It seems way more practical than most schools for computer science and related fields. However, it isn’t that hard to get into and seems a little like a proprietary school.
Digipen is not a good choice for CS. It’s important to realize that it is a for-profit school, which is a red flag itself taken alone.
There are plenty of schools with a practical CS emphasis, but even at those schools, it is paired with much better foundational CS teaching, which is much more valuable than practical CS skills, which can be learned once one understands the core concepts of CS. At most schools, the skills are learned during college through internships, co-ops, and other extracurricular activities. Even academic classes will include practical project-based courses for nearly all CS curriculum. This is not an advantage Digipen has.
The only way I have heard of Digipen being supported is if you are interested in game development, which is a very small subfield and very tough field to break into. However, with a graduation rate of 54%, I would be careful even for that field, where a solid CS foundation with extra attention to gaming may still be a better choice.
By practical, I mean that most CS contains a lot of academic theory, like someone wrote a paper and someone else wrote a paper based on it, and it doesn’t have much to do with reality. Digipen’s program is not at all like that. However, I also had concerns, which you have addressed.
This description isn’t accurate to most CS programs is what I was saying in the other post. This type of work will be found at the graduate and Ph.D. level far more.
While some classes will be more theoretical, most programs are still highly practical, detailing how computer operating systems work, how networks work, usually a software development course, possibly web development, artificial intelligence, and detailing programming algorithms and common conventions/paradigms such as object-oriented design or functional programming. These are practical and applicable subjects that can be covered in good detail without reading a single academic paper, though you may encounter a few famous ones in certain areas. Still, these areas are far from theoretical alone, and they are covered accordingly, even at the academic level. If you wanted to go work for Apple or Microsoft on an operating system, you will need a good operating systems course at least.
Even though I wouldn’t recommend Digipen, their class sequences look just like most other CS programs, if only with a bit of a hinge towards game design and lacking in a few specialized areas. Waterloo, Georgia Tech, Northeastern, WPI, and RPI are great examples of alternatives for CS programs with a practical focus. There are plenty more.
I wouldn’t go to Digipen for a general computer science degree. It’s not regionally accredited.
It does have a good reputation for more narrow specialties like games and computer animation, where a demonstrable portfolio can help a lot in getting a job.