College/Universities

[p4in redefined]

ok so heres the deal ive been doing a course called interactive media for 4 years in college in England, this is my last year and i really wanted to do something different after this year and have decided i want to do a 3D modelling course or game design but i also want to go to America to do it since most o the big gaming companies are over there. Problem is i have no idea where to start im 19 and in England that means we normally go university but i know in America it works differently so would i go college or uni? also can anyone recomend any good colleges or uni's that are well known for these types of courses?

at the moment i just need a base or some names of where to look because i know next to nothing about american schools. if anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

[Zef]

You started college when you were 15?

If you want to look for generally good Universities check one of the World top 100 lists and note all of the ones in America, then go to their websites and look through their course list to see if they have the course you want. Alternatively you could scour the web to find all sorts of companies, send them a friendly email saying you are eager to get into the games design business and would like to know where they recommend you go. Usually they are quite helpful so they could give you some help.

Just don't assume that a super popular University has the best courses, some places are better suited to specific areas than others. But you will need to do a lot of research, especially if you want to go abroad to learn (there are plenty of places in the UK with game design/equivalent degree courses).

Just do some work on it and you will find something =)

[PerpetualHeaven]

Check out what Treyarch wants:
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience. (A degree in a video game related field a plus).
Minimum of 2 years of video game industry experience with at least one complete production cycle.
Must have excellent organizational, written and verbal communication, problem solving, and project management skills.
Must posses the ability to handle multiple tasks from the team in an organized fashion, prioritizing these tasks effectively.
Must have a strong ability to maintain professionalism when working under adverse conditions.
Must be self-directed and detail oriented with a strong desire to contribute to a uniquely creative environment.
Must be flexible, receptive and open to change.
Technical background a plus.
Hardcore gamer a plus.
Working knowledge of Perforce software or other source control software tools a plus.
Working knowledge of Maya or 3ds Max a plus.Thing I noticed most if the bachelors. Having a bachelors in Computer Science or Engineering is pretty much a must in the gaming industry unless you're extremely talented and taught yourself everything. Video game degrees alone don't hold that much worth. Even if you just want to be a level designer, having an engineering or computer science degree is pretty much a must anyways. If you scan through Treyarch they always want someone with a Bachelor in either or something experience equivalent to it. Crytek on the other hand wants someone with a ton of experience. So you're going to have to start somewhere. You must have a lot of skills in various programming languages even if you want to be a graphics programmer. C++ is like a must.

If we're talking schools, Caltech offers one of the science computer programs in North America. I originally wanted to go there because of all the things I've heard about it. It's extremely difficult to get in there and it's also one of the best schools in the entire world. I'm positive that if you want to go to an American school (not Canadian), then you'll need to take your SATs. Coupled with good GPA and excellent SATs, you should be able to get into Caltech assuming you want to go into engineering or computer science.

Check out this list:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14321230/

University of Toronto (in Canada) is an excellent school. Plus you don't have to take SATs to get into it. All you need is a solid average. If you're not good at math, chances are your luck in the gaming industry is slim. I just hope you have excellent artistic skills. In that case, I don't know. I'm just mainly just focusing on the programming portion which makes up 95% of the gaming industry.

[p4in redefined]

You started college when you were 15?

i started at 16 im in my fourth year now ill be 20 when i finish but i hvae to start making decisions now.

[PerpetualHeaven]

i started at 16 im in my fourth year now ill be 20 when i finish but i hvae to start making decisions now.

Well what's your exact goal? What do you want to do in the gaming industry?

[Shaaady Souljah]

Minneapolis College of Art + Design. 4 year private program.
Expensive, but worth it. Their Interactive Multimedia courses are taught by a professor from Poland, and he is amazing at what he does. Check it out ;)

or even google MCAD and/or Piotr Szyhalski

[killlah631]

I'm going to be enrolling in Washington University next year in St. Louis, MO. They have great engineering, sciences, computer sciences, etc. programs. They also offer bachelors, masters, first professionals.