Degree Path: An Overview of Texas Creative, Texas Immersive, and Texas Strategy

Choosing a degree path can be a daunting task, especially when all of your options offer such interesting and unique coursework. If you are struggling to pick your path or are just looking for more information about what our Master’s in Advertising program has to offer, look no further! 

Here at the Stan Richard’s School of Advertising and Public Relations, there are three different degree paths you can choose to follow: Texas Creative, Texas Immersive, and Texas Strategy. I sat in on the Advertising Graduate Council’s most recent town hall meeting to hear from each department head exactly what their programs are all about. 

Texas Creative

Texas Creative is a portfolio-building program focusing on the art of concept and developing your creative process by applying your skills to create advertising campaigns. In order to join the program, students have to submit an application where they answer ‘one big question’ that is intentionally vague to encourage students to think outside of the box and answer in an unexpected way. Once admitted, students start a sequence of four portfolio-building classes, starting with ‘Portfolio I’ where students will work solo on projects to figure out what their personal creative process is. They then move into ‘Portfolio II’ where they begin pairing up into copywriter and art director duos. The following two portfolio classes serve to help build students' portfolios and refine their work. In Dr. Glenn Griffin’s words, what sets this program apart is that “Students learn to create work that is both strategically smart and strikingly original.” He is the inaugural director of the Texas Creative program.

Texas Immersive

Another path to consider is the Texas Immersive track. Launched 3 years ago, this program is inviting, story-driven, sensorial, and experiential. With the goal to engage audiences through narrative design and emerging technologies, this program focuses on creating experiences that blend physical and digital to put users into more ‘real-world meets imaginary’ scenarios, thereby giving them a stronger emotional connection with the situation. Similar to Texas Creative, the Texas Immersive has an application consisting of one question which is “What does immersive mean to you?” Since this program is open to students outside of advertising as well, there is this unique opportunity to work alongside students with interesting backgrounds from several different fields. Students of the program also get to participate in the immersive showcase where they will work on a semester-long project and have the scope to learn about sound, light, space, and sets. At the end of the semester, these student projects are all made open to the public as a ticketed event. As Erin Reilly, the Director of Texas Immersive said, “Pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the field and technology is what this program is.” 

Texas Strategy

If you are someone who is more data-driven, then Texas Strategy (formerly known as Texas Media and Analytics) might be the path for you. This program focuses on seeing data as people rather than numbers. As Natalie Brown Devlin, Director of Texas Strategy said, “Strategy isn’t math. It’s storytelling”. In Texas Strategy, students learn how to better understand consumers, identify media channels, and measure campaign success. They develop hard skills that will get them the interviews, and soft skills that will lead them to success once they land the job. All in all, Texas Strategy is all about building leaders who can find a creative solution to any problem and have outstanding critical reasoning and inspired strategic planning skills. Anyone is welcome to join this track as there is no application process. 

For more information about any of these paths check out their pages - Texas Creative, Texas Immersive, Texas Strategy.