Career Development

The Stats: Stamps Grads + Creative Careers 

Data from the Strategic National Arts Alumni Project (SNAAP) sug­gests that indi­vid­u­als who work in design and the arts report some of the high­est lev­els of job sat­is­fac­tion in Amer­i­ca. Nation­wide, 74% of indi­vid­u­als who pur­sued a cre­ative path in their under­grad­u­ate stud­ies end up work­ing in their field of study at some point, show­ing just how hun­gry 21^st Cen­tu­ry employ­ers may be for a cre­ative workforce. 

For some Stamps students, graduate school plays a critical ​“next step” in their future. About 7% of Stamps undergrads opt to immediately go on to graduate school to deepen their creative practice or acquire additional skills.

On aver­age, it takes Stamps grads about six months of active job hunt­ing to land their first out-of-col­lege job. This is on par with the nation­al aver­age. And well worth the wait.

Career Outcomes

Stamps alumni have landed dream jobs at some of the biggest names in the fields of tech, apparel, animation, advertising, publishing, and more — including Apple, Twitter, Google, Amazon, Netflix, Nike, Ralph Lauren, Warner Brothers, Disney, and Ogilvy.

Student entrepreneurial efforts include:

• I started my own business in color correction for feature films.
• I spent a year in the Peace Corps doing graphic design in Zambia.
• I’m now the founder & chief designer of Plae, a company that designs customizable children’s shoes.
• I am a fashion photographer in New York, New York. My photos have been in Elle, Cosmo, Seventeen, Surface, and Glitterati magazines.
• I opened a painting studio in Detroit and sell my work at national galleries.
• I am the arts coordinator at an afterschool youth program.
• I’m an art consultant with the Carrie Fell Gallery in Vail, Colorado, where I also get to ski and snowboard.
• I created a designer clothing brand that produces hand-dyed and embroidered apparel.

Learn more about the creative paths students choose after Stamps by reading our Alumni News.

The fact that Stamps grads secure highly coveted creative jobs at a higher-than-average national rate is in no way accidental. The Stamps School has a number of initiatives that prepare students for their post-college career paths, including: 

• Career Development events, including Portfolio Expo and Career Bootcamp

• Alumni critique visits

• Workshops

• Internship opportunities and scholarships

• One-on-one career coaching

• Resources and Links

• Career opportunities

• And other university initiatives that leverage the U‑M network of 575,000+ alums world-wide. 

Learn more at the Stamps Career Development Canvas site and in the Stamps Curriculum Through a Career Development Lens PDF.

Stamps Students Have Interned With…

• American Greetings
• Ann Arbor Film Festival 
• Anna Sui Corp. 
• Anthropologie
• Apple
• Arnold Worldwide
• ArtsAlliance
• Band of Angels
• Betsey Johnson
• Biolumina
• Campbell-Ewald
• Coach
• Conde Nast
• Cranbrook Art Museum 
• Domestic Violence Project, Inc. 
• Doner Advertising
• Donghia Furniture & Textile 
• Duncan Fuller Interiors 
• Elle Magazine
• Endgame Entertainment
• Food Network Magazine 
• Foreign Policy Magazine 
• GE Medical Systems 
• General Motors Design Center 
• Giorgio Armani
• Glacier National Park 
• Glamour Magazine
• Graphis
• Hearst Design Group
• IDL Merchandising Solutions 
• Inner Concept Media Studio 
• Interlochen Arts Camp
• J Walter Thompson
• Liz Claiborne, Inc.
• Mad Magazine
• Mars Advertising
• Mass. Audubon Society MOCAD
• Moosejaw Mountaineering MTS Seating
• MTV Networks
• NBA
• NBC News
• New Line Cinema
• Nickelodeon
• The New Museum
• Pixel/​Starcom MediaVest 
• Proteus Design
• Publicis Hong Kong
• Saatchi and Saatchi (Taiwan)
• San Diego Union Tribune 
• Superfly Presents
• Surface Magazine
• The Rockport Company
• Toledo Museum of Art
• U‑M Matthaei Botanical Gardens
• Vogue
• Warner Music Group
• Whitney Museum of American Art 
• And more…