Hello, this is my first post on College Confidential. Be kind please.
I’m a highschool student, and I have a dilemma. I have three areas of study I wish to pursue that are all quite different, and I can’t seem to find a college that offers courses in all three: Creative Writing, Game Design, and Astrophysics. Yes, I know it’s an odd batch, but I really want to pursue all three of these programs.
Creative Writing is, by far, the most important. Writing has and always will be a passion of mine. As for Game Design, I’ve wanted to make games my entire life (which isn’t really impressive, being fourteen years old). Finally, Astrophysics. I really, really love science. Particularly physics and astronomy, which are the foundations of astrophysics. This is probably the least important, which is like saying ending war is less important than solving world hunger. Or something.
Wow, that’s a very extreme analogy. But you get the point. All have different tiers of importance, but are very close to being equal.
Anyway, before I decide to throw one of my studies out the window (which is probably what I’ll have to do eventually), I was hoping that someone out there knew of a college that I could pursue all three of my dreams. I know this probably seems like an impossible task, and to be honest it probably is. But I’m still holding on to the slight hope that maybe, just maybe, I can do it all.
Use the “Find a College” tab on this website. Hit “Start Searching”. Then under majors select some variations of creative writing, game design, and astrophysics.
harvardandberkeley: Carnegie Melon is certainly promising. I couldn’t find Creative Writing, although maybe I just wasn’t looking hard enough. It is rather far from home (Louisiana), but I’ve always considered moving out of state. Not necessarily so far, though. My current GPA is 4.0. I’m taking the ACT this autumn for the first time (I got a 21 on the practice test though). I’m not sure what you mean by class rank? And I’m not enrolled in any AP courses at the moment.
1600mPenn: Thank you! I’ll definitely keep up the search.
bodangles: That’s definitely something to consider.
Thanks so much everyone! I’m still looking for more advice/options.
Louisiana State U has a creative writing concentration within English… they also have a strong department of Physics & Astronomy… as for game design… they do not have a major, but they do offer game design courses with computer science, as well as digital art and animation in the Digital Art major.
@Archstorm so you’re a freshman, right? By the time you’re applying to colleges, maybe your priorities will have changed. Maybe one of those things will be way more important than the others. Or maybe you’ll find something entirely different that you feel like is your calling. It’s great to get a head start on college planning, but don’t get too worried about something like that right now.
Those actually seem like a great mix for a would-be game designer. The fact that you’re (presumably) good in math (with the astrophysics interest) means you can develop games. The creative writing means you’d get the narrative arc; there’s a term for narratives in game design which I forget, but writers are part of the collaborative team and the others on the team need to understand the story elements. Of course, your interests might change, and you could go in any of those directions, but they’re not as different as they seem.
lalalemma: I’m actually a sophomore (I skipped a grade), and I’m dual enrolling at a local community college to get my preliminary courses out of the way. I figured since I’m going to be in college next year, I might as well create a game plan now for which one I want/need to go to.
MrSamford2014: I couldn’t really find anything that met my criteria there, sadly.
MomOnALaptop: Thank you so much for understanding! Also, with physics, I can have a better understanding of science and have a more ‘realistic’ science fiction element in both my writing and games.
I have found a few colleges that have met my criteria fairly well (and are relatively close to where I live):
University of West Florida: Offers courses in Creative Writing and Astrophysics
Samford University: Offers courses in Creative Writing and Astrophysics
Louisiana State University: I could only find a general Physics major, but as harvardandberkeley stated they have other courses with strong concentrations of Creative Writing and Game Design
Georgia State University: Creative Writing and Astrophysics
So as you can see, I had a hard time finding anything with all three majors I wanted. Has anyone had experiences with online courses in either Game Design or Astrophysics? (I definitely want an actual professor for a Creative Writing class.) I was thinking I could take an online course in one and go to a campus for the other two, but I don’t know if it’s as good as going to an “actual” college.
Thanks again for everyone’s great help and advice.
Also search for minors and/or concentrations in Creative Writing. Those don’t pop up as easily in the college matches, but could also fit the bill for you while trying to juggle “odd mixes.” Another one that you might want to check out is University of Maryland Baltimore County. It’s strong in the sciences, has a minor in Creative Writing, offers interdisciplinary majors (e.g. you could design your own major – a very good option if your interests are well-defined but don’t fit neatly into a single topic), and also has a game development track within Computer Science. Not sure if that would be possible without CS, but you could always ask. (Particularly since they have an interdisciplinary major.) George Mason also has Game Design and a Creative Writing concentration.
All of those might be too far afield for you, but FYI. (And also for anyone else pulling up this thread!)
U of Miami has a “cognates” program which basically encourages students to study subjects in vastly different areas, like what you are describing. It’s also a wonderful school in a great location. I’d check it out!
College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara might be perfect for you. Also, look at some schools where you can design your own curriculum, like New College of Florida or Hampshire. Reed is quirky enough to be an option, also.
First, astrophysics is mostly a graduate field, so you want a very strong physics program rather than an astrophysics one. Then, creative writing should be a minor : I don’t think there are many creative writing majors at many universities where the instruction in creative writing is done by professors (that’s one of your requirements, which I assume means you don’t want the class to be taught by graduate assistants, and you want the writing program to be very strong). As for game design, it’s often recommended that students study CS with a concentration in game design, rather than major in game design, for it is more employable.
Now, if you enter CS and Physics as a major + creative writing as a minor, what do you get?
In addition:
The top programs for writing are Kenyon, Hamilton, and Columbia; also strong for creative writing and easier to get into, Eckerd (with a workshop led by Dennis Lehane) and Knox.
Lawrence is THE hidden gem for Physics (one of the country’s top producers for PHDs) https://www.lawrence.edu/academics/research/off-campus/lu-r1
Most good writing programs at the undergraduate level will be private colleges with large endowments or small sizes; because teaching writing is so labor-intensive, large universities tend to pass that off to graduate assistants.
You’re only a freshman, so you have plenty of time to look for colleges.
Start exploring the ones cited on this thread.
