Trying to build an affordable college list for unusual possible majors is hard...

Parents Forum
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<p>Is anyone else struggling with this? My son <em>may</em> be interested in either game design or industrial design. None of the local schools has either major. Almost all the schools that offer either of these might simply be too expensive; debt for our lower income family is not a smart thing.</p>

<p>Do OOS state schools give scholarships to OOS students? We're CA residents. The one school I found in So Cal is CSULB but without scholarships, it's still not doable because of the cost of room and board.</p>

<p>My son has 2230 SAT. Should get over 700 on two subject tests. Has 3.95 GPA as a homeschooled/ part time community college student and will have about 35 or so CC units upon graduation, but only 2-4 AP exams, if that. He does have a few national honors and some local and regional robotics awards and is taking some classes of interest (animation, art) at the local CC. </p>

<p>He will miss NM but will be commended.</p>

<p>He makes things all the time and when we looked at what an industrial designer does, the major really grabbed his attention.</p>

<p>However, he is medically a bit frail (T1 diabetes among other things), and I don't know how far from home he could or should go.</p>

<p>It's a bit frustrating not finding local schools that have his interests.</p>

<p>Any ideas/suggestions are welcome.</p>

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<p>For (computer) game design, he can just major in computer science at any school with a good computer science department (lots of choices here, including your local universities) and take the popular computer science electives like artificial intelligence and graphics, while taking applicable art, physics, and social studies courses outside of his major.</p>

<p>CSULB’s industrial design major is described here:
<a href=“California State University, Long Beach - Acalog ACMS™”>California State University, Long Beach - Acalog ACMS™;
A list of schools with the major can be found here:
<a href=“http://www.collegemajors101.com/industrial_design_accredited_schools.htm”>http://www.collegemajors101.com/industrial_design_accredited_schools.htm&lt;/a&gt;
You may want to cross-reference it with the usual lists of big merit scholarship schools.</p>

<p>Perhaps he can check to see if art departments at other schools offer similar course work.</p>

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<p>He should apply to USC BEFORE their Dec 1 deadline in order to be considered for one of their full tuition scholarships. There is a lot of competition, but he may have a chance.
They have one of the best game design programs in the country, and are know for their generous financial aid.</p>

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<p>I would agree with ucbalumnus and encourage you to have him looking at majoring in CompSci instead of game design. Just look for schools that focus more on the technical aspects than the theoretical. That also has the advantage that CompSci is likely always going to be a “hot” degree, and game design may be more “trendy” right now. Industrial design is a bit a a different thing, but I imagine there’s a similar “more prevalent” major that can be tuned to be more like industrial design. He sounds like a very talented kid, and I think he should have lots of options for great schools that fit him.</p>

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<p>Absolutely. Majoring in just Game Design is not only over-done, but it is too risky because there is a glut and not enough jobs for all those interested. It is trendy major (along with sports management, international relations, and biomedE…lol…what will all those folks do when they graduate???)</p>

<p>Someone interested in Game Design can be a comp sci major and also take some graphic design/art classes.</p>

<p>As an Eng’g major or a Comp Sci major, Bama would give him free tuition plus 2500 per year…a value of $110,000…so a nice financial safety. Bama has a beautiful new state-of-the-art 900,000 sq feet STEM complex, which when added to the pre-existing remodeled/update STEM space provides over 1.5 million square feet of STEM space. </p>

<p>The campus is drop-dead gorgeous, the people are friendly, and Calif is #5 in sending students to Alabama…so he’d have other natives there.</p>

<p>As for his Juvenile Diabetes…Does he have a pump? Is he careful/responsible? I have a niece who has been Type I since she was 16 months old…just a baby. She uses a pump and has had no issues being away to college. </p>

<p>Here is an older article about a Type I student at Bama who got the Dining Halls to include nutritional labels to help her select the right foods. <a href=“Page Not Found | The University of Alabama”>Page Not Found | The University of Alabama;

<p>That said, if you need for him to stay instate, then have him apply to Santa Clara…he would get about a 2/3 tuition scholarship…most likely…based on his stats and what my relatives have gotten with similar stats.</p>

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<p>Re. CS as a major-I just don’t think that’s what he’d really be interested in. He has never indicated it. How much math is needed for a CS degree? Do you think he should take a programming class next year at the CC? I’m planning his senior year and I hadn’t planned on his taking programming but they do offer C++ and Java. He does better with structured classes, though he could probably do MITx’s Python class. He’s just super duper creative and really likes to work with his hands as he designs, though he’s loving designing in his animation class.</p>

<p>He will be taking pre-calculus this summer and depending on how it goes, may or may not take Calculus in high school. He has a math disability which really, ultimately, will prevent him (I think) from doing any of the harder math classes. He was originally interested in engineering as a major but I think that cannot work. We’ll see how it goes this summer. He’s doing great in trig-based physics at the local CC-got 100 on his first exam and is taking the second one today, but beyond trig, I just don’t know. He really wants to enjoy learning and he works <strong>so</strong> hard in math to get good grades. It leaves him little time for other things. I will have him retested before he goes full time to college. Right now, he has accommodations at the local CC for the diabetes, a vision disability (which is basically gone because he had eye surgery) and his math disability.</p>

<p>It’s not the diabetes so much, though that’s always a concern (When you’ve seen your kid go so low as to almost go into a coma, it does something to you). He does manage well when he’s at home and yes he’s on a pump. He has some other health issues that are of more concern, or rather, that tie into the diabetes, and the whole picture is complicated: he has very low energy and he tends to get easily dehydrated (doesn’t feel thirst much and doesn’t seem to absorb fluids well), though his diabetes is well managed. He went away for the first time for 4 days and did pretty well taking care of himself but he did get dehydrated a bit. It’s a bit of a bummer but it’s always lurking.</p>

<p>Santa Clara would not be a good fit for him personally.</p>

<p>UCB, I have looked at the industrial design schools list over and over. The problem is that very few (none?) on that list are financially viable options. Some of the OOS state schools seem interesting like Univ. of Cincinnati, but I don’t know that OOS schools give enough either need-based or merit scholarships to make them affordable.</p>

<p>What is SJSU like? If CSULB has scholarships above the need-based aid, I can see that as a real possibility.</p>

<p>Here are some schools on the list that need further investigation (from most to least selective):</p>

<p>CMC (The only one of the Claremont Schools that seems to fit him, but impossible to get into; the Claremont schools have an Intercollegiate Media Studies major that seems intriguing, and the school is small, which I think would be better for him)</p>

<p>Game design schools:</p>

<p>Penn (Has a game design-ish major)
Northeastern
USC (Definitely will be able to visit this summer)
UCI (Possibly, but the Game Design major seems to have too much math)
UCSD (Not sure about this)
UT Dallas (Arts and Tech program looks great and there are scholarships
Chapman? (Not sure this would be the right fit, but we may visit)</p>

<p>Industrial Design schools:</p>

<p>Purdue (know nothing about it or finances)
ASU (probably way too hot; my son wilts in heat)
OSU
SJSU
Syracuse
Drexel
RIT
Western Washington</p>

<p>Sorry to ramble but this was <strong>sooo</strong> much easier with my oldest son. We knew math; we knew he was a top student, and we had plenty of financial safeties because of who he was.</p>

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<p>Oh, and as far as Bama, I’ll ask my son about going to a school in the South. I’ve never been and it seems like a foreign country to me! LOL I <em>love</em> Southern California diversity (though I am a rare conservative Christian around these parts); the blend of people and cultures, to me, is one of the best things about living here.</p>

<p>But even with full tuition, it is not a financial safety. Room and board are far more than we can cover. I think we can safely do about $5000 a year for the first two years, and after that, when my husband retires and one of us gets a lesser paying job, it will be problematic. Our EFC this year was $9500 and it will definitely go down.</p>

<p>Those tippy top schools are the ones that are most affordable to a family like ours, unfortunately.</p>

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<p>I agree with the comments above, about comp sci and game design. But I don’t see any ready substitute for industrial design. It’s more like studying architecture – if that’s what you want to do, you have to go somewhere that offers it, and you will be largely immersed in that major from day 1. Admission usually requires an art portfolio, just as it would in architecture. And the best-regarded programs in Industrial Design seem to be heavily located at expensive private schools in the East, </p>

<p>DesignIntelligence is a publication that gives an annual review of Industrial Design, architecture and interior design programs. Rochester Institute of Technology is a very well-regarded program, and with your son’s good stats, he might be able to get significant merit aid there. He would also lend geographic diversity.</p>

<p>There seem to be three main ways to enter that field: at a well-known school, paying big bucks. At a well-known school, fortunate enough to have gotten good scholarships. Or at a lesser-known (more convenient or affordable) school, maybe a state college program that doesn’t get the same degree of attention, but where the student is prepared to hustle, and excel, and break into the business, anyway.</p>

<p>What I just said about Industrial Design is pretty much also true of Interior Design.</p>

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<p>Yes, fieldsports, that is what I have come to see in doing some research online. I was heartened to see that, while not a top field for income, industrial designers still do a very respectable job of earning a living. </p>

<p>RIT does sound intriguing, but we’ll see if my son really wants to go that far. My oldest is in Boston at MIT, but he only has two more years there; still, it might be nice if they were nearby each other for at least one year.</p>

<p>And I do see that ID majors basically get started from the get go. My son has just begun to look at this stuff and the actual programs. It’s kind of overwhelming, so we’re tackling it a little at a time. I wish there was a local CC that had a taste of ID. For now, my son is looking at continuing animation, taking2D art, maybe an engineering or architectural drawing class-most anything at the local CC that has the word “design” in it.</p>

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<p>Hi - Rochester and Boston are about 6 hours apart, although that may be close for California! Hampshire College in Amherst Mass apparently has an excellent Game Design program - <a href=“Hampshire Listed in Top 5 Schools to Study Video Game Design | Hampshire College”>https://www.hampshire.edu/news/Hampshire-Listed-in-Top-5-Schools-to-Study-Video-Game-Design-28075.htm&lt;/a&gt;. Information is here: <a href=“Game Design and Development | Hampshire College”>https://www.hampshire.edu/academics/game-design-and-development.htm&lt;/a&gt; Hampshire is part of the Five College Consortium (also includes Amherst, Smith, Mt. Holyoke and UMass/Amherst) and you can take classes at any of the other schools to design your own program as I understand it. Hampshire is small but because it’s part of the consortium it doesn’t feel small. My older son attends Hampshire (not in Game Design) and feels like he has best of both worlds. An Amherst is a fabulous college town. </p>

<p>I’d also say that both RIT and Hampshire have excellent support for students with different types of issues - that was certainly important to us. </p>

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<p>Typical math requirements for CS majors are:
Calculus
Linear algebra
Discrete math
Algorithms and complexity (a CS course that is like a math course)</p>

<p>Engineering-based CS majors typically include multivariable calculus and differential equations.</p>

<p>Note that, at USC at least, the game design major requires a similar level of math as a non-engineering-based CS major:
<a href=“https://catalogue.usc.edu/schools/engineering/computer-science/undergraduate/#games”>https://catalogue.usc.edu/schools/engineering/computer-science/undergraduate/#games&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Taking an introductory CS course can help him determine if he may like CS to major in it (regular or games).</p>

<p>If he is really motivated, he can go through the course materials here:
<a href=“CAS - Central Authentication Service”>http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/classes-eecs.html&lt;/a&gt;
Start with CS 10 for the most beginner-level introduction. Then go to CS 61A and 61B for the introductory level courses for CS majors. CS 70 is the discrete math course that can give him an idea of what math in CS is like.</p>

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<p>SJSU has a relatively compact campus in an urban area of San Jose, a good place for Silicon Valley recruiting for CS majors. It is about half residential and half commuter, based on the percentage of frosh living in the dorms.</p>

<p>CSULB has a competitive full ride merit scholarship: <a href=“http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/students/presidents_scholars/”>http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/students/presidents_scholars/&lt;/a&gt; . But the prerequisites are either valedictorian from an accredited high school, or some sort of National Merit status (NMF, NMSF, NAF, NASF, NHRP).</p>

<p>It does not look like there is much overlap between the industrial design major schools and the well known scholarship schools, though you may want to go through the lists with a fine tooth comb:
<a href=“Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Automatic Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #300 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<a href=“Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>Competitive Full Tuition / Full Ride Scholarships - #50 by BobWallace - Financial Aid and Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;
<a href=“NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation - #833 by BobWallace - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums”>NMF Scholarships: An Updated Compilation - #833 by BobWallace - National Merit Scholarships - College Confidential Forums;

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<p>With a $5,000 contribution, he may be able to stretch to afford room and board at a full tuition and fees scholarship school by taking a federal direct loan and a job during the school year and the summer. However, that would likely be at the outer limits of affordability, with no buffer against unexpected expenses or medical issues that can reduce his ability to work. Then there would be the question of what happens after your husband’s retirement.</p>

<p>You may have to run net price calculators at each school for all of the permutations involving husband working versus retired, and one or two students in college if your older son will still be in college when your younger one enters.</p>

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<p>Six hours is definitely close California style. :-)</p>

<p>I never knew Hampshire was known for game design. I did hear it was supportive of students with disabilities.</p>

<p>What is Hampshire like socially? Politically? Religiously? One reason I think my son would like CMC is the Libertarian feel on campus but with a balance of views. (My son considers himself Libertarian) </p>

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<p>Regarding Hampshire, one of its cross-registration consortium partners is UMass - Amherst, which has a good CS department. The consortium schools also have access to the career center at UMass - Amherst, so students at the small ones can get exposure to employers who normally would not other recruiting at very small schools.</p>

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<p>The student in this situation should look closely at admissions portfolio requirements for industrial design, to decide whether this is even worth pursuing, or just not up his alley. Kids who apply for architecture or interior design are often (ideally) pulling their portfolios together, starting in 10th grade. Some take art classes on the side, often at precollege weekend or summer programs run by colleges with undergrad art, architecture or design programs. There are things to know about how to put the portfolio together and submit it, digitally or not. There are national portfolio day road shows, where admissions people make the rounds, to provide kids in each region with a central location to have their portfolio seen by many schools at once. There are special requirements that some schools set forth, so that you’ll have to do extra art just for them. I have heard that RISD always asks for a bicycle, and then the other schools know you’re also applying to RISD if they see the bicycle. </p>

<p>This is not meant to daunt or intimidate. I have heard of kids pulling together a portfolio in a few months. Talent can perhaps make up for some lack of effort. (Or maybe it’s fairer to say that some people must use planning and persistence to overcome more ordinary levels of talent.) But any program with a portfolio requirement must be recognized as having an unusual, additional application requirement that cannot be met at the last minute.</p>

<p>Some kids who decide late in HS to pursue something with an art portfolio will use a year at community college, with lots of art classes, to move forward, make art, and decide. But this changes the scholarship game, as the student would then become a transfer student when applying to four-year programs.</p>

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<p>Hampshire’s even closer to Boston - about two hours.</p>

<p>Politically most of the kids at Hamp seem to be quite liberal (at least my son’s friends are) but I also get that it’s very tolerant of different views - it’s always felt very inclusive. Hampshire doesn’t have sororities or fraternities. It seems like kids find friends either from their residence halls or from their majors. My son’s a theater major and is very tight with other theater majors including kids from the other colleges. I’m not sure about religion - my son is not religious but again, it’s a tolerant place so I imagine most would feel comfortable there other than maybe someone who’s a conservative Christian. There’s a Hampshire board on CC too and other parents are great about answering questions. It’s been a great fit for S1. Because classes are small, he’s had a great deal of interaction with his professors - both at Hampshire and at Amherst College. And it’s apparently easy to get to Hampshire/Amherst from Bradley Airport in Hartford CT and of course, from Boston. </p>

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<p>This might be a long shot, but UNC Charlotte offers a computer science major and a certificate in game design that can be combined with it. There are no automatic merit scholarships that I know of, but your son is in the range to apply for the Levine scholarship which is competitive. Since your son is home schooled, he needs to be nominated by a teacher or professor who is not a relative, but since he’s attended community college, he can ask a teacher there.
As to his health issues, Charlotte has a major medical center and access to good health care. I think his condition would qualify him for services though the office of disabilities if he needs accommodations for fatigue. Most colleges have services for students with health issues and nutritional consultants for meal plans, which he can access wherever he goes. There is easy access to an airport for travel.
NC is a southern state, but the major cities tend to be a mix of liberal to conservative. I think both would find a fit there.
There may be other colleges that have game design certificates and either automatic or competitive merit awards. It would be nice to have something automatic for financial safety, and also apply to competitive ones that interest your son. </p>

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<p>I wondered about the portfolio. What would that look like for ID? For game design? He’ll obviously have animation projects for his portfolio and I guess he could take photos of some of the more interesting things he made. He recently went into our back canyon, cut a branch from a tree, stripped the bark, and made a nice working bow with it by adding some other features. He does stuff like that often. He’s hoping to do an animated short this year, too, but maybe, yes, he started too late, but he’s a late bloomer because of all his health issues.</p>

<p>He’s spent most of his time on cello and will be recording several pieces for a portfolio, too, in the off shoot he decides to go that route.</p>

<p>It’s so frustrating that kids need to think so far ahead. I have had a hard time guiding him since he has interests all over the map.</p>

<p>Maybe he should just go to the local CC except it doesn’t cater to ID. Bleh. </p>

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<p>I like the idea of a big city with a good hospital near by (and finding a good endo would be very nice)</p>

<p>I’ll check out UNC Charlotte, thanks.</p>

<p>Thing is, we might end up moving out of So Cal after dh retires.</p>

<p>UCB, thanks so much for all the that you posted. I will, as you say, go through this with a fine tooth comb.</p>

<p>One thing I <em>think</em> I’m seeing is that there are different “levels” of classes such as linear algebra, depending on your major, is that correct? Just like at the CC where they have business calculus, which presumably is easier than Calculus I, I think there are levels of discrete math and linear algebra.</p>

<p>My son rocks at logic. It’s just that, without a calculator, he couldn’t even do long division. With a calculator, he does well enough to get a 750 on SAT math and, with a little bit of practice, will get in the 700s on the SAT II Math I and may even take the Math II test after pre-calc.</p>

<p>So do you all think that, because he’s starting so late, it will be impossible to get the portfolio together in time? What’s the best place to learn about portfolios? On each college’s website?</p>

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<p>I would just sit down at the computer and print off the specific portfolio requirements for each of the industrial design programs you think he might consider. If you don’t know where to start, use the DesignIntelligence Top 10 undergrad programs for 2014, which is based on the feedback they got from employers. Those schools are: U of Cincinnati, Art Center College of Design, Syracuse U, Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Auburn U, Rochester Institute of Tech, Pratt Institute, Carnegie Mellon, College for Creative Studies, and North Carolina State U. </p>

<p>You may begin to see a pattern emerge, of what these schools want, and that should give you a pretty good idea of what other schools might want. You may also see that they have their quirks. Some of them may want to weed out less-than-committed prospective applicants by requiring new art to be made specifically for their school. They should also explain on their websites about format, digitizing, the regional road show, and whether they want any narrative commentary from the artist about the pieces of work.</p>

<p>I wouldn’t expect any community college to have industrial design, but if they have one or two good art teachers with an eye for design, who understand what it takes to get into an industrial design program, that’s probably all you need at the preparatory level.</p>

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<p>Thank you, fieldsports. I have already emailed myself the coursework for many of the schools but didn’t look at portfolio requirements. I’ll do that.</p>

<p>I’m now wondering if he should do the art class this summer and do pre-calc in the fall. He can’t do both classes since he’ll be working as a cellist for about 8 weeks. If he does art, he can build a portfolio during the summer.</p>

<p>I wonder about a gap year; I have proposed that to him before, but he wasn’t open to it at the time. Perhaps he would be now, because it would give him more time to really think about what he wants. </p>

<p>But honestly, I changed schools and majors three times, so I do understand about shifting interests and multiple abilities. </p>