I’m not talking about Disney internships, I’m talking about the Disney College program where anyone who is currently attending college can apply to work at a Disney park for a semester and also take classes there as an option.
What is so special about GCU that you cannot get from a California public university or CBU?
Who told you that? The program is not a guarantee and only hires around 24% of applicants ([1](https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/tourism/os-disney-college-program-20150130-story.html)). That’s better odds than a lot of internships, but not anywhere close to a guarantee. The odds are still that you will not be accepted.
Life isn’t about checking boxes to get hired. The path to Imagineering is quite varied ([2](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-imagineer-d23-tips-secrets-20150815-story.html)) and there is no cookie-cutter solution to do it. Ultimately, the people hiring engineers into the Imagineering departmetn want competent, and likely in some cases, licensed engineers (for engineering-related positions, of course, there are plenty of art and design related jobs as well). It’s about demonstrating the competence required to be hired into a given position, and working in the Disney College Program is unlikely to provide them with much insight into whether you are a competent engineer with the artistic flair they would want. What will is your GPA, the accreditation of the program from which you earn your degree, and any familiarity they may have with you in an engineering sense (i.e. doing engineering internships with them or the reputation of your school for producing good engineers). If you clear those hurdles, you can sell yourself in an interview.
We aren’t saying that. The Imaginations competition is, in theory, egalitarian and shouldn’t care about your school. However, the schools are likely supplying at least some resources to the student teams, and attending a school with resources that may be helpful to the project will certainly be helpful to your chances.
If you want to be an engineer, go to a school with some experience in educating engineers. If you want to go to GCU because you have friends there (or something else you still haven’t told us) then just go there and make the best of it, but it will not be an ideal situation for an aspiring engineer.
(1) https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/tourism/os-disney-college-program-20150130-story.html
(2) https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/herocomplex/la-et-hc-imagineer-d23-tips-secrets-20150815-story.html
Ok I will take GCU off my list, I just wanted to make sure because this was the one school where I was unsure whether or not to consider thanks.
Also there’s a bunch of videos on YouTube saying that people will eventually get into the Disney College Program if they keep applying each semester and follow the tips and tricks of the application process.
Unless it came from an official Disney account, you have to take it with a grain of salt. Anyone can post literally anything they want to YouTube.
“I’m not talking about Disney internships, I’m talking about the Disney College program”
Other than what @boneh3ad perfectly said, I’d just clarify for you that Disney has multiple types of internships, the Disney College Experience being one of them. You can see for yourself in the link below, the main photo caption is “Magic. Experience. Paid Internships”. Since it is based around working in the park and not a professional internship, I’d gather it to be less competitive, but as a result, not really germane to getting a job as an engineer. I can’t find a reference for how selective they are, but I’m sure that are far more selective than the 1/4 for the College Program.
If that’s your dream, do everything you can to get your ducks in a row to be a complete applicant. Pulling GCU off of your list is a start. Doing a non-professional internship probably can’t hurt and there are worse things than spending a summer in the House of the Mouse. I would make sure however that you reserve the summer after your junior for a professional internship and don’t confine it to Disney when putting out applications. Sure a Disney professional internship would be the best, but if it doesn’t come through, any engineering internship is better than no internship once job applications for full time employment roll around. Disney will care more about engineering experience than a summer in a park.
Good luck!
There’s even articles saying people eventually get in. I haven’t seen anyone state that they applied for the program every semester they were in college and eventually never got the opportunity to do it after they graduated. Anyways thanks guys for the advice.
I think you’re missing the point. I’ll leave it at that.
You’re missing the forest for the trees.
So I’m trying to understand teh term “imagineer” … is it all fields (engineering and many more)?
https://jobs.disneycareers.com/category/walt-disney-imagineering-jobs/391-5733-5732/2484/1
I think it’s many fields encompassing everything it takes to develop and launch a new attraction. More of a department than a job title.