When I first expressed the idea of coming to such a program I had a few contacts in advertising tell me that I might as well just save the tuition money and create my own portfolio without the guidance of a program like the one at Humber college (and no I'm not taking cash from them under the table).
I get where they were coming from. I could've saved a lot of money, but I very much doubt that I would've ended up with as good a portfolio if I had done so.
There are lots of reasons for this: Some people struggle with motivation, procrastination, time management, and so on. Others need the push to get into the creative mindset and understand the industry's concepts of what is good.
These points definitely are true for myself (at least in part), but I think more than anything the benefit was that the structure of school gets you involved every single day of the week, and pushes you to consistently think about Ads for months at a time.
If I had tried to tackle creating a portfolio without a formal class, I would've put time in, yes, but would I have got to it every single day? No, probably not.
Mostly likely I would've continued to work full time, which eats up time and energy, leaving my portfolio as an afterthought - which is the last thing that it should be.
So overall, I'm happy with my choices and would encourage others to do the same. Sure, it cost me more than if I had been self-taught, but I'm in a better place for it.
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Thanks for reading my brain gunk,
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Peter Sreckovic