<p>As a high school junior in an art school aspiring to be a Pixar animator, I'm very interested in Penn's DMD program. I like to have a mix of artistic creativity and academic challenges. I've checked out their site for the curriculum, students, faculty and alumni, but all I need is personal opinion from anyone who's been through this program (and a few questions I can't seem to find answers on the site). Is DMD ABET accredited? Is it a challenging yet rewarding degree that would prepare people to work at places like Pixar, Dreamworks or Electronic Arts?</p>
<p>Thanks for reading! :)</p>
<p>Hey there. My kid started out in the DMD program but has since transferred out to the college…not unusual for that particular program. Be very careful when thinking about this program. Its advertising is a bit disingenuous. There is a ton of coding with precious little quality teaching during the four years. Grading is very harsh and discouraging most of the time, unless higher level math and coding (which, unfortunately, is taught by TAs) are extremely easy for you. DO NOT go into this program if you have little to no experience with coding. Finally, I have been generally disappointed with Penn in terms of how it seems to ignore undergrads. One of the biggest student services is tutoring, because the classroom teaching is pitiful. Penn is a grind!</p>
<p>Hm, so the Digital Media Design program is basically like…computer science with some art mixed in? Interesting! I’m going into SEAS as a comp sci major but I’ve always been interested in art, maybe I should try to see if I can transfer in.</p>
<p>I’m surprised DMD was such a disappointment! It has such a great reputation and is so difficult to get into. Your son/daughter must have had an impressive academic and artistic record to have been accepted into the program in the first place. Sorry to hear it didn’t work out. My daughter was dying to get into DMD, but was not accepted, in spite of a strong academic record. Is your son/daughter happy at Penn now that he/she has transferred to another program?</p>
<p>Hmm, I see. I’m sorry it didn’t work out, PennPop. Thank you for the warning (my dad’s an Oracle programmer…maybe he can give me a bit of insight into his field); I’ve got my eye on similar programs from other universities as well, so it won’t be the end of the world for me if I can’t get into Penn for DMD. Their curriculum sounded so awesome though…I’m planning to take a summer program there and check it out for myself to see if it’s worth it. ;)</p>
<p>I’ve heard that plenty of Pixar employees hail from places like Stanford, UC Berkeley or MIT. I’m totally checking into that. :D</p>