Graduate School
polycounter lvl 8
Has anyone been to Drexel or USC? I was thinking about applying to these schools to get my Masters degree. What experiences can you share? How hard is it to get in? How did you pay for school? etc.?
Replies
For Drexel, M.S. in Digital Media
For USC, MFA Interactive Media
Is a ranking of game design schools, but most have art tracks too, so might be helpful.
It would be useful outside the games industry if it were another degree
If you studied game art at bachelor level then studying more game art at an expensive university is a waste. You already know all the basics, you know where the learning resources are. If you want to specialize further, then you already have all everything to get started on your own. Plus you rake up debt for a specialization you can get on your own.
The benefit is also marginal, because there's people who will be as specialized as you, but they'll get all their skills at work - in the end they have the same degree of specialization + work experience.
If you want to get knowledge you cannot pick up at work easily, go for a degree that's not game art and makes you a better rounded candidate with more skills. Anything traditional art would be a big plus - not only will your resume stand out, you will also get skills which are really new, which your game art BSc may not have taught you.
Thats a very nebulous response. Beyond the scope of entertainment? You mean like 'serious games' and simulators? I would just take what everyone has said and just keep working on your portfolio. Going to grad school just to 'study' more about games is useless and won't get you any farther and will only delay you getting a job for a few more years while racking up more debt.
That is if you want to go into programming/computer science where a masters degree might actually be useful they by all means go for it. As you can probably tell on these forums, people advocate against schooling for games so we're just trying to guide you to be more successful through the best possible means.
Kaze, I met someone who got a graduate degree that ended up doing just graphic design in marketing for a game company. They quit since it was a dead end position, and now are taking some character art courses.
I myself would like to get a grad degree, to search out more interactive art installations. But, the best road I think is first to get the full needed exposure in the industry for a few years before doing this. Otherwise you will get out and have nothing to show.
In some cases having grad scares off employers even if the portfolio is good, as they think the grad would demand more pay and seniority than other applicants. On the other hand, it makes it much easier to get visas to work in other countries as most countries are more willing to hand out visas to Masters+ applicants.
But even then, the masters is more useful when immigrating on your own, i.e. without a job offer or when you seek permanent residency. And it's more useful for immigrating to well developed countries or countries paranoid about their job market, such as the US (but you're aready there anyway), a few EU countries which have tougher barriers than the rest, and maybe Australia(?) and Canada(?).
For many other countries a job offer + bachelor and some sense of adventure is all you need.
Otherwise a masters degree could be useful if you want to head up to management, project planning or if you're in a very technical position. (coding, tech-art, large scale pipeline design). Although I also saw some art director postings where traditional art degrees would be a bonus for the application.