Seeking college to study world development, technology?

<p>Good morning, internet. </p>

<p>I'll cut right to what I'm looking to study. I'd like some help finding schools/major names that I should be looking up related to this. </p>

<p>I want to work in a field based around creating worlds for people to experience. At the moment, I assume that field is limited largely to video games. I believe it could easily be expanded away from purely recreation - then again, video games have already started doing that (learning, etc). I want to produce ideas and either through character art or written work, help bring them into a medium where people can experience them not just through word or sight, but through as many senses as possible. I want to give people visuals they can interact with, make choices to have an impact on, but work with others who will bring them sounds & any other aspect possible to truly put the participant "in" that world. </p>

<p>While I see all of these things at some stage in RPG and MMORPG games, I do not necessarily want to limit my choice to purely video games. I would also be interested in working to develop the technology that allows any person to go anywhere, fictional or historical or far away, through virtual reality. My research so far though, has brought up that being a budding field. I am not sure what a path into that field might be.</p>

<p>Any major or school I consider need not have both the creative side and the more technology side in its programs. However, it would be a huge benefit, I suppose, if I was able to touch both sides and figure out where my mind best fit between them.</p>

<p>Here is some information about my qualifications:</p>

<ul>
<li>I am a 2012 high school graduate. I am applying as transfer.</li>
<li>In high school, my GPA was 3.7 something, I believe. It's been a bit since I've looked at it.</li>
<li>I come with 5 courses of AP credit. English 5, Environmental Science 4, Government and Politics 4, Statistics 3, Microeconomics 3. I do not require that these scores be accepted, especially the 3s. I could've done a lot better.</li>
<li>I have since attended one full year at Moorhead State University, 2013-2014. First semester I had 17 credits, second 18 credits. Overall GPA there was 3.97. I did not declare a major. Most of my 'generals' are complete.</li>
<li>I was an Honors student at Moorhead State University. </li>
<li>I am currently attending a semester at Ellsworth Community College, possibly two, for Equine Science (horse care, riding, judging). I took this year 'off' to figure out what I wanted to do and go experience something unlike what I ever had before. I am hoping this 'unique experience' might be worth something to someone, but the things I've learned about blazing an unknown trail in something that I had very little previous ability in has taught me a lot about myself.</li>
<li>My extracurricular in high school were limited to the Anime Club that I and a few friends founded. I led the club, being responsible for weekly room reservation, dealing with high school staff, baking weekly snacks, selecting two shows to watch a meeting, creating humorous ads for our weekly school news program, and otherwise organizing & speaking for the club. The club remains active to this day at the school, with largely the same infrastructure.</li>
<li>While at Moorhead State University, I participated in several clubs. There is a yearly one-day Anime Convention that is entirely student run and funded there called Moarcon. I was deputy chair for Moarcon 2014. My responsibilities included working with the multiple clubs who participated in the event for scheduling, fund raising, and normal 'diplomatic' issues pertaining to the event. I also assisted in brainstorming payment policy back to the clubs and fund raising for the event. </li>
<li>At my current college, my extracurricular involvement has been low but I have actively been writing letters and working to make some security issues on main campus known to campus staff. </li>
<li>My ACT score in 2011 was 31 overall. I did take the writing portion, and scored 10 (out of 12), if I recall correctly. </li>
<li>My financial need is great. I have worked full time overnights in a stocking position both the year out of college 2012-2013, as well as during summer and winter breaks. I have limited my spending immensely during these times, too. (No car, no large purchases, not having my own apartment, etc). My father is considered 'dangerous' to communicate with, and is not part of my FAFSA. My mother contributes nothing to my living costs and I have not lived with her since 2009 (10th grade for me), but has an expected contribution of around $4000. She has never helped with college costs, and probably never will. I paid her $2000 to declare bankruptcy a year ago, if that gives you an idea of who gives money to who. My sister, who shares my situation, was informed by the college she is currently applying to that she should leave both parents off the FAFSA and say she is 'at risk for homelessness', because both of us have lived with friends since 2009-2010.</li>
<li>For an absolutely amazing prospect, I am willing to take loans. But I'd still prefer an option with less loans, because who wouldn't.</li>
<li>I currently live in Minnesota, but have no issues with relocating elsewhere. </li>
<li>I am female. </li>
<li>My current artistic ability, should I be applying somewhere as say, concept art major, is not going to stand out. It's not atrocious, but it is also more than obvious I have not been dedicated to studying drawing for the last few years.</li>
</ul>

<p>I thank you for reading all of this information. I really, truly do. Please post any questions you have additional to this. Otherwise, please suggest majors I should be looking for at prospective schools or school names that I should get more information about personally.</p>

<p>edit:
I realized after I posted that it might also be worth it to note I have 4 years of French from Middle School & High School under my belt, a long with some personal study of the language this current year. I cannot really speak or listen, but I can write with some assistance from a dictionary and am capable of reading articles and having a general idea of what is being discussed. Humorously, as a gauge, I can play Pokemon RPGs in French and understand nearly everything.</p>

<p>At Moorhead I studied Japanese for a year and -loved learning it-. I miss doing that a lot. But my Japanese skills from a single year are nothing to really note. </p>

<p>-</p>

<p>Moorhead St is in MN, Ellsworth CC is in IA. Which state gives you instate tuition?</p>

<p>Minnesota.</p>

<p>University of Minn is into Virtual Reality</p>

<p><a href=“http://vr.design.umn.edu/”>College of Design Research | College of Design;

<p><a href=“http://ivlab.cs.umn.edu/project_3dui.php”>http://ivlab.cs.umn.edu/project_3dui.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I hadn’t considered looking into the U of M, and will do so. However, I’m definitely still interested in other schools. Anyone have more to recommend? </p>

<p>I’m really hoping for places with strong programs for both creative concept development and technology programs.</p>

<p>NYU has some new program, I think, oriented toward game development. Probably not a great choice if financial need is great, though.</p>

<p>Digipen is the leader at purely technical, job-skills-oriented, game development, but I don’t think it’s what you’re interest in.</p>

<p>I’ll still look into NYU, at least to get a better idea of what sorts of things are included in similar programs.</p>

<p>I believe I’ve looked Digipen awhile ago, but I’ll still look at them for the above reason.</p>

<p>Tufts is very hard to gent into as a transfer student, but it:</p>

<p>Meets full need for financial aid </p>

<p>Has an Anime club
Has a strong Comp Sci program with:
An award winning course in Game Design
A course/research in Data Visualization (hot field)
Courses/research in Human/computer interaction
Courses/research in Human/computer interface design
Course/research in engineering education/computers
A course in Scientific Animation/research in scientific simulation
A Strong Fine Arts program with partnerships/courses with the Museum of Fine Arts and the New England Conservatory
An interdisciplinary arts/engineering minor in Multimedia Arts
An Experimental College that offers courses in film making and offered a course in 2D animation taught by an industry expert.
A campus in the French Alps with a summer study program
Boston area is a game design hub </p>

<p><a href=“Prospective Students | Department of Computer Science”>Prospective Students | Department of Computer Science;

<p><a href=“Homepage | Film and Media Studies”>Homepage | Film and Media Studies;

<p>Here is a list of schools with dedicated game design programs:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/top-75-schools-game-designdevelopment-us-2014?page=0,0”>http://www.animationcareerreview.com/articles/top-75-schools-game-designdevelopment-us-2014?page=0,0&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Good Luck</p>

<p>Thank you Mastadon. I’ve been doing personal research on various programs since I posted this message but had not yet discovered Tufts. It does sound very interesting to me.</p>

<p>Do you know, is it difficult to get in because they do not want transfers period, or because they do not want to transfer credits specifically?</p>

<p>It has a very low attrition rate, so there are not many open slots.</p>

<p>Look into the women’s colleges. Your background would be of interest to them and they’d likely meet a lot of financial need. Check into Mount Holyoke if a more rural location doesnt scare you (it is in a 5-college partnership and near a cool college town so it’s not isolated), Barnard if you want urban (in the heart of NYC and in a partnership with Columbia accross the street), Smith (if you want a more political campus), Bryn Mawr (suburban Philadelphia and in a partnership with Haverford), Wellesley (near Boston, very competitive, partnership with Olin).
I agree that you should have been declared as “homeless” before age 18 and certainly for you and your sister now should be considered “homeless” if you’re living with friends or relatives and aren’t dependent on your mother. One of the few ways to be declared independent for financial aid purpose is if you are or have been homeless after the age of 16, or have “in the system” from age 13 on. If you’re considered independent, your FA depends solely on your own earnings, not your mother’s - there’s no “family contribution” although your personal contribution may be higher than what it is now. Still the total due would be much lower.
It sounds like you have EFC zero and should thus target colleges that meet 100% need. Your record as a transfer makes you competitive at most schools.
Also, Quebec has some terrific programs, I can look them up.</p>

<p>I’d also urge you to look into Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. They meet 100% need, have a strong focus on global development issues, as well as a great equestrian center if you want to keep up with the horsey stuff. Students there are very dedicated and passionate, and all about women doing great things. SOunds like you’d fit in well there :)</p>

<p>Edited to add: I just realized that you didn’t mean global development, you meant world development as in digital realities. Sorry! But look at MHC anyway!</p>

<p>Thank you for the continued responses in this thread.</p>

<p>I’ll look into the schools listed, but I’m very wary of any school so expensive as some of the private institutions you’ve offered. 100% need met still probably means more loans than I’ll ever pay off, especially at liberal arts schools.</p>

<p>Many of the 100% need schools actually don’t require students to take on loans (ie., everything is work study + grants) if your family makes below a certain limit, (65k, 80k, 100k depending on the school). The others ONLY require the 3,500 or 5,500 federal loans, period. NONE of them package “PLUS loans” or other loans, nor do they require you to take more than that.</p>