I’ve had two friends graduate Full Sail, but that was well before the gaming program. One graduated sound and the other graduated film, and they’re both great at what they do. I can’t imagine the gaming program being that bad.
Its a complete wash. I think you definitely have a leg up getting into the industry as a Digipenner or Full Sail grad, but its not a guarantee. I’ve met some really good full sail guys, and i’ve met some just ok ones. Ditto with Digipen, I know alot of really good ones and some just ok ones. Overall I think the education at Digipen is a little better, a less rushed affair.
But considering some colleges you can get a CS degree without even knowing C/C++ anymore (I’m looking at you, you hippie Berkeley) dP or fullsail are better bets to getting in the gaming industry.
BTW, the reason digipen has a high placement rate is because most people drop out before graduating =)
And they will probably always be heavily nintendo influenced, the dean still works at nintendo, the instructors come from nintendo, though ironically some also come from microsoft. In some ways its a bummer, i heard a rumor that Microsoft was willing to donate a bunch of xbox dev kits but they were turned down just because of the huge nintendo bias.
And i’m not sure about full sail, but DigiPen has two programs, Art and Programming. If you want to be a non-technical designer, you are probably better off somewhere else.
After doing some teaching at a local “digital media” school I can agree 100% Most just show up, often late and wait for the course to be over so they can be rock stars or whatever.
This was years ago, but I knew someone who dropped out of the Art Institute of Seattle because they thought it was a joke. I looked into the San Francisco Academy of Art college a long while ago and was impressed by their attitude and facilities.
I have no idea what their graduates are like though.
The people we’ve hired from SF Academy have generally turned out pretty good. Never would have guessed from the school’s terrible, terrible tv ad campaigns. Terrible.
Of course for every good reel there are 10 bad ones, but that’s pretty standard.
We hire individuals, not schools, but I’m a lot happier if I see a CS degree from a decent college on someone’s resume than if I see a degree from Full Sail or Digipen. We’ve hired some people from the vocational schools who’ve worked out well, but on the whole our experience with their graduates has been more miss than hit. Because Full Sail and Digipen accept all comers, the average applicant from Full Sail isn’t as sharp as the average applicant from selective schools like Stanford, UNC or Yale. And I’d rather hire a smart programmer from hippie Berkeley and teach him C++ than hire someone who’s been drilled in the language, but just can’t wrap his head around a complex computer science problem.
Yeah i agree, the individual is more important than the school. (heh, i’ve heard that same argument for martial arts too, i guess its universal)
In some ways, Digipen is more then a vocational school, as it offers more then just an Associates degree, it also has a Bachelors and even a Masters degree. Though i don’t think anyone has actually graduated from the Masters program as of yet. I also put more weight on Digipen’s four year degree over their two year program, if you look at the curriculum there is alot of good stuff taught in the last two years. Last i knew Full Sail only offered there two year crash course thing, but i didn’t go there, so I only know second hand. (So: dP 4 year > FulllSail 2 year > dP 2 year)
Being on the east coast, have you dealt mostly with FullSail?
FullSail has been a bachelors (albeit in 2 years) for some time.
The Academy has some awesome students. I’ve both hired and dated their graduates and I can truly say that I haven’t regretted doing either.
On a related note, I fucking HATE print ads in PC game magazines (mostly from telco and voip type companies) where their depiction of PC gamers are clutching (badly) photoshopped PSX controllers or ancient Suncom joysticks in some exaggerated, orgasmic physical exertion.
Which we know is far from the truth as can be. The disheveled “play paper D&D” ad was more accurate.
The difference is that Digipen is actually an accredited college. A bachelor’s from Full Sail carries about as much weight outside the game industry as Derek Smart’s PhD. So yeah, I have a little more respect for Digipen’s academic standards. But I still think it’s healthier to go to a school where you read books and get to talk to girls.
Yeah, i have to agree with Kyle on this one. I’ve been trying to advocate that Digipen needs to add another major, like hairdressing or psychology just to help bring the gender ratio to something better than 99:1. By the way, thats not an exaggeration, my freshman class was 100 students, 1 girl.
Its better to get yer partying years out of the way while yer at college, and not trying to crunch and go clubbing at the same time =P
I don’t think game theory is what you think it is.
I wanted to go to full sail but when I looked into the college they didn’t accept scholarships and I don’t live close to redmond washington. Game Theory from what I heard has to do with the mathmatics around what people will pick.
Full Sail is in Florida.
Based on this post, I recommend a regular four-year college that has actual English classes.
Both are accredited colleges, actually.
Edit: In fact, they are accredited by the same organization, the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges of Technology (ACCSCT)