Hi, I am very late to the college process and I need some help, badly. I’m in the 12th grade getting mostly A’s with around 4 b’s in the 4 years I’ve been in high school. I’ve been schooled at home for all of high school through a official school. The problem is, is that I’ve haven’t taken the SAT yet (I’m taking them December the 3rd). My goal is to major in video game design. I was wondering if anyone has any suggestion for colleges I can apply to with my current problem, and if there’s any colleges that can be suggested for video game design in general.
You could start by checking out the computer science programs at public universities in your home state.
You might also want to consider this list:
http://www.gamedesigning.org/video-game-design-schools/
It includes a wide variety of schools.
Some (like MIT) are extremely selective.
Some others are public universities that charge extra and don’t give much financial aid to out-of-state students.
Graduation requirements will vary widely among these schools. #12 on the list above, NYU, has a division called the Gallatin School that offers a lot of freedom to tailor individualized programs. However, NYU is expensive and not known for very generous financial aid.
Without a clearer picture of your qualifications and budget, it’s hard to recommend specific schools where you’d have a realistic shot at admission and an affordable net cost.
How much will your parents pay each year?
What is your home state?
Without scores and knowing how much your parents will pay, it’s hard to know what to recommend.
The amount that your parents will pay will largely determine where you should apply.
Have you taken the SAT practice tests to get an idea of what your scores might be? If so, how have you scored so far? As a home schooler, your SATs will be a big determining factor. If you haven’t taken any practice tests, you should definitely take some to help you prepare for the test and increase your chances of a better score.
Also, are you interested in the frontend of game design or the backend programming? If the latter, a standard compsci degree will be fine and in fact not a bad idea as it’ll give you more job options than just game design (you can take some game-specific classes for your elective).
Remember that you don’t have to head off to college in the fall of 2017. If you feel that you don’t have enough time to choose a good place to study, you can plan now for a gap year or delay your high school graduation for a semester or a year since you are home schooled. There is no need to panic about this.
Not to discourage you, but keep in mind that video game design is a very crowded, cutthroat business with loads of competition. I would encourage going for a general computer science or computer engineering degree rather than specifically for game design, as this leaves your options much more open.
However, if you do want a good game design school, Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) offers a minor, I believe, in game design with a major in Comp Sci. I would strongly recommend looking into it.
Hope this helps!
^I was going to suggest the same thing. I work in the games industry. If you want to program video games, then I would suggest majoring in computer science in college, not a game design program. It gives you more options in terms of colleges, and it also gives you lots of options on the job market - lots of developers work on other kinds of programs and apps first before coming into games. (If you can find a school where you can minor or concentrate in game design, that could be great!)
If you want to do design work for games - well, people who do that come from a variety of backgrounds. The creative director of one of games I worked on recently got his first BA in history and a second BA in advertising design. The associate producer on that game got her BA in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies (and actually started as a receptionist). The creative director of another game in the same studio that I’ve worked with majored in theater and acting. One of our other design leads majored in computer science, another was a social sciences major, and another studio head (who started out as a designer) majored in Chinese history…you get the idea.
Computer science is really a good major if you aren’t sure which way to go, and I will say that there are tons more jobs in development and engineering in games than there are in design.
If you do decide on a game design major, make sure it’s a strong one that teaches you real programming and development skills - basically, make sure it’s essentially a computer science program (or an art program, or design, or whatever) with game-focused/relevant classes rather than one of those “little of this, little of that” game design majors that tries to teach you a bit of programming, a bit of design, a bit of UX, etc.
I want to confirm this ^. My D wants to do video game design and after much research has decided to pursue a general CS degree to provide her with more options (as well as prepare for game design). She’ll be heading to UCI, as a lot of game developer companies are in LA.
Question: How do you search for a college that allows for a game design minor? Most search programs only allow for “major” input, not CS major/ x minor. Is there such a search system? (Supermatch doesn’t. It allows for multiple majors, but most universities have a different list for majors and minors.)
@lukedurham: spend hours every day preparing for the SAT. It’ll be an essential piece of your application. Also register for the December ACT, and register for the January SAT too as most people need to take the test 2-3 times before they hit their “right/good” score.
MIT and such are out of reach since you need SAT Subjects, and don’t have time to take them.
Look at your state’s universities, Champlain, RIT, RPI. Run the Net Price Calculator. Show the results to your parents: can they afford that? Do they have money saved for your college?
Good discussion on an earlier thread:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/1929773-schools-with-game-design-major-and-good-merit-aid-for-national-merit-semi-finalist-finalist-p1.html
Rensselaer has a pretty cool major in Games and Simulation. Not sure if you can get in, but worth a look and a super solid school.