<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I live in WA state and have been on the hunt for a good Animation/Game Art school for some time now. I had a friend who graduated from Digipen and heard some “not so good” things about the school. I also hear a lot of bad things regarding Art Institute. I am currently working full time (as I need to for income) and trying to find SOMETHING that will accommodate a full time working lifestyle while schooling full time. I’ve done countless hours of research and I come up with tons of bad things regarding specific schools 
and it’s becoming a little discouraging. (btw, I considered Full Sail online, but now I’m reading bad things about them too…). One school I have considered was Lake WA Technical College. Anyways, I’m looking for opinions on this forum on what is good in the WA state area?</p>
<p>Check out this post for a long list of game design schools. <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-colleges/1518129-game-art-design.html#post16132214[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/california-colleges/1518129-game-art-design.html#post16132214</a> </p>
<p>BTW, 100% of the time you’ll be able to find people who say/think “bad things” about ANY school. There are no “virgin” schools out there – no matter what, SOMEone, SOMEwhere will not like the school you’re looking at. Consider how it fits what YOU want, what YOU think is important, how YOU feel about the campus “culture,” and if it will meet YOUR needs, not some other person’s. Also, a bit of advice: trying to “do it all” may seem quite possible when you’re young… i.e., working full-time AND schooling full-time… but something will give and in the end, you may regret it. What’s the rush? Why not work full time (if you absolutely must) and go to school PART-time to keep your sanity, your health, and actually get the full benefit out of your tuition by actually having the time to LEARN and study? The corners that you cut during FT/FT may come back to bite you. Just a word of sage advice from another, probably older, life-long “do-it-all’er.” ;-)</p>
<p>Steer away from the For Profit schools. (there may be exceptions, but I’d avoid AI). They are not as well respected for your resume, and likely for your training as well. You will have a second rate degree and be out a lot of money for it. Your credits won’t likely transfer to any nonprofit 4 year should you decide to change schools. Of course they lure you in with the convenience. Your art portfolio may speak for itself for employment, but you need to learn to use specialized equipment and techniques. Someone here posted a great article to read, from an industry insider:
[John</a> Ratcliff’s Code Suppository: So your teenager tells you they want to ‘make video games’ for a living…](<a href=“http://codesuppository.blogspot.com/2013/04/so-your-teenager-tells-you-they-want-to.html]John”>John Ratcliff's Code Suppository: So your teenager tells you they want to 'make video games' for a living...)</p>
<p>This post makes some point to consider, though they do list AI</p>
<p>[Ask</a> A Gaming Recruiter: January 2012](<a href=“http://askagamingrecruiter.blogspot.com/2012_01_01_archive.html]Ask”>Ask A Gaming Recruiter: January 2012)</p>
<p>If you use the search feature and type: game design, you will get a lot of threads with interesting information</p>
<p>But not a lot of schools have a specific “game design” major. Graduates of “game design” majors will be competing against general computer science graduates for computer game jobs.</p>
<p>I take it from your post that you are interested in the art side, is that true, or are you interested in the computing side? Or are you even still around?</p>