<p>Well I'm still deciding on what college I want to go to. I looking to major in animation/art. Here are my top choices:</p>
<p>-Carnegie Mellon University
-Maryland Institute College of Art ($42,000 scholarship divided into 4 years)
-University of Southern California; however I was accepted to their Art school, not animation so I may have to transfer later. ($2,000 scholarship) </p>
<p>additionally, these are the criterias that matter most to me:</p>
<p>-Obviously a good future-job (hopefully at Pixar or Google)
-Good environment (weather, social life, etc.)
-Competition between students (don't want to kill or be killed)
-Money, obviously
-I would prefer a University setting.</p>
<p>I have done a LOT of research on animation for my daughter.Let me share some of my findings:</p>
<p>First you need to decide what area of animation you want. It is usually between the coding side and the art side. </p>
<p>If you want coding, you want to major in computer science with a concentration of either game design or artificial intelligence. Good schools would be RIT, RPI, MIT et al.</p>
<p>If you want art, you eventually have to decide beteen traditional animation, 3d animation or something in the animation pipline such as shading , texturing, modeling or lighting.</p>
<p>Some good schools that have a broad approach to animation and have very strong reputations are NOT those listed by you. They are: Ringling, Calarts, SVA, Acadamy of Art Univeristy, Sheridan College in Canada, SCAD, RIT, Pratt, Laguna College of Art et. al.</p>
<p>If you are interested in animation, specifically, seek a program that emphasizes the study of motion/movement. Companies like Pixar really don’t care what software programs you know because they use proprietary software applications and will teach you. I have seen presentations by Disney and Pixar to prospective students and in both cases they emphasized that applicants should first and foremost understand the dynamics of motion as well as the ability render living forms in motion. Be prepared to do a lot of life drawing!</p>
<p>thanks for the input! btw I love life drawing, I even thought of going in to illustration.</p>
<p>See the thing is, I am to either go into business and try to make big bucks or do what I’m truly talented at, animation/art, this is my dilemma. How much do animators make? according to a lot of salary websites it seems animators are the high-end of the “Art major” salaries. I would love some actual real-personal input though.</p>