School/Program Selection Advice Desired

#1

Hello all, overzealous first-time poster here.

I am looking to go to school for a Bachelor’s in Computer Animation (to be honest, I’d like Game Art but I would like to have options in case the game industry doesn’t work out for me for some reason).

I am posting here to solicit advice as far as what school(s) I should be looking at.

Relevant factors include:

  • I am married and will not live in dorms or have roommates.
  • Either online or on-campus learning is fine for me (cost/benefit dependent).
  • I am separating from the military within the next 1-1.5 yrs and will have access to the GI Bill. As part of this, on-campus learning gets a slight edge as I will get a little bit more money to assist with living expenses.
  • My budget for tuition is somewhere in the ballpark of $80,000 for a four-year degree.
  • Safe, but affordable living cost in the surrounding area is a plus.

Thank you for any assistance/advice you fine folks can provide.

#2

Having 80K in free tuition really is a once in a lifetime thing, and I’m not sure if a degree in computer animation is worth that investment. You don’t want to be in a situation where you spent your GI Bill money on an animation degree, but later find yourself having to go back to school on your own dime. I’ve seen this happen to a few students on the GI Bill.

#3

Would you suggest a different degree to lead into the games industry?

And it isnt 80k free tuition, that includes some my own money on top of it. GI bill isn’t enough to get an education on its own.

#4

You may find that a computer science degree with an animation minor or graphics emphasis, may provide more opportunities upon graduation. Also the Univ. of Utah has a Entertainment Art and Engineering Degree that might interest you. http://eae.utah.edu/ . Salt Lake City and the surrounding areas are a nice place to live, especially if you like the outdoors.

I wish you well on your decision.

#5

The guys above are dead on.

Don’t waste money, especially a GI Bill benefit on a program that teaches software or how to use a tool. That stuff changes in the industry all the time.

What is your long term career goals?

Generally theres 2 routes you can go. You can go the math/computer science route with specialization in computer graphics. The benefit to this is you can augment your knowledge with art classes and enter the field on a more technical level, and having the ability to fall back on software/programing if things get slow on the job front.

I’ve worked with people who went to Texas A&M and Purdue who loved the CS/Computer Graphics Technology program there. They not only worked with popular 3d software, but also worked on writing their own software and renderers, shaders as well as being well grounded in computer graphics theory.

The other route is more of a art-school/classic art or filmmaking background. There I would maximize tuition value, get a good education on composition, color theory, working with different media, illustration work, photography, etc.

The software you can learn on your own with tutorial packages, or taking various short intensive courses with that core focus after the fact. Something like Cal Arts would be great if you can get into it, but if not, no one really cares what school you did go to as long as your resulting artwork and demoreel/portfolio is top notch.

The resulting degrees are useful in securing a work visa if you need to work outside of the US.

Keep in mind you are entering a crowded and competitive field with generally low starting wages, so keep that in mind when it comes to tuition costs.