3 More Months
After meeting with my academic advisor, we both came to the conclusion that I'd be better off graduating in 3 quarters instead of 2. So, I'll be graduating in March, not December. Actually, it's probably more accurate to say that I walked into my advisor's office with the notion that I'd probably need more time, she saw my real, I rationally explained to her my reasons for thinking I'd need another term, and she agreed. Basically she said that I could do 2 quarters, but they'd be uber intense and I'd never sleep and when I did, it'd be in a computer lab. Why do I need another quarter if I still have an A- (further proving my point that I'll never get anything but that) GPA? Here are the reasons:
1. taking 2 quarters each with 4 classes would leave me with very little free time to work on projects outside of school work (i.e. demo reel). Taking 3 classes for 3 quarters would obviously give me more time. For those math majors out there, you might notice that those are two different total class numbers. Well, another advantage to taking 3 quarters would mean I could also take 3D scripting, a class somewhat important to my future.
2. next quarter I'm taking Intermediate Compositing (i.e. learning Shake) and Character Animation. Since compositing is one of my specialties, having only one quarter after learning the program to do demo reel worthy work isn't enough. Also, I've been told by a few teachers that since I'm good at acting (at least in my school), I can write, and I can direct, character animation might be another of my specialties. Again, only having one quarter after taking the class just isn't enough time to hone your skills.
3. I'm missing a lot of lighting work that I won't be able to do over just 2 very intense quarters. I only learned this quarter how to do realistic, natural lighting, so I need more time to get the 5-10 images that are basically standard for a demo reel.
4. I'm missing two very complex rigs. I have basically all of the easy, small, and middle range rigs done already, but I have none of the uber huge or complex ones. Mainly because I don't have the models yet (which, to me, take longer to make than the rigs). It'd take me one quarter (working completley outside of school) to get the models ready and another quarter to rig them. To me, I'd rather have more time to really perfect these rigs and possibly due another one. Plus, one must remember that I'll be doing these models/rigs while also doing all the models for my lighting work, lighting all the models for my lighting work, and doing my VFX/compsiting stuff. Not to mention also possibly doing character animation work as well.
5. I'd rather hurt myself financially now and get a kick ass reel then have a decent reel that doesn't get me hired (i.e. hurt me financially later).
6. I'd like more time with the school's facilities and faculty. Some faculty do still talk to recently graduated students, but most don't have the time. Makes sense. Also, the school facilities are much better than mine. It takes a very long time for me to render things and some programs just run better on their machines. I'd rather have another quarter to work on my stuff on better machines than spend the next 6 months after graduating rendering out the very same stuff on my own computer (which also means that during that time I wouldn't be able to use my computer for anything).
Those are my primary reasons for staying an extra quarter. I think it'll be for the better.
1. taking 2 quarters each with 4 classes would leave me with very little free time to work on projects outside of school work (i.e. demo reel). Taking 3 classes for 3 quarters would obviously give me more time. For those math majors out there, you might notice that those are two different total class numbers. Well, another advantage to taking 3 quarters would mean I could also take 3D scripting, a class somewhat important to my future.
2. next quarter I'm taking Intermediate Compositing (i.e. learning Shake) and Character Animation. Since compositing is one of my specialties, having only one quarter after learning the program to do demo reel worthy work isn't enough. Also, I've been told by a few teachers that since I'm good at acting (at least in my school), I can write, and I can direct, character animation might be another of my specialties. Again, only having one quarter after taking the class just isn't enough time to hone your skills.
3. I'm missing a lot of lighting work that I won't be able to do over just 2 very intense quarters. I only learned this quarter how to do realistic, natural lighting, so I need more time to get the 5-10 images that are basically standard for a demo reel.
4. I'm missing two very complex rigs. I have basically all of the easy, small, and middle range rigs done already, but I have none of the uber huge or complex ones. Mainly because I don't have the models yet (which, to me, take longer to make than the rigs). It'd take me one quarter (working completley outside of school) to get the models ready and another quarter to rig them. To me, I'd rather have more time to really perfect these rigs and possibly due another one. Plus, one must remember that I'll be doing these models/rigs while also doing all the models for my lighting work, lighting all the models for my lighting work, and doing my VFX/compsiting stuff. Not to mention also possibly doing character animation work as well.
5. I'd rather hurt myself financially now and get a kick ass reel then have a decent reel that doesn't get me hired (i.e. hurt me financially later).
6. I'd like more time with the school's facilities and faculty. Some faculty do still talk to recently graduated students, but most don't have the time. Makes sense. Also, the school facilities are much better than mine. It takes a very long time for me to render things and some programs just run better on their machines. I'd rather have another quarter to work on my stuff on better machines than spend the next 6 months after graduating rendering out the very same stuff on my own computer (which also means that during that time I wouldn't be able to use my computer for anything).
Those are my primary reasons for staying an extra quarter. I think it'll be for the better.