Thoughts on Grad School
While I was spending time with superspryte last week, a few times she mentioned that I should go to Grad school.
Now, don't tell her this because it will go straight to her head, but superspryte is one of the people I have a lot of trust in. The past week I've been pondering the grad school question again. I'm still not 100% on the initial idea of doing grad school, but tonight I looked at some options.
Preamble:
Before starting, I need to lay out what I would be seeking in this education. Only then can I begin to answer questions such as which school or even why bother with grad school.
When I was looking for undergrad colleges in high school, I was leaning towards Film & television. Even then I had aspirations for game design, but there was nothing in higher education for game design. DigiPen was around, but was only accredited for programming at the time. It was only in existance for 3 years at this point. ¹ Around then, my parents went on a trip to a health spa in Mexico. While there, Mom met Nancy Heigh, a very accomplished set decorator and art director. She was working on a script treatment for Spielberg at the time, but Mom managed to plug her for information. She even got her phone number for me to call her.
It was sorta awkward for me to call her. I think this was the moment when I should have realized that Film production, though doable for me, wasn't my exact calling in life. I wanted to tell stories as I had done throughout high school, but what I really wanted was interactive storytelling. Still, I asked questions on where to go to school and she gave you usual suspects: UCLA, USC, NYU. I also asked her about a school that was my high consideration at that point. Here's about what she said:
Emerson College's film program is like a blue-collar education. It's meant for people who want to do the lower level jobs of film production like camera operation, editing and sound mixing, but not higher like writing, direction, or producing.
I had thoughts to call her again three years later when I was enrolled at Emerson's film program. But at that point I went to Emerson because I wanted to make Antidote. I enrolled in the film program because my strongest point was my film portfolio at the time. I transfered to New Media after my first month at Emerson.
For the record, I think Nancy's statements are true for students who want to be at that level. Though I think it's harder for film students to get the 'white-collar' training at Emerson, it's better than other places like NYU. It's the same old swan song for Emerson: You get out what you put in.
The Search:
Now that I have one project on my credit (albeit not successful), I'm looking for a place where I can gain a more focused training on game design and theory. Tools learning not as a direct focus, but to hone my skills in letting an audience participate in the story I initiate. I'm not a programmer. I'm not a 3D artist. I can do these things; I know how to work with people in these fields. These areas are not my true focus.
Guildhall at SMU
I started with this one as I just played one of their student's project called Weekday Warrior. Located in Dallas, Guildhall is the most advertised accredited higher education school. I think it even beats DigiPen. I even met one of the faculty at GDC:2005. However, all I needed to do was look at the programs and level design portfolio requirements.
Guildhall's program is split into three specializations: Art Creation, Level Design, and Software Development. I would only come close to level design. Though level design is a subset to game design, Guildhall's focus is on FPS and action games. No writing. No real focus on game design in other aspects.
In Nancy's words: 'Blue-collor'.
DigiPen
I decided to look back at DigiPen and see how the school is now. They always have a strong showing at the Independent Game Festival among others and have a strong connection with Microsoft Games division for simply being in Richmond, WA. They also do a good job at showcasing and sharing their student's work. But I only need to look at their programs and know not much has changed. Their programs are even less than Guildhall for not having level design as a concentration.
USC Interactive Media Division
Have you played 雲 Cloud? For you PC people, you really should. Especially if you are a Katamari fan and even if you're not. This is the poster child for the USC:IMD MFA program. It swept every award it was up for in the indy game circuit. It's a game with heart and is simply beautiful.
The other student-made projects I've played don't have this kind of attention to design. The foucs for the others seems to be like a 2 year old who takes apart the toaster and yells "I know how work now!" ² Again, not saying that knowing tools isn't important, but I'm after interactive storytelling / game design.
After looking though the MFA program, I can tell that this is a good fit for me just by the electives list alone. As for the standard curriculum, the first year reads like a refresher for Emerson's upper-level undergrad program, but the other two years go beyond what I always wanted and Emerson couldn't provide.
If I do decide to try out Grad school, USC seems to be it. I think I can withstand living in LA...
Carnegie Mellon: Masters of Entertainment Technology
I'm shocked at myself that I forgot to include CMU in my first search and post tonight. At the GDC, CMU was the strongest showing for networking their students and getting them jobs. I even crashed one of their professional parties and got free beer and cheese. When I was there, I recalled how my BFA professor laughed at my the idea of taking Antidote to the LA Film festival. CMU was doing at GDC for game students what Emerson does for film students.
So, I b-line to the curriculum page. Aside from their units being all weird (36 units a semester), it's all about the make-a-project for this program. The program is also shorter than USC by a year and focuses heavily on their project courses, which are group independent studies.
This brings up a stark contrast between the two programs. USC seems to be both practice and theory with a focus in narrative-based interactive storytelling. CMU is all about the practice and lets the students teach themselves with faculty influence. This makes CMU's program very familiar to me; My intent for Emerson was to learn though the practice of my project. It's what drew me to Emerson (post high school).
But do I want to do that again?
I feel that with CMU's program, I'd be doing the same thing I did at Emerson. The difference being that interactive entertainment is the stated curriculum. Ultimately I have to ask myself: Why would I move to Pittsburgh and pay tuition for a M.E.T. (Not a M.F.A. or M.A.), just to have the guarantee of warm bodies and some facilities³ to assist in projects?
Looking at the student projects doesn't win me over. Some are more in the realm of serious gaming or of greater societal importance, but others are... lacking.
CMU gets a cookie for trying, but I'm not convinced they even know what their program is shooting for. A Masters in Entertainment Technology? No thanks.
Closing Thoughts (for now):
Obviously I'm not at a position to say I'd be going to grad school at this time, let alone USC. There's a lot for me to consider, the least of witch being finances. The grander question I'm pondering is if grad school will truly benefit me. Can I start and work my way up the ladder right now, or do I need grad school to tie up loose ends? This is the ultimate question for me and not likely to be answered real soon.
Footnotes:
¹ DigiPen started being accredited in 1996.
² I actually did this when I was 2.
³ And they're not that great anyway.
Now, don't tell her this because it will go straight to her head, but superspryte is one of the people I have a lot of trust in. The past week I've been pondering the grad school question again. I'm still not 100% on the initial idea of doing grad school, but tonight I looked at some options.
Preamble:
Before starting, I need to lay out what I would be seeking in this education. Only then can I begin to answer questions such as which school or even why bother with grad school.
When I was looking for undergrad colleges in high school, I was leaning towards Film & television. Even then I had aspirations for game design, but there was nothing in higher education for game design. DigiPen was around, but was only accredited for programming at the time. It was only in existance for 3 years at this point. ¹ Around then, my parents went on a trip to a health spa in Mexico. While there, Mom met Nancy Heigh, a very accomplished set decorator and art director. She was working on a script treatment for Spielberg at the time, but Mom managed to plug her for information. She even got her phone number for me to call her.
It was sorta awkward for me to call her. I think this was the moment when I should have realized that Film production, though doable for me, wasn't my exact calling in life. I wanted to tell stories as I had done throughout high school, but what I really wanted was interactive storytelling. Still, I asked questions on where to go to school and she gave you usual suspects: UCLA, USC, NYU. I also asked her about a school that was my high consideration at that point. Here's about what she said:
Emerson College's film program is like a blue-collar education. It's meant for people who want to do the lower level jobs of film production like camera operation, editing and sound mixing, but not higher like writing, direction, or producing.
I had thoughts to call her again three years later when I was enrolled at Emerson's film program. But at that point I went to Emerson because I wanted to make Antidote. I enrolled in the film program because my strongest point was my film portfolio at the time. I transfered to New Media after my first month at Emerson.
For the record, I think Nancy's statements are true for students who want to be at that level. Though I think it's harder for film students to get the 'white-collar' training at Emerson, it's better than other places like NYU. It's the same old swan song for Emerson: You get out what you put in.
The Search:
Now that I have one project on my credit (albeit not successful), I'm looking for a place where I can gain a more focused training on game design and theory. Tools learning not as a direct focus, but to hone my skills in letting an audience participate in the story I initiate. I'm not a programmer. I'm not a 3D artist. I can do these things; I know how to work with people in these fields. These areas are not my true focus.
Guildhall at SMU
I started with this one as I just played one of their student's project called Weekday Warrior. Located in Dallas, Guildhall is the most advertised accredited higher education school. I think it even beats DigiPen. I even met one of the faculty at GDC:2005. However, all I needed to do was look at the programs and level design portfolio requirements.
Guildhall's program is split into three specializations: Art Creation, Level Design, and Software Development. I would only come close to level design. Though level design is a subset to game design, Guildhall's focus is on FPS and action games. No writing. No real focus on game design in other aspects.
In Nancy's words: 'Blue-collor'.
DigiPen
I decided to look back at DigiPen and see how the school is now. They always have a strong showing at the Independent Game Festival among others and have a strong connection with Microsoft Games division for simply being in Richmond, WA. They also do a good job at showcasing and sharing their student's work. But I only need to look at their programs and know not much has changed. Their programs are even less than Guildhall for not having level design as a concentration.
USC Interactive Media Division
Have you played 雲 Cloud? For you PC people, you really should. Especially if you are a Katamari fan and even if you're not. This is the poster child for the USC:IMD MFA program. It swept every award it was up for in the indy game circuit. It's a game with heart and is simply beautiful.
The other student-made projects I've played don't have this kind of attention to design. The foucs for the others seems to be like a 2 year old who takes apart the toaster and yells "I know how work now!" ² Again, not saying that knowing tools isn't important, but I'm after interactive storytelling / game design.
After looking though the MFA program, I can tell that this is a good fit for me just by the electives list alone. As for the standard curriculum, the first year reads like a refresher for Emerson's upper-level undergrad program, but the other two years go beyond what I always wanted and Emerson couldn't provide.
If I do decide to try out Grad school, USC seems to be it. I think I can withstand living in LA...
Carnegie Mellon: Masters of Entertainment Technology
I'm shocked at myself that I forgot to include CMU in my first search and post tonight. At the GDC, CMU was the strongest showing for networking their students and getting them jobs. I even crashed one of their professional parties and got free beer and cheese. When I was there, I recalled how my BFA professor laughed at my the idea of taking Antidote to the LA Film festival. CMU was doing at GDC for game students what Emerson does for film students.
So, I b-line to the curriculum page. Aside from their units being all weird (36 units a semester), it's all about the make-a-project for this program. The program is also shorter than USC by a year and focuses heavily on their project courses, which are group independent studies.
This brings up a stark contrast between the two programs. USC seems to be both practice and theory with a focus in narrative-based interactive storytelling. CMU is all about the practice and lets the students teach themselves with faculty influence. This makes CMU's program very familiar to me; My intent for Emerson was to learn though the practice of my project. It's what drew me to Emerson (post high school).
But do I want to do that again?
I feel that with CMU's program, I'd be doing the same thing I did at Emerson. The difference being that interactive entertainment is the stated curriculum. Ultimately I have to ask myself: Why would I move to Pittsburgh and pay tuition for a M.E.T. (Not a M.F.A. or M.A.), just to have the guarantee of warm bodies and some facilities³ to assist in projects?
Looking at the student projects doesn't win me over. Some are more in the realm of serious gaming or of greater societal importance, but others are... lacking.
CMU gets a cookie for trying, but I'm not convinced they even know what their program is shooting for. A Masters in Entertainment Technology? No thanks.
Closing Thoughts (for now):
Obviously I'm not at a position to say I'd be going to grad school at this time, let alone USC. There's a lot for me to consider, the least of witch being finances. The grander question I'm pondering is if grad school will truly benefit me. Can I start and work my way up the ladder right now, or do I need grad school to tie up loose ends? This is the ultimate question for me and not likely to be answered real soon.
Footnotes:
¹ DigiPen started being accredited in 1996.
² I actually did this when I was 2.
³ And they're not that great anyway.