I acknowledge that this is a partially selfish original post, as it relates directly to my future plans, and I have considered if it would be more appropriate to start it in the H/A forum rather than here. But I think that the posters here would be more knowledgeable about game design educational programs in general and would be more interested in in the subject. Anyway, when I went to college, there was exactly one game design school on the continent, Digipen. To my lifelong regret, I got accepted, but I turned them down when my parents pressured me to go to a regular school first. It was also a Jesuit university and I became agnostic a year into my college life, but that's neither here nor there.
Almost eight years after graduation and four months after being laid off from work, I'm strongly considering returning to school, but it's a different world now. I graduated with a computer science degree with the assumption that programming was essential to being in the industry at all. Yes, I know, but there really weren't any instructions on how this sort of thing worked in 1997. Ideally, I want to find something in the Chicago area, but my main priorities are learning skills actually used in the video game development process, ideally with an emphasis on writing and design. I found that programming is something I can do to some degree, but I have no real passion for it, especially with the intensity that the video game industry is famous for. My real love is in the act of creation. I can polish off a screenplay in a month or write a 300 page design document easily, but it's turning these skills into something profitable that's a problem.
I also wonder what programs are reputable; the useless degree mills are notorious here. And honestly I want a fresh start with life, ideally with interaction with other students. And I don't even know what my financial options are here. Where can prospective students look for student loans, grants, scholarships, unemployment extensions for education, and the like?
You know what? Nanowrimo's cancelled on account of the world is stupid.
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