Drexel University Ranked #3 in Video Game Design
In a recent press release from GamePro, they announced that their April 2010 issue reveals the top eight undergraduate schools for video game design.
Out of nearly “500 institutions offering such programs, 50 schools are recognized” says GamePro, the Top 50 list based on a survey that the Princeton Review conducted this past academic year. We are clearly excited about number 3.
1. University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
2. DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA)
3. Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)
4. Becker College (Worcester, MA)
5. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY)
6. The Art Institute of Vancouver (Vancouver, BC)
7. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA)
8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
Why is Drexel so great? Check out this clip from the article.
“Graduates from Drexel wind up in a variety of jobs across the games industry. You can find RePlay alumni in everything from animation to community management. Even before the gaming program was formalized, Drexel graduated two people who became big names in the games industry: Tom Fulp is known for creating both the game Alien Hominid and the Flash portal/gaming hotspot, Newgrounds.com; and Jack Wall composed award-winning music for Myst III: Exile and Myst IV: Revelation.” – AJ Glasser.
Anyone who has played Alien Hominid knows what’s up. The issue hits newsstands on March 9th, and the article is available on GamePro.com.
Congrats Drexel, and thanks to Ben for the tip.
Top 8 Schools for Video Game Design
www.gamepro.com/article/features/214164/8-highest-ranked-colleges-for-game-design
To clarify some points that could possibly be misunderstood from the GP article, there is no “Gaming” program at Drexel (as of last June, when I graduated, at least – there has been some shuffle since then).
However, the Digital Media program does have a “gaming” slant to it with some courses. DigM was/is a wide program that can cover many bases, but the three specialties they suggest are 3D modeling/animation, Gaming, and web design/development. There’s a lot of overlap in between those tracks, and everyone’s required to take some core art classes and dip into the other specialties for at least a few classes.
I’ve heard through the grapevine that they’re working on restructuring the courses so that there’s less overlap, and thus, more focus on whatever track you choose – which is a great thing, I can tell you for sure. The long, frustrating hours I spent working on 3D animation and compositing during years there haven’t proportionally benefited my web development career, ha.
This isn’t to say anything about the CS program at Drexel, which I can’t really speak for, but I know there’s got to be some game dev going on there.
Thanks Aaron!
Crazy that with such a highly ranked program not a single substantial game studio is in this city.
This is amazing. Anyone need anymore evidence that Philadelphia deserves and would be an ideal location for development studios? Come to us!
Gaming at Drexel is a multi-discipline collaboration called RePlay (www.replay.drexel.edu). RePlay is a collaborative effort between the CS department and the Digital Media program(DIGM) in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design, and hosts game-related projects across any major, field, or discipline. RePlay includes cross-discipline courses, university-wide projects and faculty, and the RePlay Lab is home for all gaming-related research projects. Gaming is becoming a separate major in Digital Media and a concentration in CS, and the gaming course offering continues to be expanded each year, with approximately 10 new courses planned over the next 2 years.
I actually just signed up to transfer to Drexel University for their Bachelors of Arts in Computer Science, with a personal focus for Game Design. I plan on minoring in Japanese to work in Japan for a couple years, to experience their side of gaming and game development.
I’m very excited to read this article and I hope that I can become another name to be recognized with Game Design coming from out of Drexel. I have a lot of ambitions and a good set of ideas ready to work with. :]
Drexel is now offering a Bachelors of Science in Game Art and Production that will be available to the incoming class of 2011.
http://www.drexel.edu/westphal/academics/undergraduate/gameartproduction/