Hello, I have been accepted into University of Utah and Arizona State University for computer science and I am having a really hard time in choosing between them. I want to work in entertainment or social media industry rather than business enterprise.
I am interested in Utah because I heard that it is very strong at computer graphics and video game development, It’s Entertainment Art Engineering track is ranked No.1 in the U.S. for video game development, which is the most attractive focus area to me. ( I want to work in entertainment industry ) But I am concerned that if I choose this focus area will it be harder for me to land a job compared to the traditional CS track?
I also want to attend ASU simply because of the great location and higher ranking. I really like Phoenix way much better than Salt Lake City. But I checked the courses at ASU and they do not seem as appealing as Utahs’ to me. ASU focus more on the database and information security I guess ( I don’t like them ) ? There is only one computer graphic course and one multimedia as elective that I can take. And ASU has a lot mandatory social and natural science courses seem pretty irrelevant to the CS?
Can you please explain the CS specialty of these two schools and the graduates job opportunity of them? Which one would you choose?
I’d say Utah’s Entertainment Arts & Engineering program is the best route if you’re really interested in entertainment applications of CS. Utah’s reputation in the field will override any kind of general CS or university rankings, and with your final project you’ll have something relevant to show potential employers.
Even if you can’t find a decent programming job doing entertainment applications, you’ll still know enough CS to be able to fall back onto more generic programming jobs.