Making A Collegiate Decision

[Pugh95Bear]

Hello! Okay, so I am a senior in high school and I am trying to find a college to attend. Some of the colleges I have heard that might be good for me are as follows:


Full-Sail (Orlando, Florida). Fast track school. Private. Does not care about ACT/SAT scores for financial aid. Has on-campus 24/7 building specifically for burning the midnight oil on advanced projects that require their top of the line systems.


Neumont (Salt Lake City, Utah). Fast track school. Private (I think). Many of it's students work for large companies like Nike, eBay, and others to get real experience while still in school. 90% of students get a job paying 60-70,000 a year within 6 months of graduation. Is nationally, not regionally accredited. In March, finished a law suit in which the school was being sued for trying to bribe a college review site to remove bad reviews, then had teachers pose as students that "loved" the school.


University of Alabama Huntsville (Huntsville, Alabama). 4 year. Public. Liberal arts. Some students gain access to intern at Red Stone Arsenal to gain real experience.


University of South Alabama (Mobile, Alabama). 4 year. Public.


Troy State University (Troy, Alabama). 4 year. Public.


ITT Technical Institute. You probably know their info due to ads.


If I do a 4 year, I will start at a community college and transfer due to money, if I can.


I'll be honest, I don't know much of a difference from Software Programming, Computer Science, or Computer/Software Engineering. Everything I have seen about them makes them seem the same to me. I do know that game development is highly appealing to me, and I do know I enjoy learning/writing code to solve problems. I suck at calculus, however (though I don't have the best teacher either...).


I have a GPA of 3.12, and an ACT score of 24.


Now that you have all this information, I want advice if you would please. Do you have suggeations of a college I should go to? What are the real differencea of tge majors I have shown above? Which would you recommend and why?


You people have been very honest and helpful thus far, so feedback is greatly appreciated.


Thank you!

 

[kerbonklin]

I'll be honest, I don't know much of a difference from Software Programming, Computer Science, or Computer/Software Engineering. Everything I have seen about them makes them seem the same to me. I do know that game development is highly appealing to me, and I do know I enjoy learning/writing code to solve problems. I suck at calculus, however (though I don't have the best teacher either...).

Computer Science is more on mathematics, programming languages and databases. Engineering is based on Networking, IT, repairs & parts, maintenence, etc.   Software Programming i'm not sure, maybe it's similar to Computer Science but less Math and maybe more web-based stuff?

I major in Computer Science and I have to take Calc 1-3, Physics Engineering 1 & 2, C++, Java, FORTRAN, Assembly, Visual Basic, SQL, etc.

 

[Pugh95Bear]

Where do you go to school, if you do not mind my asking?


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

In my knowledge based on the subjects of these courses in schools here:

Computer science -> general programming (lots of algorithms and such => reason I think for math skills), IDK how different it is from Software Prog, but in here, I believe SP are shorter than CS courses

Comp. Eng'g -> More on hardwares, bit of software prog

Software Eng'g -> Application of engineering approaches to software programming (systematic development etc, basically a deeper version of SP I think)

I suggest you try to ask out schools in your place about the difference between the curriculum of CS and SP...

I won't suggest CoE and SE, as that would need quite a lot of higher math

 

[Kaelan]

CS is software and writing code. Software Engineering is the same thing as CS. If you graduate with a CS degree, you'll probably get a job doing Software Engineering.

CE is hardware. Circuits, electronics, peripherals (motion sensors and whatnot), etc.

The Priceton Review on this: http://www.princetonreview.com/top-undergraduate-schools-for-video-game-design.aspx

Of the ones you didn't mention, I'd take a look at DigiPen. It's unfortunately expensive and hell these days and like everywhere else, costs are still rising. But if you can afford it, it's worth it. They'll definitely beat into you the difficulty of making games for a living, and the skills required to do so competently. It'll take everything you have and lots of things you don't to get through it (dropout rate is usually 30~40%, usually within the first year when people find out they can't handle it), but if you really want to do this and push through, you'll be ready to take a game dev job wherever, or anything else in software development if you later decide you don't want to do games anymore.

They also have a proven track record, constantly have people from the industry over (once you're a junior/senior, they get you into talks with a different company in the industry almost every Friday during the semester) and are pretty rigorous on the math & programming side, which are things I think you should be looking for anywhere you apply to.

Info:

Spoiler

ArsTechnica article: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/10/checking-in-on-north-americas-first-video-game-college-25-years-later/

Interviews with students & faculty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQRNi7PMWvg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HbtWF-KJOo

Games students have made in previous years:
http://games.digipen.edu/

That's where I went, so I'm biased, if you can't tell. But I recommend taking a look at it. Since you don't plan on going there immediately, it might be worth it to try to schedule a time to actually visit the campus before you decide whether or not to apply, so you can see what it's actually like on the inside.

 

[Engr. Adiktuzmiko]

SE is like CS with an engineering title... + I think SE has a licensure thingy too...


btw, if you decide to go CoE, take a look at ECE too... it doesn't go as deep as CoE when it comes to comps, but it covers a broader range of electronics

 

[C-C-C-Cashmere]

I do software engineering. It's like computer science on crack. I didn't know how to code anything before joining. Sounds like you've already tried coding, which puts you ahead of most people at at least an average school.

But really though, Computer Science and Software Engineering are the same, pretty much. Except Software Engineering goes at a much faster pace and covers more ground.

So basically if you want to get a job coding then do SE. If you want a course specifically catered towards game development/design, then do that course. But personally you shouldn't even have to do a course in order to make games. Just learn how to code or use RPG Maker and get right to it. If you want to join the commercial games industry, I would either do a SE or Game Design course. It's your choice.

 

[Pugh95Bear]

Hmm... Honestly, Software Engineering is what I was leaning towards anyways, especially since that can easily be turned to a lot of medical applications now, which is something I have also been interested in as a backup idea on the whole programming thing. Thanks everyone on the input! Means a lot getting more experienced views from you all. Soon I'll make that final decision and have this closed.

 

[C-C-C-Cashmere]

What do you mean about the medical applications? Is that making a application for the health industry, because then definitely do SE. Or are you saying that SE can be transferred over to a medical degreee?

 

[Pugh95Bear]

Both. So much programming being needed for machines in the medical industry these days, it makes a good backup.