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CG Schools?

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CG Schools?

Hey, thanks in advance for your anwsers

I want a degree school(not a crash course, 1 year school )
but there are quite a few out there, so i need some advise.

Which qualities of each of the next colleges are strong and which are weak: Cogswell College, Ringling , and the Academy of Art University in CA.?

ohh and what about UAT(my parents have visited this place but i don't trust them)and the Expression College for digital arts.

Thanks a lot for your help

GB

www.awn.com has a pdf file listing all good schools around the world, download it and check the ones in your area, mabye there are some you haven't heared about.

Visit my site http://www.animdesk.com

Don't know the others, but I know that Ringling has an excellent reputation in the industry and an impressive list of graduates.

cheers,
~D

I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy [i]-Tom Waits
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Sorry for the late reply but I've been away...

If I may toot Ringling's computer animation department's horn and say that Dave is right; the computer animation program has a great rep in the industry right now and we plan on keeping it that way. This last year we were visited by almost all the major players (film and game). Most recruiting and some just showing up to see what the students were up to and giving a presentation of some sort.

It's a four year program, a private school (a bit more pricey than your state university) and located in the retiree mecca of the world Sarasota Florida so don't come for the night life.

ed

Department of Computer Animation
Ringling College of Art and Design
Sarasota Florida

Greenbox, Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia offers a BFA in Computer Animation as well. www.scad.edu

I, as well as a few others, are in the same boat as you. There's also CalArts in California, http://www.calarts.edu and International Fine Arts College in Miami, www.ifac.edu. I believe the last time I spoke with IFAC, they were being bought out by Academy of Art or something.... I'll check.. Ok they "merged" (I guess) with the Art Instutite line of colleges.. http://www.artinstitutes.edu

After closer inspection of the AI schools, it seems that IFAC may be the only one to offer a 4 year degree in Computer Animation. I am unsure as to their reputation, but I do hear good things about CalArts, Ringling, A of A, and SCAD, not to say I've heard anything negative about the others. Unfortunately, my information is merely heresay and most of my knowledge about them comes from doing research on those schools.

I'll check out the other schools that you mentioned. How do you feel about the other schools you've checked out? There are a great many others here that could benefit from this thread, including me :D , so please feel free to share what you've learned.

Art Schools

I recommend keeping in mind where the industry is centered. I just graduated from the Academy of Art University and am finding it very helpful to be located in the same area as the companies that I want to work for (Pixar, Dreamworks PDI, ILM, Giant Killer Robots, EA Sports to name a few). The best part about the AAU program is that you can take 3 classes taught directly by Pixar employees. We're talking Academy Award-winning animators giving you critiques on every detail of your animation. Thats hard to top.

The Pixar teachers I've had have also spoken highly of Cal Arts students. There are some aspects of their program that I wish AAU would implement, such as the requirement to have a completed short film before graduation. They too are smack dab in the middle of the 3D animation world so it makes networking and interviewing a whole lot easier.

I'm not saying that either of these schools has a better program or superior teaching methods to Ringling and Savannah, but I don't know of too many animation or vfx studios in the middle of Georgia :) . They do both have good reps, so if flying to CA for interviews isn't a concern, then it shouldn't matter.

Check this out if you haven't already!

http://forums.awn.com/showthread.php?t=303

speaking on Savannah College of Art and Design's behalf, I suppose, we have several companies that interview on site every quarter. Big boys like Lucas and Tippett and Sony and smaller companies too. It is a little more or a workout doing initial legwork for companies on the west coast that aren't currently doing on-sites. Then again there are lots of companies that are doing animation and 3d that aren't on the west coast as well. New York, Texas and central Florida are all major 3d centers.

Ender

Thanks a lot guys, if you get any new info please post it.