Thanks. We will take a look. I think it sounds like it might be promising but I find she’s picky. She seems to know what she wants when she sees it. She likes the animation program offerings at Kent State. She stumbled across that this morning.
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We look at Industrial Design in general and she’s not interested in that. Thanks for the suggestion!
A lot of colleges offer some sort of degree in technical animation but what can make it hard to find is they all use different names for the major and it can be found in different departments/colleges within each university. For example, the degree programs my daughter applied to and was accepted at and all seriously considered:
-Creative Computing at SMU
-Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication with Animation and Games Concentration at UTD
-Art with a concentration in Animation at ASU (she also considered the digital culture degree and other degrees within ASU’s Herberger School of Arts, Media and Engineering)
-Visualization at A&M (which used to be a degree program within the school of architecture but now a degree program within and the cornerstone of the newly developed school of performance, visualization, and fine arts. Still a BS though, not a BFA).
Other degrees are more consistent in terms of name of degree and content of degree program: e.g. engineering , education, psychology, nursing etc.
Here is a good resource that we used to find and learn about highly ranked animation programs:
And here is a YouTube video (6 min) about A&M’s visualization program that aired just last night on the local pbs station.
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U. of Central Florida, on the list that @martinezcs linked, is another school where your daughter has a good chance of getting in-state tuition if she gets even a small merit scholarship. But there’s not much in the way of varying seasons in Florida… Of course, once she gets her degree she can certainly move to a more preferred location.
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Today I learned that there is such a major called optics/optical engineering. There are currently only five colleges in the US that are ABET-accredited for the field (and since this is totally new to me, I don’t know if ABET accreditation is as important in this specialty as it is in something like civil engineering).
U. of Central Florida: https://creol.ucf.edu/academics/undergrad/
Norfolk State (VA): HBCU, https://www.nsu.edu/engineering/bs-oen
U. of Rochester (NY): The Institute of Optics : University of Rochester
U. of Arizona: Optical Sciences and Engineering Degree | University of Arizona College of Engineering which also has very generous merit scholarships for students with high GPAs
Rose-Hulman (IN): Physics & Optical Engineering – Academic Departments | Rose-Hulman
I’m not sure if this field will be exactly up your D’s alley, but thought it was worth a mention as she continues to explore.
We will take a look. I had never heard of that until maybe 1.5 years ago. Rose-Hulman was my son’s top pick and we saw it listed there.
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Today I learned that there is such a thing as Modeling & Simulation Engineering. Old Dominion offers a major and a minor. From the page on the major (emphasis added):
Students will gain skills necessary to create a concept or a design and testing it in real-world conditions through graphical and mathematical models, virtual reality simulations, software development, and data analysis.
From College Navigator (feds’ website) it appears as though there are 16 colleges in the U.S. that offer a major in Modeling, Virtual Environments, and Simulation. I’d investigate all, if your D feels as though it’s of interest, but in particular these which I think would be most likely to hit your budget:
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U. of Wisconsin - Stout: About $25k for OOS students at sticker price, and I think your D would be a good candidate for merit aid. Also, this seems to be a pretty popular major here.
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U. of Cincinnati (OH): Your D would need an OOS waiver or similar to bring this in-budget.
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U. of Tulsa (OK)
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Robert Morris (PA )
Rochester Institute of Technology seems to have the largest number of majors in this field, but would probably have the toughest time meeting your budget.
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I’ve found that this is the problem! So many names for the same type of thing. I will look that one up.
Western Michigan has a Kinetic Imaging major in their art department. IUPUI has Computer Graphics Technology. We are working on making a list of all the schools and adding the name of the major.
I think we will visit UA Huntsville this spring. We will be in the area. It has animation as part of the Game Design major. It is missing Chinese and she’d like to continue with that. But I hope we can talk to someone in the department about the animation classes and we can get a feel for what is really offered compared to what she wants to do with it.
Thank you for continuing to contribute to this! I appreciate all the help.
I agree that RIT has quite a few options that look good. But it is likely well out of our price range.
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Any update on where your D has decided to apply?
She applied to Western Michigan, Central Michigan, Michigan State, Alabama, UAH, Ohio, and U of Tulsa. She is accepted to the first Michigan and Alabama colleges. Still waiting on the other two. We haven’t visited Ohio at all. We did a brief drive-thru of UAH, but it was mostly dark, so not exactly a visit. We will probably visit in the spring, unless a scholarship at one of her top choices comes through. Western and Tulsa are the leading two right now.
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She was accepted to all 8 colleges she applied to.
MSU - she’s not overly interested here, but applied because it’s close and friends will be there, etc. Invited to honors with a $5000 scholarship and the professor assistance for $4000/year
Western Michigan - she likes the campus a lot, but we did not see engineering, which is a bus trip. We will do an admitted student day. $4000 scholarship and hoping for more because it’s one of the priciest right now.
Central Michigan - she really loved the animation facilities, but didn’t much like the campus overall. $8250 in scholarships making it the least expensive at this point.
Alabama - we are visiting next month. She’s been there visiting her brother once, but we didn’t tour, so we are doing the official visit. No animation there, but it meets everything else she is looking for (except weather maybe). And with scholarships it’s pretty inexpensive. Having her brother there is a plus as well. She is accepted into honors and applied to Randall Research as well.
UAH - we will visit next month. Great scholarship makes it very affordable. Accepted to honors here too.
Tulsa - she liked the campus and really likes a lot of the programs. The computer simulation degree sounded great. And she is very interested in the international engineering program. She received $31,500 in scholarships which puts it in the reachy area for affordability, especially with travel. I think it’s a bit far and isolated feeling for her, but we will see.
Ohio University - we are visiting in February. I think it checks most of her boxes as well. It’s a little isolated but close enough that I think it would be okay. She has $19,500 in scholarships and applied to honors. It brings it down to about the least expensive so far.
U of Kentucky - the last application. I think the university and location meet her desires. I think there are a lot of positives, but not much for animation. It’s the most expensive at this point, and I’m not sure we should visit at this point, but we likely will combine it with Ohio U. She applied to honors here too.
She has some good choices at this point. She flip flops about where she thinks she likes the most quite often. I know she’s feeling nervous about going. I know she is very ready to be done with high school. It’s not been a good 4-years in general. I want her to go have a great time with good friends.
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Sorry I missed the update, but it was filled with great news! It definitely sounds like she has some real solid contenders to consider. Hope you continue to keep us posted!
Thanks.
Our UAH visit was canceled for severe weather. Super disappointing since we were already there in a hotel. We’ll try again sometime. She loved the dorm at UA and may pick it just for that, but I don’t think it’s a top choice. When asked, she’d put U of Tulsa and Western Michigan at the top of her list. She really liked the tour at Tulsa and I think as we are getting closer to figuring it out, the distance isn’t a huge problem. The dorms aren’t as nice as Bama, but having them available for more than just freshman year is a big plus too. And she keeps talking about the cool stuff she saw there. She’s finishing up some scholarship applications and I think if it’s doable, she will pick Tulsa.
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Ugh, that’s too bad about UAH. Seems as though you’ve had bad luck with that campus. Glad to know how much she liked Tulsa. I’ve been impressed with the president’s communications on CC, and not too many on the board have in-person experience with it. Hoping everything works out the way your family would like it to!
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We went back to Western Michigan for an admitted student day last month. She still liked it and the engineering lab open house was great. But they are knocking down a dorm so the next 2 years will be tight on housing. So not as sure any more.
We also went to Michigan State as part of the ADS competition. She won a $1500/year scholarship and I would like her to keep an open mind about MSU. The honors college lets her waive the requirement of being in the gaming major or minor to take the animation classes, so she would be good there. No single rooms, but the double we saw was very nice. Much bigger than many places and I think she’d be okay, but she’s not so sure in general. The campus is really spread out and she feels it’s too big.
And we made it back to UAH. Yay. Good weather too. She really liked it a lot. Of all the places we’ve been, there were more students interacting with each other there than anywhere else. The engineering tour was blah. The dorms were good. The art department tour was also good. It’s a place you kind of need a car, which is a negative for her.
I think now the top 2 are Tulsa and UAH. We are waiting on the scholarship info for Tulsa. That may be the deal maker or breaker.
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I thought I’d do a last update and include why she didn’t apply at some of the great colleges listed in this thread.
RIT – I think it had some great options for majors and classwork. I don’t think it would have met our budget, which was $25k/year. We ended up not looking in person here.
Clarkson – too remote and difficult to get to/from.
Clemson – sounded like a wonderful program and if she wants a masters, it may be on the list. But again, too expensive.
Utah, UCF, and Texas A&M – too far for her comfort.
UW Stout – I don’t remember why, lol.
Her top 2 ended up being Tulsa and UAH. She did not get the presidential scholarship for Tulsa, so that was eliminated. We did another trip to UAH for the admitted students day in April. She was sure at that point that she would like it there and we paid the enrollment when we got home.
Some things got added to her requirements since I started the thread 16 months before her decision was made. She wanted the campus to have the right feel. I was never sure what that was. It was a combination of pretty buildings, outdoor spaces, students around, and other things that spoke to her. Having her own room became a higher priority. And being able to have someone come to get her and leave campus in a short time (3 hours or so) in case of a campus shooting became important. Alabama and Tulsa were the 2 top winners for campus looks. UAH and WMU were close. I think UKY would have come in as well, but we didn’t visit. Tulsa only stayed on because the airport is close and easy to get to with a lot of flights daily and she was okay with being able to work her way home if needed. We also really considered the 5 year total price. I think she will take 5 years to get all the classes she wants and needs. A 4-year scholarship is great, but a 5th year can be incredibly expensive.
She’s at UAH and is loving it so far. She has met students and has a nice group of friends. She is enjoying most of her classes. She is in MechE and added an art minor and is taking 1 art class a semester. They offer quite a few animation courses. It was a tier below the winners for campus looks/feel. But got extra points because there are more students out and about all day than we saw anywhere else. She sometimes just got to the union and works on homework while watching others play ping pong, lol. Every room on campus is a private room. She does have 3 suite mates and they get along well, but she very much appreciates her own door. And, she can live on campus for multiple years if she chooses. Her brother is at Bama, so he is the rescue person if needed. Scholarships put the first year at under $20k. Of course years 2-4 will increase a bit. But if she needs year 5, right now that’s only $37k and that should be doable. She is very happy with her choice of college.
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Thanks so much for coming back to wrap up what school your D ending up selecting and why. It is very much appreciated, and I’m glad to hear that she’s loving her time at UAH so far!
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