TL;DR Help, Question in the title + my EDII college doesn’t offer game development courses or teach my favorite language
I’ve been researching other colleges for RD for my essays (Cornell was the one that made me really think about my choice tho) and I keep comparing them to my EDII choice school, which is a great college but doesn’t have as many courses in CS. I know it’s kinda unfair to compare a college to one as big as Cornell but Cornell literally has all of the programs that I’m really interested in and more.
But the reason I’m kinda thinking of switching is bc Cornell has courses and programs on game development while my EDII college doesn’t offer any for some reason?? If I’m planning to work in the game industry, how much of a setback will it be if I don’t take any courses on it? And Cornell also has courses on Korean, which is pretty rare in many colleges (and Korean is the only language I’m genuinely interested in learning)
Cornell is extremely diffiult to get into, so I wouldn’t make plans based on getting an acceptance there. It is considered a high reach for everyone. But since your interest in Cornell has highlighted some things about your ED2 college that make you question it, I suggest that you spend some time looking for colleges that offer what Cornell does, but that are easier to get into, and consider using your ED2 option there, if that college offers ED2.
Also, CS is a difficult major to get accepted into for many colleges, and the students who are accepted into CS tend to have better stats than the average for that college – although some schools don’t admit into a major, so that won’t be an issue for those schools.
Lastly, if finances are an issue, make sure to run the Net Price Calculator for all the schools that you are interested in to make sure you only apply to colleges that your parents can afford. Note that the Net Price Calculator might not be accurate if your parents are divorced or own a farm or business.
Let me ask you this - if the school you ED2 to doesn’t offer robust offerings in your desired area, why would you ED2 there?
You don’t have to ED2 anywhere - in fact most students don’t ED. I would change the ED2 to RD right now if you are anything less than 100% sold on your school and it doesn’t sound like you are. Whether they hold it against you or not doesn’t matter if it’s not the right school for you.
Find a school that offers an area in game design. There are many and I’m sure you still have time to apply and gain merit.
Where else are you applying? The link above shares some great options in game design. Note that many are doing impressive work in this field while not the “prestige” level you seem to be looking at. Cornell is on that list, but after many other options that are far more focused on game design.
Definitely drop the current EDII. And yes, not taking any game design classes in college will impact your ability to get a job in a competitive field against kids with years of classes and internships.
That industry, as many careers, is all about relationships, skills, and hard work. Colleges that build in internships and can give you actual recent job placements are important for those relationships. Digipen is amazing, but small and hyper focused - you have to really want that. RIT is investing a ton of money into their program and has internships and relationships - also there is a cool game museum in Rochester. WPI is well respected and has unique opportunities with their project based learning. SCAD is very career focused and has the job placements - it is an art school and far removed from anything like Cornell.
Do your research. There is a great difference between having a few classes within CS or another dept and having a full blown game design major with multiple options to focus on.
It doesn’t matter which school is giving you pause. If you are not convinced your ED2 school is your first choice, change your app to RD. People do this all the time, whether to see where they got in or to evaluate merit offers.
Actually the main reason why I applied EDII was because of how much financial aid they’d give me. I’d probably be paying under 1k a year if I get in + no health insurance fees since it’s in my home state. So my parents bills will be much lower without an extra kid around the house.
I guess it’s more of a question if going to college basically for free and only for a CS degree vs actually learning something for my career?
Yes, it meets 100% need and my family has 0 EFC. But I’m hesitant to give out the school name in case any admissions officers from that college happen to stumble upon this post lmao. And out-of-state student health care costs about 2k for me but I can get it covered if I stay in certain states.
If your parents have a PPO plan, it might cover you even out of state. My plan is in California, but it is a big national company and they cover my son at in-state, in-network rates even though his school is 3,000 miles away. Most schools will waive the health insurance cost if your parents plan will cover you while you are there. BUT…many schools also have a health clinic fee,which is not insurance but which is what they charge you to have access to the doctors and nurses on campus, and that is usually not waivable, regardless of your insurance. So good to dig deep, if that is important to you.
When using any list of GD programs, you need to know which and how much of the three GD options you want: game design, computer science, and art. Some of the top schools on the Princeton review list only offer BA degrees for GD (NYU and UU, for instance) and include little or no computer science. Some only teach game art (SCAD). Also note that the percentage of graduates from GD programs who get jobs in the industry right out of school is low (ask the schools themselves; at an RIT open house back in November my daughter and I were told only about 20% of graduates go right into the industry). Make sure you have an alternate career plan in mind.
Many schools will only accept an insurance plan that has service in their area. Several of the Cal schools will not accept Kaiser because they don’t have a Kaiser clinic in their city or county, even though Kaiser is a very large insurer in California. Many NY schools will not accept plans from outside the state or even outside the area. I believe Cornell wouldn’t accept some of the big NY HMO plans because they are out of network in that area. There were several Connecticut parents angry because they had to buy another plan for their kids going to college in NY.
My friend was shocked to learn that her son’s therapy was out of network. They had blue cross, but from another state. The emergency knee injury was covered, but not the ongoing therapy.
a) they wouldn’t know - and i doubt would care. But I understand your hestiancy.
b) do any schools on this list offer your major ? If so, research them quickly, even call the department and talk to a prof about what they do there (study) and placement info.
Well - here’s some you might look into and these might be better ED if they offer (USC doesn’t) - but check their NPCs. I’ll assume if you got into a 100% meets need school you’re a student who is strong - and that’s awesome!!
USC
NYU - this year announced
Cornell
Northeastern
Your state flagship?
There’s more - I didn’t go through the list. Some like Oberlin and Occidental have a class at least.
Free is tough to beat - I’ll give you that - but perhaps you’d be free at another - and those three I listed are the top of the list. But if you have free and you work hard to network, you can make it work!! It won’t be easy - but that’s the tradeoff for free and I 100% get it!!!
I think hers was a PPO too, but the NY doctors were Out of Network. She had to pay the out of network fee, which was substantially more than an in-network doctor would have been in Colorado. Emergency care covered, on-going care was not.
There was a thread on here a couple of years ago about Cornell not accepting insurance from groups in NYC or CT and requiring the student to purchase the school’s plan. The parents were pretty angry as it was over $3000.
Some schools just let you check a box that you have coverage and that’s it. Others require a copy of the plan and will check for certain coverages.
a) I uploaded an ED form already and it says documents I upload can’t be removed. So I was thinking if I switch, would they maybe see my RD application and have an indicator somewhere that I had submitted an ED form?
b) I have a few of those colleges on my list (I’m applying to 17 other colleges RD). But from my calculations, none of them come close to my ED college (the lowest one in my RD is 4k in-state). The other schools are better in my major though
People switch to RD all the time. Colleges don’t ding you for this. Perhaps your family has encountered financial difficulties. That’s the main reason people switch out of ED to RD, so they can compare financial aid.