Howdy Bobby,
Disclaimer: I’m a student at AM; I’m not a graduate (yet :D), so what I tell you is just hearsay from what the school says and what I’ve heard graduates say.
AM apparently has a really good job placement program. I think the numbers used to be 78% get a job in the industry within 12 months of graduating. That took a hit due to the economy these days, and last I heard, it was in the high 60s. It dropped, but this industry actually took a really small drop compared to other industries, so that’s reassuring.
For internships, I don’t really know what you’re asking. Are you asking if an internship can be used for credit at AM? If so, then no, because AM doesn’t give credit, and all of the training is done in the school.
Actually, this might be related (or most likely completely unrelated). I don’t know if you’re talking about unpaid internships but I’ll comment on them anyway. We get a weekly video news at AM consisting of updates about the school and the industry and a few weeks ago there was one where someone asked about if it’s beneficial to do unpaid work on, say, a project by a small studio or something. And Bobby Beck, the CEO of the school, along with the AM controller (comptroller?), answered “no.”
Bobby’s feeling was that you’re spending a lot of money to learn a trade and while it’s great to work on your own stuff on your own time, producing work for someone else and not getting paid for it isn’t a good idea, and it actually devalues the market for animators. And I absolutely agree with him on that. In general, I wouldn’t suggest volunteering your skills for anyone else unless you have a personal stake in it or you’ll somehow benefit from it. If you’re working under a bad director, that badness will show up in your work, so it’s won’t even be valuable to put on your reel. When you could have spent your time doing something that was completely yours, you’ll regret not doing that.
And the other thing was (and this totally shocked me) is that most unpaid internships are actually illegal. The Fair Labor Standards Act forces businesses to adhere to certain standards. The Department of Labor developed 6 criteria based on the FLSA that must be met in order for someone to be an unpaid intern at a business:
[ol]
[li]The training, even though it includes actual operations of the facilities of the employers, is similar to that which would be given in a vocational school.
[/li][li]The training is for the benefit of the student.
[/li][li]The student does not displace a regular employee, but works under the close observation of a regular employee or supervisor.
[/li][li]The employer provides the training and derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the student; and on occasion, the operations may actually be impeded by the training.
[/li][li]The student is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the training period.
[/li][li]The employer and the student understand that the student is not entitled to wages for the time spent training.
[/li][/ol]
From my understanding, it turns out that if any of these aren’t met, the person is considered an employee by law and is entitled to at least minimum wage. Unless, of course, they’re volunteering their time.
So, I don’t know if any of this answered your question or was even relevant (I don’t know if you were talking about unpaid internships). But, maybe you got something useful from this post anyway.
Cliffs:
-AM has a job placement rate within 12 months of graduation of somewhere between 65 and 78 percent
-AM does not allow internships to count for credit because they aren’t a credit-based program
-IMHO, doing any kind of unpaid work that benefits someone else is a really bad idea
-A lot of unpaid internships are actually operating illegally
-Unless you’re volunteering, if you do work that profits someone else, you’re most likely entitled to at least minimum wage