Is anyone currently attending Full Sail University?

[CrypTik]

I'm currently in 12th grade of high school and I'm planning on going to Full Sail once I graduate. I was wondering about dorm policies and things of that nature. How are they about noise and visitors? I'm currently trying to decide whether to get a dorm or an apartment. I figure an apartment would be better in terms of freedom.

 

[Sandtru27]

pretty sure your only option is an apartment

btw you're gonna have mad debt

 

[Gerbil]

I think Laijin is at Full Sail....

 

[Эикельманн [РУС]]

There is no school housing, so there are no dorms at full sail.

You will have to either get an apartment, or rent a room in a house.

Most students rent an apartment. They have a housing list so you can room with someone from the school if you don't know anyone.

 

[CrypTik]

Ahh, well then an apartment it is. lol didn't know they didn't have dorms.

 

[Laijin]

As a Full Sail Graduate, my #1 advice to you is:

FINISH SCHOOL.
If you do not finish, not only will you not have a degree but you will also be in ridiculous debt. I know a ton of people that have failed out/dropped out and are just SOL are right now.
Finishing school is your goal, but you should also try your best. Depending on what degree your going for determines on your chances of getting a job when you get out(Recording Arts & Film are least likely to land you jobs unfortunately while CA/GA will give you higher chances. Game Dev has the highest percent of getting you a job). Whatever you do though, do WELL IN SCHOOL. Unless your in Game Dev, then you just gotta worry about passing your classes at the minimum and keeping your GPA above a 2.0 haha(The average GPA of my graduating class was probably around a 2.2 or 2.3). Any other program thats not game dev and you don't have any excuses to not do well. Game Dev is just ******** hard combined with the the way they use to grade us. The failure rate is the highest in Game Dev and at least 80% of the program drops out/fails out/switches degrees within the first 6 months.

Anyways!
There are no dorms at Full Sail. Everyone lives in a apartment or rents a house(and shares the rent with roomies). There is a housing list you can ask for if you don't know anyone that lives in the area.

In case your wondering, I graduated from Game Dev. I got a job 4 months after I graduated last year. When you start school, check out my game on the arcade machine in the game dev building. Its called "Steam Tower".

Overall though, its an AWESOME experience. You're gonna meet ton of people and you'll have absolutely no problems at all with networking. As long as you don't mind the lack of attractive women that attend the school(-cough- Full Male -cough), you'll have a good time there. Its a good experience. Personally I kinda miss it haha.

 

[CrypTik]

I'm actually going to be going for a degree in game dev. =) I'm glad that you say game dev grads get jobs easiest. That was something I was worried about. I was wondering if I'm going to be studying game development what building would I be in?

I'm going to be going for a tour sometime soon and I'll make sure to check out your game. =)

Edit- Sucks about the girls. =/ but I really want to be a game developer so I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

 

[Laijin]

I'm actually going to be going for a degree in game dev. =) I'm glad that you say game dev grads get jobs easiest. That was something I was worried about. I was wondering if I'm going to be studying game development what building would I be in?

I'm going to be going for a tour sometime soon and I'll make sure to check out your game. =)

Edit- Sucks about the girls. =/ but I really want to be a game developer so I guess I'll just have to deal with it.

Pretty much. Just keep this in mind when you go through the program. You get what you put in out back when you graduate. From what I have observed. The guys who worked hardest and gave it their all(even if their grades don't reflect it) are the ones who now have jobs and are doing well in their lives. The lazy ones who didn't do much work, somehow got through school, and didn't put much into the program are the ones now who don't have jobs and really are not going anywhere in their lives.

So yea.. tl;dr. Try your best all throughout school and you'll be successful and rewarded in the end. If you don't, you're literally wasting $80,000.

Not gonna lie. The program is VERY tough. I can honestly say you probably couldn't have picked a harder college program to go through. But everything is doable as long as you try and study. =)
Good luck! If you need any advice feel free to ask me. If you're wondering about any of the teachers, feel free to ask too.

 

[CrypTik]

Thats a really good point you make. I'm the first person in my family to seek an education past high school so I'm going to be trying my best. As of right now I don't know much about game development. Do they start with the basics or am I expected to have some prior knowledge coming in?

 

[Laijin]

Thats a really good point you make. I'm the first person in my family to seek an education past high school so I'm going to be trying my best. As of right now I don't know much about game development. Do they start with the basics or am I expected to have some prior knowledge coming in?

They will expect you to know nothing. Most people come in not knowing any programming. So you'll learn. The first few months are gonna be tough(excluding your first month). Most people drop out/switch programs in game just from the second or third set of classes. Its really tough but at the same time those same people didn't really try/were lazy/were slacking off and not really focusing. ITS VERY important you try your best. Most of the if your trying your absolute best, getting help from the teacher when needed, etc etc you will do well in your classes.

 

[CrypTik]

Well, that's good to hear that I don't need to know anything. I don't see any reason why I would do poorly if I do as you said and get help from teachers and do all my work. Thanks for all the advice. =)

 

[DJRome]

very confusing. . . from what i researched, it seems like this school is a scam. one of the reviews said that a question on the exam was 6+3=?

i also heard that no credits here transfer because it is not accredited and the quality of instruction and general course material is insanely bottom grade. i have no idea about this school, but i just happened to read a lot of reviews that are bad and only a few that are good. seems very confusing as to whether it is legit or not

 

[Laijin]

very confusing. . . from what i researched, it seems like this school is a scam. one of the reviews said that a question on the exam was 6+3=?

i also heard that no credits here transfer because it is not accredited and the quality of instruction and general course material is insanely bottom grade. i have no idea about this school, but i just happened to read a lot of reviews that are bad and only a few that are good. seems very confusing as to whether it is legit or not

lol. Anyone that says FS is a scam is probably butthurt cause they failed out/didn't try hard enough in school and can't find a job because of how they chose to spent 2 years at the school. I've heard it all and that is usually the case. As far as Game Dev goes, Full Sail is easily one of the best schools in the world to learn Game Development(The other probably being Digipen). Its a great school.

 

[CrypTik]

I'm also seeing alot of negative reviews about full sail but they never mention anything about the game design/development program. I also have come across some positive reviews. I really want to go to Full sail but I can't help but notice all these bad things people are saying.

Laijin if you don't mind me asking what was your personal experience at full sail in terms of how well the teachers taught and whether or not you think it was a good school.

 

[Laijin]

I'm also seeing alot of negative reviews about full sail but they never mention anything about the game design/development program. I also have come across some positive reviews. I really want to go to Full sail but I can't help but notice all these bad things people are saying.

Laijin if you don't mind me asking what was your personal experience at full sail in terms of how well the teachers taught and whether or not you think it was a good school.

I can only speak for the game dev program.
Most of the teachers were amazing and love their jobs and are actually good at teaching. I mean really..how many teachers can teach you Calculus in like 7 days and have you actually understand it? haha. Ony a few teachers were less than stellar unfortunately. Overall though its a great school. You will learn A LOT very quickly. If you compare the game dev program here to other schools that are not Digipen, Full Sail easily just simply better. I have a few friends that went through the game dev courses ITT Tech, Devry, etc etc. I would talk about game development with them and they didn't even learn half the stuff that is taught at Full Sail. Like I said, you get out what you put in.

Give it your best and you'll get the best results. Its a REALLY good school if you do that, otherwise if you dont like I said before your wasting a TON of money and when you graduate you'll realize you don't really know how to do anything and you'll never find a job(like some people I know). So just keep that in mind. And like I said before..I can only speak for the game dev program. So I'd recommend to anyone that wants to learn how to work in the gaming industry. And even if you can't get a job in the gaming industry immediatly after school, the skills you learn at FS can be applied to almost any junior level software developer job out there and on top of that you'll have the knowledge to make your own indie games and sell them on XBL, iPhone, etc etc(And of course after networking you'll even know a lot of artists). So your chances of getting a job are pretty good.

Most people the complaints about the school come from Recording Arts, Film, etc. Its a really bad stereotype, but Recording Arts students tend to be...not too intelligent(You will see what I mean when you start going there ). Film is a step above that and so forth.

 

[CrypTik]

I'm once again extremely certain I want to go to Full sail. I have not heard any bad reviews about the game dev program.