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Hey guys,

It's come time for me to decide what university I wish to attend. I've already looked at quite a few possibilities, but have yet to find one I'm pleased with. Currently I'm leaning toward Full Sail, but I've heard several bad things about it latley.

Does anyone know of some universities worth checking out? I'm also interested in international schools, So any input would be great! Also, advice on what to watch out for when deciding if a degree is good and respectable would be a big help. I've seen several universities that look really good on the outside, but when I checked out it's authenticity, I realized that If I transfered in today I would only need to take several classes in order to graduate!!

The courses offered by that place appear to be incredibly specific, which makes me wonder how much education from FS will be worth in [n] years, versus a general appreciation for the technology backing it all

Neumont University
That's where I'm going, and it's a really good program. Intense, but you get a valuable education.
Although it's not a gaming university. They only offer Bachelors of Science in Computer Science. But there are courses there for those who want to specialize in gaming.

Employers tend to prefer people with general software engineering degrees rather than game specific ones. If you can afford to move to California, go to Berkeley or something.

Umm... Harvard?

http://www.gamecareerguide.com/

Check that link out before you make any decisions. Full sail and other game development schools are over rated. And as Zotoaster already said, companies prefer real degrees.

What are going for? And then ask yourself if you'd really be learning anything different than what would be taught at another, cheaper, school. Your going to be learning the same software and the same design elements where ever you go.

Your education is what you put into it. I'm going to Baker College, and they just started their animation degree a few years ago, but it's amazing and my semester is only $2600 for 16 credit hours. Not only that, but my teacher is a chairman for the South East MI Segraph chapter. Talk about a networking connection! I'm already stunning him with how well I am doing and have been working hard at maintaining communication with him. Sometimes it's not what you know, it's who.

My two cents.

ok first what do u want to do. art or programming. if u want to create the art for the game then i recommend the art institute of Pittsburgh. but if u want to learn how to program then go to a university

Thanks for the input everyone, this helps a bunch.

My main focus is going to be Programming.I liked Full Sail because they offered a Bachelors and Masters degree, but again, I'm not sure how respected they are.

My biggest worries about going to a school like Full Sail, Digipen, ect, is that:

A) How respected are their degrees?
B) Do you learn what you need to in order to get a job and excel?
C) How do employers regard these schools, and their degrees?
D) Who attend these schools? Are they the type of people that grew up always wanting to make the *best* MMORPG of their dreams, make the next killer mod of Half-Life, or are they serous hard working people who want the experirence to program, not just games, but any graphical application in general.

I'm sure others looking into Game Programming universities are having a lot of the same thoughts as me. Frankly, I don't tell people I want to do "Game Porgramming" when they ask what I want to go to uni for. Instead I tell them I want to major in "Interactive Graphical Simulation Applications," just to avoid the stares and "eye rolling" you get from everyone when you tell them "I want to make games." Because to be perfectly honest, I don't want to just make games, heck, I'd be totally happy contracting with the military to make training simulators and such. I've already gotten internship offers to program sonar apps for the Navy, which I hope I'll have the opportunity to do!

So again, I'm totally ok with going to a regular University, such as Berkeley, Harvard, or Stanford. In fact, my Uncle is a law professor at Stanford University, and he's been trying to get me to go there for their CIS programs, he's even offered free room and board, and rides to school (he lives about a mile away from school). I'd be SOOO up for that, but Stanford really only teaches programming in regards to Artificial Intelligence, which again, I would really enjoy doing, but that would be something I would take advantage of AFTER getting my main programming degree.



Yes! This is why I REALY want to be careful with what Uni I choose. Of all the major ones, I'm not exactly sure which ones offer good programming degrees that I would be able to use to continue to learn about programming for games. I mean, I don't want to just learn about how to program C++, I want to learn to write Shaders, game engines, utilise DirectX 9-10 and OpenGL, ect. I mean, you guys know what I mean

Sid, thanks for the link! All that information in the same place is going to be a great help! I checked out their list of Universities, and thats going to be really great to study through!

Anyways, I had better stop ranting, I'm sitting in SQL class, but having a hard time paying attention because I already know SQL... grrr. Lol

Thanks again,
-Sunflash

My opinion? Go to a good uni with a good reputation, but don't go to learn, go for the credentials you'll get to get you into a good company. What separates the boys from the men is whether you can learn this stuff yourself. You can't possibly learn all that just at uni, doing 5 hours a week in total. The fun part is at home where you, a hobbyist, develops a real talent...


... then, take your Harvard/Berkeley/MIT qualification, and the best personal portfolio in the world, show it to EA, and insist they make your lead programmer of every big project they have!

You may want to work a bit more on your typing and grammatical skills, no offense.

None taken. Sorry about that. I was typing as fast as I could in order to finish before my professor glanced at his NetSupport console, and saw that I was online.

For all those questions I recommend contacting a game company's HR department and asking them yourself. That's really the best way.