Looking for a collage to go to in CA. for programing

**Yakri** · October 7th, 2007, 04:21 AM

Specifically i want to program or design video games(i.e take computer science), I'm 16 years old and planing to go to collage next year or maybe the year after or even not at all, but anyway i was thinking of going to ITT Tech it looking like they taught just what i want and the entrance exam looked extremely easy. but after checking them out on the net there are a LOT of really bad rumors going around about them, also its about 30,000$ more then i would consider spending on collage.

However i don't know of any good collages in CA or anywhere else or whether or not it might be a good idea to forget even going to collage and just learning 1-2 programing languages on my own and then getting a job at 18.

Meh, a bit rambling but nether my parents nor my friends have any advise to give on the subject so i thought I'd post here.

**osprey4** · October 7th, 2007, 07:21 AM

You'll find getting into college is easier if you learn how to spell "college".

**SoloCamo** · October 7th, 2007, 08:56 AM

Welcome to TechIMO!

First off, don't mind osprey's lack of help. (It's spelled college btw) Anyways! Yea, ITT definitely seems to have a bad rep on the net, and from people I've talked to over the years.

In your situation, I would definitely say learn as much as possible on your own, and try to maybe even get some volunteer experience in with any IT company, regardless if it's programming or not. Experience is key. However, I'm all the way down in FL so I've got no clue as to what colleges are good in CA.

Nonetheless, college is going to be a key factor in helping you find a job, as programming is a fiercely competitive market.

Good luck regardless!

**Yakri** · October 7th, 2007, 02:08 PM

Thanks SoloCamo, as for misspelling College that's what comes from learning to write via online games and not spell checking my post.

PS. thanks for the welcome I think I'll be hanging around here quite a bit in days to come

**Cmptr-Gy-Dv** · October 7th, 2007, 02:24 PM

skip college, and find a good tech school,

for computer stuff I find tech schools much more helpful,

for one thing you have somebody that's working in the field teaching you,
not somebody living in a class room,

**carl33p** · October 7th, 2007, 03:04 PM

I dont know your financial or academic situation, BUT a four year university has many benefits.

1. If you decide you dont want a computer related job once you get into college, you have the option to switch majors.
2. You have a degree. This is beneficial for most all jobs.
3. Connections. You meet many people and can get involved in clubs. My acedemic advisor sends me email almost daily for internships and job opportunities.

IMO, tech schools are way overpriced. Most everyone cant afford it. But you would proly learn a whole lot more in the time spent there. The first two years at a University is spent on general education classes.

**Yakri** · October 7th, 2007, 04:01 PM

heh, my financial is "not good" bordering on disasteris, as for academic well thats not to hot either but i have plenty of time on my hands to learn what i need to know by next year also i home school, and at least with the university's of CA I've looked at so far there biased towards us lot in a good way on account of not wanting to appear biased

Just from what I've read in the last 24 hours i definitely want to go to a 4 year university i just don't know which one yet, though I've looked at UC davis.

**nemowolf** · October 8th, 2007, 12:33 PM

your going to want to stray away from traditional colleges if your looking for game design. I would start by going back to your highschool and talk to your guidance councilor about colleges. If that isnt an option, go to JC for a year and start building a relationship with councilors there as they will have plenty of knowledge to give you on MANY colleges. They will show you resources for searching colleges and how to transfer.

Since you mentioned your financials are not the best, i would go to JC to get your GE done and then transfer. Knock your Calc out of the way there when your not paying a grand for the class, just in case you fail.

Fortunately, colleges and universities are starting to recognize that like specialized business degrees, people want game design degrees too! Baring going to a specialized school like Digipen or Full Sail ... you might want to wait for schools to start finalizing their new degree programs.

**Yakri** · October 9th, 2007, 07:19 PM

i found UC Santa Cruz, they are the only university in CA that offers computer game design as a Major so I'd suggest anyone else interested in this field who lives in CA that reads this to check it out.

**him61** · October 9th, 2007, 07:38 PM

Also check out Job Placement statistics. Find a college that gets students into the game industry. Just the fact that they have a game design program doesn't mean it's a good one. Example: (Unnamed college) near me has a Game Design program, the only one in the state that I know of. It is under funded and placement is terrible. On the other hand, another college in my state is known well among a lot of big companies, placement is high, and people have graduated to become professional game programmers with a BS in Computer Science. Guess which one I applied for?
You have a lot of tough decisions to make when it comes to colleges. I'd personally suggest any college that has good placement rates and will give you a lot of hands-on experience for your resume. A lot of times, more experience will trump a better degree.

**nemowolf** · October 9th, 2007, 07:59 PM

I dont think that is correct. I believe they may be the only UC or CSU that offers it as a major but there are MANY colleges not in that system that do offer.

This is local to the Bay Area,
http://www.expression.edu/game_art_design/

And some quick google searching found me this ...
http://www.uscollegesearch.org/gaming-colleges.html
I think this rolls into Gambling type gaming and for some reason lists Culinary schools too ...

http://www.uscollegesearch.org/compu...-colleges.html
This might be a better starting point. Interesting to note from this site when searching by state is this :
"Our Database Currently Includes 1219 California Colleges, Universities, Technical and Vocational Schools." Thats not entirely an accurate number since it has some colleges/universities with multiples but thats not entirely off either.

As i had mentioned before, your local CC will have a vastly superior listing of colleges and their degree programs. In addition to publicly offered information, they tend to share info to CC's Councilors concerning upcoming degree programs as they want to ensure that they got quality transfers to fill up the new programs.

I dont remember any of the sites or internal programs i used but they were all free once i visited my councilor once and discussed what i wanted out of my education.

**Yakri** · October 9th, 2007, 08:17 PM

Thanks Nemo and him, i didn't know about Job Placement statistics, though i did realize that UCSC is just the only UC in CA that offers it as a degree, and I'm trying to find 3-10 decent colleges to apply to in CA the idea being that I'm bound to get into one of them.

Also the game design degree at UCSC is supposedly well funded but as for its quality i have no idea.