Interactive Media & Game design program

Can anyone comment on the quality of this program - former/current students and/or parents?

My daughter has been accepted to this program and she got a generous merit scholarship to the school but it will still be a stretch for her to go here. We went to the Open House and we liked the presentation. It is ranked #17 on Princeton Review’s “Top 25 UG schools to study Game Design for 2015”.

But I am kind of worried about the way they do their terms. Seven weeks for a term seems awfully quick so you must not fall behind on your classes. How has your child adapted to the schedule? Have they had to drop a class because theycould not keep up? That would be my main concern.

I like their idea of projects as this would give her exposure to people from other majors and work w/ others. How did your child like their project experiences?

What about Worcester itself? It’s a big city, but not like Boston, of course. Social life, activities, etc.

I can’t comment about the IMGD program, other than to say that game design and development careers are extremely competitive, regardless of where you go to school. There are several types of programs that can prepare a student for game design. Some schools, like Digipen, are more vocationally oriented programs that emphasize the technique of designing games. On the other side of the spectrum are hard core research universities which do not offer a game design program at all, but where students learn physics, computer science and liberal arts and design games using these concepts on the side. WPI as a university leans towards the latter, though it does provide a game design program.

I don’t know of anyone in a game design career (mostly just that I did not interact much with IMGD students) but I do know of a student who double majored in CS and IMGD and got a job at one of the big 4 (Microsoft/FB, Google, Amazon, Apple) software companies. So WPI is not a bad choice if you have an interest in game design but may not want to pursue it as a career.

The seven week schedule is intense and fast paced, but not terribly harsh. Typically, a student takes 3-4 courses per seven week term. If you’re somewhat diligent, you can succeed in two or three technical courses per term. Also, your daughter can pace out her technical courses over four years if she finds the pace faster than she expects.

Worcester is an older industrial city and has its own charm. It is certainly not as nice as Boston and safety can be an issue outside the campus. But like any city, there is nearby restaurants, recreation, movie theaters and nightlife. There are also several colleges in the area along with the U Mass Medical School.