<p>I'm currently a student at Penn State University, which has more majors to choose from than most schools under the sun, but it ironically (half the reason I came here was my indecision) doesn't offer my preference now that I've finally been able to make up my mind about it.</p>
<p>I plan on living at home and taking courses through a local community college next semester to supplement whatever general education requirements my school of choice might have in order to save money, so I'm trying to narrow down my top choices as soon as possible.</p>
<p>I've looked at Mercy NY, SUNY Fredonia, UMass Lowell, and a host of others, but most of those seem very oriented towards the music side of the specialty rather than the technology for post-production/editing/mixing for areas other than music production. Don't get me wrong, I'm an avid musician and would love to incorporate that into my education, but I'm most interested in learning digital audio workstations and how to apply that knowledge to post-production in a broad spectrum of areas such as movies, television, games, and other media. I'm also interested in sound design for theater (and music production, but without so much emphasis on it above the rest).</p>
<p>I'm also not opposed to the engineering side, although I haven't studied math for quite some time and might be a little slow on the uptake in physics, engineering and acoustics classes. Still, there's nothing I'm not willing to learn to be able to do what I want.</p>
<p>So far, my search hasn't turned up one completely sound answer (ha!), and it's likely that it never will--but I need some help from experienced users like yourselves. I've looked over many topics in this forum (including most tagged in this thread: Music Business/Industry/Management/Technology/Production), on the AES website, and through contact with school administrators, but so far I'm coming up just a little bit short. I'm looking for a strong emphasis on audio engineering technology, combined with some studies in computer science and music, and with as little deviation from the subject matter as possible, so most BA degrees are out.</p>
<p>Tuition is also a factor; I'd rather not have to pay any more than $20,000 per year. Location, however, is not an issue. As long as the out-of-state tuition matches my ceiling, I'm willing to consider it. Financial aid and scholarships are a plus as well.</p>
<p>I should add that I'm from Pennsylvania and might be willing to go over that 20k limit if a more expensive school has a very clear advantage. A student chapter of the AES would be awesome, but I'm not going to restrict myself based on that. On the same token, any networking opportunities are definitely a factor.</p>
<p>If anyone has any sort of suggestion, no matter how obvious it may seem, I would be grateful and absolutely willing to check it out. Thank you for reading!</p>