Does anyone have experience with the Chico State Computer Animation and Game Development program? I have read some positives but am looking for any input from students or parents of students on the quality of that program.
If you can’t find anyone on CC who has been through the program (which is likely; there tends to be very little info on CC about GD programs), you might try contacting the school to ask if you can chat with a current student and/or a graduate of the program. Some schools have a program that does exactly this (DigiPen Institute of Technology, for instance). I have been looking at GD programs for about a year now and info on the internet is really hard to come by. Beyond a school’s website, I’ve had some luck with asking professors/administrators questions while on tours and emailing the departments with specific questions not available on the school’s website.
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I attended their admitted students event this past weekend and was very impressed. The Dept Chair came from the UC Santa Cruz program and has built it up from nothing. Very impressed that they tell you their program is dedicated to 'preparation for a career in computer animation and/or game design." They have had a lot of success the past 5 years placing graduates at top companies and stress the foundation of SDLC (software development life cycle) and teach students to work on a scrum team using Agile techniques and use industry tools including Confluence and JIRA. The program is part of their Engineering School and their primary coding language is C# and they use both Unity and Unreal Engine. He admitted that schools like DigiPen are strong competitors, but they don’t offer this major as well as offers high quality core courses, study abroad, etc.
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Thanks for posting what you learned from the admitted students event. It will be very useful to others trying to get more info on programs. Did consider/look at any other programs? My D23 has been looking and visiting, and I hope to put a summary post on here next year after she’s done with the process.
Yes, not to this level of detail, but also looked at UCSC, UCI, Clark (MA). Also some very strong programs at USC, RIT, Utah, Northeastern. We did not look at design schools like DigIpen as he wanted a “real” college experience and options to change his major if required. His short list was CS Chico, Clark and UCSC.
There are a lot of really weak, incomplete rankings of the digital animation and game design. After my research, I found this ranking to be both more comprehensive than most and aligned with what I learned. Another REALLY important element within these schools is if you are graduating with a BA or BS. My opinion is that a BS is critical to be successful with a career in this industry. The 50 Best Video Game Design Colleges - Successful Student
Sounds like we’ve been looking at a lot of the same ranking lists and schools. We’ve also come to the conclusion that a BS with at least some CS emphasis is pretty important. Good luck to your student. I hope he ends up at a school he loves.
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my son is a fairly recent Biz graduate from Chico. He had several good friends that were CS majors, all of them got jobs quickly in their desired market. Bay Area, Sacramento, So Cal and even Denver.
One thing I’d add - most students at most colleges change major at least once. So, it makes sense to pick a school that is a good fit, size, campus vibe etc. rather than a specific program. Visit the school, talk to some current students and you’ll have much better sense for how the school and program fit YOU.
Congrats and good luck
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thanks for the information
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