Senioritis
So. Everyone past, or somewhere before this point in a high schooler’s life think. ”Yay! Senior year! Let’s party, it’s almost over!” Meanwhile those of us actually suffering through this period of life are going. ”ARE YOU CRAZY? This crap is hell!” Who ever tells you, ”It’s senior year! Relax a little. It’s almost over then you can go to college.” Smack them. Smack them now!
Senior year is basically a period in life where you walk through life searching for colleges, careers, scholarships, money, laptops, and other life related stuff while you’re still doing homework, you’re still going to school, you’re still trying not to fail, and of course, the big one, you’re still waiting to graduate. All senior year is a big transition period where if you screw up you remember for the rest of your life that you were THIS CLOSE! But in the end you didn’t quite make it. Yes yes. We all understand this year most of us will be turning eighteen (except some of you geniuses out there who wanted to encounter this earlier or later, which ever) and we’ll all be adults and ‘going out into the world.
‘Well, let me say this: That’s all crazy talk.In fact. What’s really happening is you’re willingly signing up and planning to pay thousands of dollars for more schooling, and another graduation. Of course. As everyone tells you it’s not that bad. But in the moment it really is JUST THAT BAD. You know, it’s moments like this I hate trying to be Little Miss Over Achiever… Because right now, being amazing doesn’t look all that great. This is how my normal week goes:
1. - Wake up.
2. - Get dressed and go to school.
3. - Go to 1st and 2nd period. (Discrete Math, because I failed Honors Statistics last semester, and US History, because I failed Honors US History LAST YEAR! note to self: don’t fail class ever again.)
4. - Decide whether to go to lunch, or be depressed about lack of friends or scholarships in the library. (Though recently it’s changed to: Go to Ms. Smith’s classroom and ignore the lack of friends while finding scholarships and solving college related problems.)
5. - Go to 3rd and 4th period.
6. - Go home and stress over homework and college or stay for a club and feel relaxed for a little over half an hour before going home and stressing over homework and college.
7. - Dinner, possibly while still stressing over homework and college stuff.
8. - Up late besides being in bed, still thinking about college stuff, lack of friends, and graduating. And wondering how to pay for it all.
9. - “Rinse and repeat.
“See? Hell. You understand right? Though maybe not. Cause at the moment I’m wondering my sanity on this issue. I’ve officially changed my plans four times since I started this year. There’s no problem with that I don’t think. Other than that now I’m rushing to get everything done before March 1st. I’ve applied to so many colleges I’m starting to lose track, and already I’ve given up on finishing applying for them. And it’s only this many because of how many times I’ve either changed my mind or let my decisions be influenced by others. Other ones are just random things I threw into my search or decided to apply for. At this point there’s really no direction or pattern or organization to it all. Later in the year I’ll get a letter from some random college or university saying this or that and I’ll be like, “When the HELL did I apply for this one? WTF?” Or something like that. (Probably with much more profanity though.)
Colleges I’ve applied to:
- Wingate University (I’ve been accepted to go here on in-state tuition with a full scholarship that covers just about everything.)
- University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill (I started the application, but at this point I probably won’t finish the application.)
- University of North Carolina - Greensboro (Because after new years my dad decided I was going to fail so it’d be easiest for me to go for a cheap college in-state.)
- Univeristy of North Carolina School of the Arts (Though I can’t quite remember what program I applied for.)
- Art Insitutes of Raleigh-Durham (They accepted me, but I’d still have to find a way to pay for everything even though my application has be marked inactive because I didn’t manage to set an appointment between them and my parents in a timely manner…)
- Art Institutes of Los Angeles - California (I have no idea why they put my application as inactive AGAIN but they did, and it was an alternate anyway.)
- Ex’pression College for Digital Arts (I found this to be my first choice at the beginning of the year, and I was accepted and focused on finding scholarships, but I was told this school wasn’t good enough, and I could find better and cheaper. Of course at the time my main goal was just getting out-of-state.)
- University of Michigan (My best friend was applying, and her dad recommended it to me. But in the end we both gave up on applying.)
- Drexel University (Another suggestion from my BFF. I really like this one. This one and NYU Poly, and two others have replaced Ex’pression as one of my top choices.)
- Polytechnic Institute of New York University aka: NYU Poly (I found this in a Private Colleges and Universities Magazine. It caught my eye so I looked it up. I really like it, though I was aiming to stay away from the east coast in my college searches.)
- Worchester Polytechnic Institute (Another Polytech Institute that caught my eye while looking through the PC&UMag. It offers Interactive Media and Game Development, so I applied here too.)
- Westwood College -> California (It offers Game Software Development, Game Art, and other related programs. It’s also in Los Angeles, which means I’d have family nearby in two places in LA.)
Wow… Look at that list… I’m lucky I’ve 1. Not paid for some of them yet, 2. Didn’t have to pay for some of them, and 3. Have already applied and been accepted to a few of them. Geeze. I think I should stop looking up colleges and focus on scholarships. As of yet, I don’t have any other than the Scholarship for Wingate University. Contests, Scholarships, and FAFSA here I come…
I look forward to your feed back everyone. I guess to organize my thoughts a little more I’ll post a little of what I’ve looked at for each college/university. I’ve researched some of them more thoroughly than others.
Luv Bloggin’ With Ya!
Foxxenne D. aka: Asi J. M.
WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE LONG!
Hey,
I went to Ex’pression and left for several reasons. Be real glad you decided -not- to go there. The school is essentially a palace of false promises, faded dreams, and a corrupt administration. I got through about half the program before I got disgusted by the cirriculum (or lack thereof!) and the administration and left.
Here is the long and short of it: Basically, once you sign the dotted line, you are the schools property. You are there to make the school money. If you do not make the school money, or support the school blindly, expect to be castigated and they will look for reasons to get rid of you. If you are so much as one day late on a financial aid payment or your first attempt at financial aid falls through, expect to be escorted off campus by security.
If you question the instructors, expect to be punished. I got into an argument with an instructor over the way he spoke to me during a presentation because he though the project I was proposing wouldn’t do very well monetarily (he was way over the line into insulting territory), and got placed on Conduct Probation. Keep in mind, this was a civil discourse, and the instructor lied that I threatened him, after he called me an idiot — and that was the least of it.
Secondly, the student body is very, very callow and immature. The Game Art students are there because they like to play video games and/or watch anime. Oftentimes, they have no concept of how to make video games, their ideas are derivative, what hard work it takes to go into it, or the sacrifice required. Frequently, they won’t have the latest system, keep an eye on industry trends, or have played the latest games.
On the polar opposite, you have people who would be best put into a QA situation because they have no talent for art or design, whatsoever, yet the school pity passes them to keep the money flowing. These students often play video games all day rather than do their work.
There was a positive aspect of Ex’pression, that if you failed, you got to retake the class either for free, or reduced cost. Probably the latter now as they are reneging on promises they made to people years ago in the name of just making more money, especially as former sound students who were promised unlimited studio time after graduation, which now they are threatening to take away.
Sadly , the sound students are even worse. A lot of them are local Oakland kids who think they are going to be rappers or write the next big baseline without realizing the actual technical skill it takes to run a studio, which is what the school teaches, yet it does not screen those individuals out.
The school sells you empty promises to get you to sign the dotted line and will then leech you for money. The only way to really fail a class is to not show up. Otherwise, you can show up, get a D/D+, even if you do absolutely no work, and they’ll keep filching you for cash while you accrue student loans. If you are looking for a college degree, this is really a -no- stress environment if you can just tolerate sitting in a lab 8 hours a day, 5-6 days a week for two years. But in the end, you walk away with nothing.
Many of the Animation and Visual Effect (AVE) students aren’t much different from the Game Art students as the departments are related and share half a curriculum. A lot of the AVE students are there because they love anime and snazzy special effects, but have no real grasp or understanding of the work involved and the cultural implications. A lot burn out or switch majors half way through because the detail work becomes too much for them to handle. Animation, game making, and even sound misint are incredibly tedious processes. Motion and Graphic Design students, I did not have much contact with.
Rumors fly around that place at the speed of light. It’s not even high school level. It’s down-right middle school. I’m 25 and I was absolutely horrified at how my peers (many of whom were my age, give or take a couple years) behaved and conducted themselves. They talk professionalism there, but it does not exist — at all.
The instructors, while some are good, are has-beens or never-wases who never got very far in their careers and those people they claim to be ‘industry pros’ are being phased out in favor of students who just graduated because the recent grads work cheaper.
As for the cirriculum: Save yourself around $3-5K per class and buy the tech manual and software (Photoshop, Maya, etc) for your own personal use at home and teach yourself.
Let me do the basic math: It takes three $4K classes to even get to a class that teaches photoshop, flash, and illustrator. The Design Premium package from Adobe is like $1200 or so. Buy yourself the respective tech manuals — all things considered, let’s say you get 3 tech manuals for each program at $50 a pop for each program from Borders or B&N or whathaveyou in your local town. That’s $1200 (Start up) + 9 times $50… coming out to $1650. Now, if you are interested in digital painting and compositing, you will need a Wacom Tablet. Those are about $249 for a medium size one. The latest and greatest computer? Depends if you are a PC or mac user. You can get a decent media PC for about $1500 for a desktop and $2000 for a laptop. A mac pro or macbook pro (you’ll need one) — run between $1199 to $3199. (I assume you have a monitor you like to use if you get a Mac Pro or desktop PC).
Already, four terms which would set you back about $16,000 all things considered, and you are paying the ’startup cost’ each term. Your basic start up cost for the premium adobe design package, student editions of Maya, zBrush, Unreal Tournament 3 (This is the level editor they teach), shiny computer, and hardware would still be less than your first four or five terms. Now, the first two terms, you have a film class at Ex’pression. Take that at a community college if you want to take a basic short film production class. As for your equipment/software start up cost would be $6,000-$8,000. Now, they might be lower, if you are less scrupulous, but I advise against software piracy.
Now, you might argue that I’m bitter and jaded, but here is the thing. I served on student government and I advocated for better and more equitable treatment of students, especially female students who were a tiny minority and often found themselves constantly besieged by male students who do not get that “No Means No.” If you are a female, -stay away from Ex’pression- unless you have a high tolerance for being hit on by really creepy and awkward guys.
Now, why I left: I finally got to my wits end and left because one student was openly looking at porn and modeling female genitalia in class, and a female student complained. This student was reprimanded, gently, and asked not to let it happen again and he went around harassing people — only to be put on much more severe punishment. He then began harassing me because I was on the Student Governance, and I filed a formal complaint about his behavior. I was told he could not be expelled because of the money his parents gave to the school. He then smashed my $2500 laptop. I complained, was rebuked and suspended. At that point, I left. So, this is my warning to you — there are a few good points about the school — the equipment is great, they have recently updated software, but they don’t teach you how to use it very well and often times they don’t teach you current industry techniques, and they send people unprepared into an already difficult job market. I just decided it was time to go.
Wherever you go, or if you change your mind — stay away from Ex’pression College for Digital Arts. It was once an up and coming institution that has basically become a money grab for a corrupt administration. The stars there would be stars no matter where they went.
Also, it’s in the Bay Area, and the people there? Incredibly weird and thin skinned. Go someplace where people actually can take critique well and won’t bitch you out for having a different opinion than them.
I don’t know why I’m telling you this, but if it helps keep one person away from that black hole, I’ve done my job.
I agree that all your point are extremely valid and I no longer feel much regret about giving up that school. I guess added to your points, I’d say I finalized my decision because, though I want to be away from my family, because of financial problems, I’ll need to be as near family as possible. As a result, I’m searching colleges on the east coast, and in Los Angeles or colleges that I have a friend going to in a similar major as top priority choices. I think I’ll take your advice, especially about software and hardware, and continue to on a different path.
Rather superb entry, definitely useful stuff. Never ever considered I’d find the facts I need right here. I have been looking everywhere in the internet for some time now and had been starting to get discouraged. Fortunately, I happened across your blog and received precisely what I was searching for.