Thinking of going back to college

[DemonSlayerMau]

I've got a two year associates degree in individual studies. By itself, it hasn't done me any good, and I've been getting jobs that I could've gotten with just a plain ol' high school diploma. I feel like I wasted my time and money and now I'm in loads of debt...just to work at a Subway resturant (and that's how I felt working at Dollar General, and the School I would clean for.)
I've been looking into different colleges, but I want to take video game programming and design. I looked into the Art Institute, Finger Lakes Community college and Devry University which is an online school. I'm leery about online schooling, but maybe that would be my best bet, since that way I could work around my schedule, and if they accept my college credits I'll be able to take less courses for less money.
Anyone got any advice?
There is one other thing I wouldn't mind getting into, and that's Comic book design. I love to draw! But unfortunately too many people don't view sequential art as a serious thing to get into.
What do you guys think? Should I try for a Bachellors? Go for an associates in a specific major?

[cwolfe83]

I plan on going back to college too, either for physical therapy assistant or administrative assistant. My advice is to go to a school that offers financial aid, if you're working at a crappy place like me, you can get money for school. Also make sure what you're going for has enough job openings. You want to make sure when you're done with school that there's enough positions open for you to get into a good job. I would suggest going for an associate degree. It's less time and you still make pretty good money. Hope this advice helps you some, I'm going through the same thing. Good luck!

[Andybev01]

Look for an actual brick and mortor school that has been around for a while, then check if they offer fully accredited distance learning in your field of interest.

Trying to get a good job from a 'chain' school is just wat you described; you could get it with a HS diploma.

[jadewik]

It generally doesn't matter what type of degree you get as long as you have one... you can get a job doing pretty much anything without a degree, but you're measured on your experience. Degrees mainly assist with getting your foot in the door. A lot of people I know have degrees, but don't work in a field related to their degree. For example, I know someone who works in accounting and only one person in their department of 20-ish people has a degree in accounting.

I don't want to discourage you, but the comic industry is VERY difficult to get into. People try for years and years to get their foot in that door. However, I can point you in a good direction for that... You can get a lot of tips and pointers here: conceptart.org/forums

If you do go back to school (and I hope you do because it's so worth it), get a degree in something you enjoy. It doesn't matter if you use it or not... but you don't want to waste money doing something you loathe. If you're having trouble deciding, you can always just be a "general" major. If you do like drawing, you might actually consider a career as a drafter. It's easier to find work and it's somewhat artistically oriented.

[DemonSlayerMau]

Yeah I know it's difficult with comic books, which is why I'm considering my other artistic love: Video Games!
The Video Game Industry is growing, and I could be making oodles of money with that.
According to this resource: http://www.theesa.com/gamesindailylife/economy.asp a quarter of a million jobs will be created for video game design.
The only problem is, finding a school that offers it, the funding necessary, will the college allow me to defer my student loan payments, and will the school help me find a job in the field.
Devry does offer a Bachelors in said field and claim I could get a bachellors in a little over a year. Evidently they ranked top ten best online colleges by Fox News.
Online schooling would be conveniant because it would save me gas, dorm expenses and the like.
But how many companies, and in particular how many video game companies would accept a degree in such? Perhaps I should persue an internship while I'm still taking classes. That way I get the necessary work experiance.
It's a lot of think about though. I dunno yet. So far Devry seems quite willing to help me find the funding I need in grants and scholarships. Only problem is, I need to wait a year before I'm old enough to NOT include my father's income. >.<

[HalloweenDot]

DSM,
My parents always told me to get as much education as you can because no matter what happens, no one can ever take it away from you so you always have it to fall back on.

That said, I have to agree with some of the other responses, unless you are looking at something technical where you can get some type of *independent* certification like some type of Windows or Novell certification, looking for a brick-and-mortar school with some type of distance learning is good. I would also ask the schools about placement for people who have been trained in video game programming/design.

Some things to ask yourself: What is your passion? What are you really interested in doing? What types of things do you enjoy? Do you do programming now? Do you enjoy it? If you like programming, great. If you hate programming, then... If you are an artist, then that helps with the comic books. If you can't draw, then... If you love drawing and can draw really well, then that is great. Do you constantly come up with ideas for a comic? Some times you can learn things on your own too if you are driven and have an idea (e.g. for a game). I don't know a lot about DeVry, but I always try a Google search like "<whatever> sucks" and see what turns up. You always find someone complaining that <whatever> sucks, but you can see how credible the complaints are.

Regarding the comic book design, I think that would be fun, however, I think there are vastly many more people who are doing video game design than comic book design so that you'd have much better chance of finding work in that path after you finish.

See what I'm saying? Find something you enjoy and can see yourself doing and you'll do much better at it than if you are trying to do something you dislike.

The big thing to remember is that you'll get out of it a lot of what you put into it. If you go in wanting to learn a lot and try hard, you will. If you go in with the "lets just get this over with" mindset, you won't get nearly as much out of it.

I've got a two year associates degree in individual studies. By itself, it hasn't done me any good, and I've been getting jobs that I could've gotten with just a plain ol' high school diploma. I feel like I wasted my time and money and now I'm in loads of debt...just to work at a Subway resturant (and that's how I felt working at Dollar General, and the School I would clean for.)
I've been looking into different colleges, but I want to take video game programming and design. I looked into the Art Institute, Finger Lakes Community college and Devry University which is an online school. I'm leery about online schooling, but maybe that would be my best bet, since that way I could work around my schedule, and if they accept my college credits I'll be able to take less courses for less money.
Anyone got any advice?
There is one other thing I wouldn't mind getting into, and that's Comic book design. I love to draw! But unfortunately too many people don't view sequential art as a serious thing to get into.
What do you guys think? Should I try for a Bachellors? Go for an associates in a specific major?

[DemonSlayerMau]

Well my passion has always been art, cats, video games, comics, and cartoons.
I like creating things with my own hands. I like using computers and graphic design, to things like molding and sculpting, to things like drawing, writing, and using photoshop on the computer to color. As a kid I prefered making my own drawings over coloring in coloring books. I'm great with computers, I love using them, and I love using them for art.
But I'm also a cat nerd, and I love learning about cats, and every species of cats.
I honestly think anything with "creative" and "design" would fit me the best. I wanted to look into comic book art schools but that would be really tough to get into, even though it's something I'd be passionate about.
Heck, I'd love creating halloween decorations for a living. That would be sweet!
Problem is, I'm still not sure about the market in art. It's becoming more popular to get into things like computers, animation and video game design. My favorite aspects of those would be character design and development.