<p>Does anyone know of schools that teach animation skills and have a solid arts curricula (I'm thinking along the lines of writing, phylosophy, and speech)? I've already applied to USC's school of cinematic arts (interactive media program), but now I'm looking for some safeties. </p>
<p>I'm considering Syracuse U and its computer art program. Is there anyone who can give me insight on that?</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon</p>
<p>Thanks for your reply 4Giggles.</p>
<p>Yeah I've looked Carnegie Mellon up before, but... From what I've read, the social life there isn't appealing. I want to attend a college with strong academics, but also where I'd be able to go to parties (greek-like) and stuff. Anyways, thanks for the input.</p>
<p>Might also want to check computer design at University of Virginia, which was built up by the professor who went on to develop the fantastic program at Carnegie Mellon, you might be familiar with Randy Pausch? If not read The Last Lecture, or watch it on youtube.</p>
<p>Savannah College of Art and Design -- one of my best friends loves it there</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon's game design program is graduate only. Check out Ringling school of art.</p>
<p>My son aspires to become a video game artist, and after a fairly exhaustive search, he ended up applying to and being accepted to Syracuse, MICA, UC, and Towson. I wish my son had tried to get into USC, but as you probably know, they only accept something like 15 freshman out of who knows how many applicants. </p>
<p>Since you're looking for a strong liberal arts curricula, I think Syracuse would make an excellent backup to USC. We visited Syracuse twice and spoke at length with the Dean, teachers, and students, and came away very impressed. The only thing that concerned me was that the Computer Art major was relatively new at the time. Syracuse was runner up to MICA for my son, and if he wanted a strong liberal arts program he probably would have gone there.</p>
<p>Syracuse is know for better or worse as kind of a party school with a big frat scene.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help everyone. Syracuse would be a good place to apply to, but unfortunately, I'd have to submit a picture/ drawing portfolio, and I have no experience yet in such arts (I want to go to college to learn it). I'm more of a writer. I will try, perhaps, the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media in Michigan State University.</p>
<p>4Giggles, I have seen part of Randy Pausch's last lecture. An inspiring person indeed, I will look up more about his work.</p>
<p>Hey, I actually am a computer art student at Syracuse! The university as a whole is very good, so I would recommend it to anyone, however I am not completely satisfied with the computer art program here. My biggest problem is that for either animation or video games, you really need to have excellent drawing skills, yet drawing classes are not part of our curriculum. I had to go out of my way to sign up for figure drawing next year. </p>
<p>However, that may be my biggest complaint. There are plenty of video game courses offered in our program, though I must warn you that you won't really get to take the higher level gaming courses until your junior and senior years (but you will take a few freshman and sophomore year, don't worry.)</p>
<p>If you're looking for liberal arts classes, Syracuse definitely offers them. In computer art, you have to take one or two academic electives every semester, so it's very easy to take classes in the fields you are interested in. I'm using my academic electives to pursue a minor in entrepreneurship, and it's no problem getting into those classes.</p>
<p>Also, greek life is HUGE on campus, so you will have no problem finding a frat if you want to rush. Personally, I'm not involved in greek life, but I still have a very good social life and have plenty to do around campus and on weekends.</p>
<p>Someone mentioned how USC only accepted 15 kids into their interactive game major. I hate to break it to you, but there are only 13 kids in my year for computer art, and the freshman class this year only has 5 kids in it (though I do not know how many were accepted in total.) Still, do not think that you won't be able to get in. If you believe that you have about the academics for USC, you definitely will have the requirements to get into Syracuse.</p>
<p>on the topic of social life at CMU, my bro goes there, hes in a frat and enjoys himself very much. There are a few other schools around there, so dont rule it out completely just for social reasons</p>
<p>I personally think that the best schools for animation tend to be art schools, like CalArts, Ringling, and Art Center. They certainly have some of the best programs for animation (and I'd say Ringling's Computer Art/Video Game design and Art Center's Entertainment design produce amazing results for videogame designers). The problem with these schools, is that their liberal arts probably don't compare to universities like Carnegie Mellon, USC, etc.
But you really have to determine what type of video game design work you want to do (e.g. some students are better off in illustration than animation for videogame art). But I really don't recommend the "art schools" to people who want a broader range or who aren't completely sure that they want to do videogame design/art.</p>