My boy is going to the US as an International student

Parents Forum
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That sounds good, keep us updated on the visits. Posters can help if you do have any questions, but for now, sounds like he is doing things the correct way. It is true that it’s a bit late, but as he is finding out, there are still opportunities and $ to be had. Good luck.

ETA: I’m not sure if you want other college recommendations but other schools with good esports teams that may still be taking apps, beyond Akron (a good idea), are Maryville U in St Louis, Illinois Wesleyan and its neighbor Illinois State, Georgia State, University of North Texas. I don’t know for sure they are all still taking apps or have $ to offer, but it’s worth a call.

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Thank you, he’s pretty determined.

He needs the team AND the course together at the same place. If not I fear he may lose interest in the course. He knows what he wants to do as a career and the course is an absolute must have.

We started with Illinois State and worked our way down the rankings. You would be surprised how many colleges have fantastic teams but offer no course.

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I understand, but want to reiterate that in the US, one doesn’t need to be an esports major to work in esports. Many business majors do, other majors too including things like math. What are his specific career goals in the industry?

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Why this last minute decision? I would also tease that out with your son.

Really, it sounds like he will have some options here. Affordability sounds like it might be iffy…but it might be fine.

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Which country OP is from? From a country like India it may be hard and stressful to do something post summer visit. In OP’s place would have suggested my son to defer admission to spring semester and have fun and do internships for 6 months. It may not be bad idea at all to postpone decision by one year and do things in a more optimal way.

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46

OP posted this…I assumed this meant the student was coming from the UK.

But another question would be…is he a UK citizen, or a citizen of another country residing in the UK.

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He didnt realise he could do it until this one coach head hunted him and offered him a scholarship.

You have much better facilities for this kind of thing in US colleges and the collegiate teams are very well respected worldwide.

Edited to add… its life experience as well, good for your resume and shows you are capable. I lived in Virginia for several years, I loved it, I hope he will too.

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British born and bred lol

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It might be quite easy to get Visa in that case from timeline perspectives. All the best.

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That is true!

Please make sure your S understands he doesn’t need to be an esports major to be on the teams, or ultimately work in the esports industry. Some high schoolers don’t know things like that and the adults have to educate them.

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Visa wait times are 1-4 weeks at the moment so fingers crossed.

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Sorry I missed it. Which school did he get the scholarship from?

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I didnt say lol

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Oh ok! Once you have more acceptances and few schools to consider you can bring them up if you wish for discussions. Some schools have better websites than others :slight_smile:

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Good point. If he would consider an esports minor or certificate, that opens up many more options.

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Ive asked him about this but its the course that gets him fired up. Hes good at maths and sciences but he just doesn’t have the will to study that for 3/4 years. He wants to learn about production, sound, camerawork, coaching, playing, psychology of it all and strategy. Its such a growing sport with many aspects to it.

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Don’t quite disagree that’s why I say to look at schools with certificates so a lot of those classes are covered. I would also caution (from what I have seen) that some classes that have the “right name” might be limited in scope and not as good as thought. For example he might learn more from a general human behavior class than a class specific to esports. Anyway, what I suggest is to look a little more carefully in the offerings of the school in general. Some of the things he wishes to learn might be offered under other names in different departments.

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Are any of these Community Colleges?
Is he a recruited athlete (or “recruited”, ie., he has a skill the college is interested in for competition purpose, could also be debate, chess…)?
What course is it (ie., what major)?
Do you mean Penn State Harrisburg - and why PSU Harrisburg, why not go for University Park (still rolling for internationals, unless he’s applying for a competitive major ie., Engineering, Business - and even those have work-arounds through the other colleges at UP)? Or why not Behrend (the most residential “branch campus”?)

What’s your budget?
Quite a few colleges are still accepting applications - among the “best” academically that I know are still accepting applications are Knox and Hendrix. I think St Michael’s in Vermont also does.
The suggestion of UAkron is a good one.
Illinois Wesleyan, Illinois State, Georgia State are all good ideas.
If UNT is still accepting apps and offering scholarships, it’s part of the Texas system that reduces tuition for OOS/international students awarded even a small scholarship.

Your list may be too restrictive:
Could he major in something else while being part of a good e-team, for instance?
In the US, the “course” is only 1/3 of the total of the classes (modules) taken, and those are often common with a lot of other majors.
In other words, the classes specific to an “esport major” may be as few as 4 or 5 classes out of 32-40 that he could take as electives or for a minor.
(He will likely have to take 1-2 semesters each in English, Math, Science, History/Humanities, Social Science + all sorts of pre-requisites, keeping in mind some will be waived for A-Levels but not necessarily for B-Tech.)
Another way to expand the list of colleges is choose a college that has the subject as a MINOR and your son can use his electives to take as many classes in the subject as he wishes, then complement that with a related (or unrelated) major. So if you list the major (esports? Esport management? sports management?) we can list all the programs that are similar.

All of this will help us help you :slight_smile:

For a British citizen, the visa process is relatively streamlined but do plan 6+ weeks before start of class (keeping in mind athletes or ppl on teams need to arrive on campus early, often 2 weeks early).

This is an example of the major linked to esports at Illinois State
https://illinoisstate.edu/academics/creative-technologies-game-design/
1° students must take these courses, spread over 8 semesters (except for the freshman courses); Technology students are exempted from the science&math requirements because they have their own major-related courses in these subjects but they do have to take a math class or prove competency.
https://illinoisstate.edu/catalog/undergraduate/general-education/program/
All 1st and 2nd year classes are common to Creative Technology majors, so that one can pivot from one to the other easily.
https://illinoisstate.edu/catalog/undergraduate/bs-smt-grad-req/

Check whether any university on the list is a “Christian” college and make sure you’re okay with the conditions (creed to sign, code of conduct, mandatory Bible Study and Chapel…)

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Thank you, all fantastic advice. I need to do some research to fully understand how all these courses can link together to form a degree, its not like that here at all.

Unfortunately Illinois are not recruiting and theres no Esports course at the moment.

It’s a good point about the religious aspect which does feature in some of his college choices, I’ll have to look more into that.

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60

And to add one more consideration… some colleges allow students to design their own degrees. So if there is a school with a strong esports team but no major (only a minor), it may be worth a call to see if he can design his own esports degree using the curriculum from another school as a general guideline.

These are the requirements for a BBA in Esports at Shenandoah Univ (one of the schools on your list). This should be possible to piece together at most any school with an esports minor/concentration and business coursework.

Course Requirements

The Bachelor of Business Administration degree requires students to complete 30 credit hours of general education coursework, 42 credit hours of business-specific coursework and 24 non-business elective courses. In addition, Esports Management Concentration students are also required to complete 24 credit hours of Esports-focused business elective course work including:

  • ESPT 101 Introduction to Esports (3 credits)
  • ESPT 201 Contemporary Issues in Esports (3 credits)
  • ESPT 340 Esports Structure and Governance (3 credits)
  • ESPT 360 Esports Event Management (3 credits)
  • ESPT 420 Esports Consumerism (3 credits)
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