Hey everyone! I’ve narrowed down the schools I can afford to go to to UCLA, Purdue, and RPI which all cost about the same for me. I’m entering as a CS major and would like to eventually work in game development, then maybe robotics some 10 years or so down the line (if I go and get a masters). In terms of academics, networks, happiness, and general course flexibility, could I hear some sentiments about the three mentioned schools? If you have a preference please explain it so I can get a feel for each of them.
If the sound of nerd-ville isn’t your cup of tea and you want to be around a much more diverse group of students, pursue a non-STEM minor, have a wide variety of classes available, and want to enjoy sunny weather instead of NY winters, then go to UCLA - which also has excellent CS and one of the top Game Development programs, besides being one of the top colleges in the nation all around.
If cost is a big factor, go to whichever is significantly cheaper as you’ll get a fine education at any of these 3 schools.
If cost is of no concern to you and you like UCLA, and city of LA, you may add USC to your list as well (ranked #1 in Game). Of course you can not go wrong with UCLA (birthplace of the Internet)!
As far as “nerd-ville” goes, I’m not a huge fan of not being around a diverse group of people, so RPI would be tough in that aspect despite the fact that I’d be able to dual major. I need super artsy people for the games I have in mind also, and the techy focus of RPI takes away from that.
I’ve lived in LA all my life and have been close to UCLA and know its campus really well, which to be honest takes a lot of the adventure aspect of it away. The people I’ve met in LA are either very shallow and gossipy or complete stoners, and I’ve been getting tired of it. Maybe I’ve just had bad luck meeting people and UCLA will be different. I wouldn’t be able to take the game design classes I want but at least I’d be able to work with the ones taking them.
Weather isn’t a huge deal; LA weather has become boring to me, I wouldn’t mind actually living in snow even if it sucked. Another bad factor of LA and UCLA in particular is that its very close to my parents house. I have a bad relationship with them and it’ll be quite hard to convince them to leave me along and treat me as if I was in another city (probably doable though).
Among those 3 schools rank is pretty much obsolete, considering its undergrad, and I know all three schools have rigorous academics although with varying class sizes.
Yeah that was my dream school, and I got into it with a scholarship. No fin aid. I appealed and still nothing. That education is not worth 80k in loans so I kinda let it go even though I’m still sore about it.
You’ll find creative artsy types at RPI as well, and it has an arts department which is focused on electronic arts and it has a very nice experimental arts center. It’s just that there probably aren’t as many of those as you might find at UCLA, and the school is quite tech-focused on the overall. Considering you want a break from where you grew up (which can be an important part of the college experience) and be further from your parents and the whole “LA vibe” (I’m originally from LA myself so I understand what you’re talking about), RPI is not at all a bad choice. My D is a freshman there and very happy.
Well insanedreamer I’ll be visiting them tomorrow, so I’ll let you know on this thread if I have more questions about RPI. You’ve been a big help, thank you.
Also, I have a few friends I’ve made who are going to attend USC for game design and they are super accomplished people and I’m super hyped to work with them (even though I won’t be at USC). In your opinion is it worth blowing those people off for RPO which I’d be able to take game classes? (Pretty much the argument here is education & fostering environment vs. experience & self-learning).
I am still undecided and its eating my mind into insanity. Deciding between the schools is like trying to pick my poison because each of them have a large negative. Purdue seems cool also, but their admissions aren’t as strict and the location is kinda lame (despite being new to me). Purdue would also let me take a few classes in Game Studies and doesn’t have as strict as an admin as UCLA, but is not as widely recognized/regarded.
RPI was pretty convincing until I visited their campus, which just felt like it lacked life in general. I talked to the GSAS professor Marc and he was really cool but he did confirm my fears that there isn’t that large of an art focus there. Also, the lab they use for VR is pretty small and run down (he did they they’re getting a new one). There were a lot of guys there that just seemed unsociable, compared to somewhere like UCLA or Purdue.
As far as my huge negatives with UCLA: super theory based, gigantic classes, impossible to get into DesMA classes, and close to home. Everything else about it is preferable. Including the fact that I’d be close to the multitudes of USC IMGD friends I made over the USC housing app (once again, can’t go myself due to the ridiculous cost).
Any other advice insanedreamer? Thanks for the help.
My daughter still going insane trying to decide. She loves CS and game studies as well. She found RPI students lots of fun…theatre club good, robotics,etc…but maybe less art…agreed. Troy so-so?
@redbering It’s hard to give more advice from a distance like this. But from everything you’ve written, it sounds like you would do better out of LA, so I would say choose RPI or Purdue. As to which of those two you would do best in? I don’t know. I can’t talk about Purdue so I’ll just say what I know about RPI. RPI is smaller and more tech-focused, with a good GSAS and CS program. Like you said, the art focus is minimal, but there are artistic types there as well - they just tend to be more “nerdy artistic” (my D would fit in that even though she’s engineering). As far as the unsociable (as you mentioned from your visit) - there are basically two types of people at RPI - the unsociable nerds who never leave their dorm room and in a world to themselves, and then the sociable nerds who join clubs, hang out with other students, collaborate on projects, etc. Your experience there will be what you make of it. In other words, make an effort to go connect with students (join a student club or two–there are tons of them). Generally, RPI students tend to be cooperative rather than competitive, which is good. My D was not particularly outgoing (in fact rather shy and very few HS friends) but at RPI she’s blossomed with 3 distinct groups of friends - friends from her freshman dorm, a study group for her major, and her student club (a martial art), so she’s been pretty happy socially. She’s found people to be helpful, collaborative, and friendly.
Good luck with your decision!
Pretty much also why I’m iffy about rpi. The lack of name recognition and diversity is upsetting too.
How does your D feel the ratio is like there? Not in the sense if imbalance but in the sense of do they feel like the minority? Like subconsciously they are aware of that?
Troy is okay for a small town, but yeah it’s nothing like NY or Chicago. Most of the negative stuff from Troy is from years ago and it’s un the upswing now.
Lack of name recognition? - Among average Joe, yes. But among major employers (that’s what counts)? Very good recognition.
Diversity - yeah, that’s a weak point. I don’t know how it compares with Purdue – you’d have to check.
Ratio - she said the ratio hasn’t been a problem or issue for her at all - her circles of friends include both boys and girls. Granted the boy/girl gap is greater in CS than in ChemE - but that’s also true in the IT industry as a whole where you will likely be working (are you female?)
Right now I’m leaning really heavily towards rpi; the only thing keeping me from picking it (deadline today) is the broken heating and the decrepit facilities I keep hearing about. Anything you know about it? Thank you.
I’ve read complaints, though nothing I haven’t read about other colleges as well, so I’m not sure they’re worse than average. I haven’t visited in person but my D has had no complaints and it looks fine on video–no heating issues this winter. Of course she was in one of the newer buildings I believe, so other dorms may be worse.
Yeah since im committing so late im likely to get bad dorms. Im starting to think maybe I should consider U of Utah (full ride) for their EAE but I’d be sacraficing a renowned CS program. This is really tough…
Simba9, utah’s eae is not by direct admission but through in-school application. All CS students must first do 2 years of pre-CS then apply to it, so I’d be stressed although likely to get into it. Utah would also not be a source of exactly the brightest of people, considering their average admittance stats are extremely low.
Also ucla and rpi CS are still like top 15, while utah is way down in the 50s.
Alright well I finally decided on UCLA. I would like to thank you all and especially Insanedreamer for your help in making my decision. At the end I was so stuck between the schools I opened up both commitment pages and just sat there. I suddenly had an urge to click UCLA and I did so, and that’s just how it turned out.
RPI was definitely winning me over for the majority of the time, but when I decided to look at the games and artists that came out of both schools I wasn’t too impressed with about 80% of RPI games. When I checked UCLA, almost every single game had some underlying super creative and experimental aspect to it, which made me lean back to it. Whether I’ll be as successful finding a job without a formal game development curriculum, I’m a lot more glad not to be risking a city and school and student body that I don’t know enough about to say whether or not I like them.
Once again, thank you, and if anyone else comes across this thread and wants to post/PM me about the information I’ve learned about the schools I was considering, please feel free to do so. I have to use all of the info in one way or another… I wasted wayyy too much time researching colleges ahaha.
