I made a topic here a while ago about what education I should get for writing games/about video games, and I decided I wanted to do journalism. However, the school (I'll call it College A) I wanted to go to has just closed its journalism program because it's full. It was a 2 year college journalism program with the option of transferring to University journalism, which would make it 4 years. What I liked about this school's particular program is that you can go to university and summer courses available, so you can speed up your graduation. There's still another college around my area (College B) that has a journalism program available, I just have to complete an assessment which won't be too hard. However it's a 3 year program, no option to go to university and no summer courses. I'm not sure which option to take, because I'm not certain how much employers in the video game industry emphasize an university degree. If a degree is essential, then the best option for me is to wait another year and get into university (University A). To summarize this, here are my options: 1) Take a 3 year journalism program at College B and get an ADVANCED DIPLOMA; no university option, no summer courses 2) WAIT another year to get into College A and get a DIPLOMA and DEGREE (4 years) 3) WAIT another year and try to get into University A, which is a 4 year program and has one of the most reputable journalism programs in Canada What do you guys think is my best option?

Look, "God,"
Why don't you just bite the bullet and go for a 4-year degree like we already recommended?

Well Tom it was only you who recommended 4 years, not anyone else. I appreciate the help you've been giving me.

A year waiting is a big bullet to bite for me. I'm thinking a 3 year advanced diploma could be sufficient enough for education in video game journalism. I want to hear more opinions.

Sounds like you have 2 choices for this year , start a course or not. Taking a year out only delays achieving your qualifiction. If you wait a year to go on the course you can still have the same situation as now, it could be full and you have wasted a year. If you can get on a course "now" then do it . There might even be ways of transferring from the current course onto the other one.

Ah seedy you have a point there. Even if I were to wait a year, there's still a possibility of not getting in, which is a wasted 365 days. Thanks for pointing that out.

Tom's advice is solid here. I don't know about video game journalism, but if you want to actually write for games you're pretty well going to be expected to have a Creative Writing degree or something similar with a very solid portfolio. Getting a 4 years degree gives you four years to do two very important things - build your portfolio and prove that you can stick something out for four years.

Well don't think of waiting a year as a wasted year, think of it as a time to sharpen your skills and to write down ideas. earn some money, maybe pick up an extra skill that maybe helpful in your life in some way. The possibilties are endless. To me there is no such thing as a wasted year unless you decide to be lazy and rely too much on formal education to get you through life.

So I think there are 2 options. Start doing formal education now but not get as good of formal education that by the way your explaining it isn't as good as the other nor is it something you really would enjoy as much or to wait a year and do something that could potentially be very productive and then take the classes you want next year and long and you find a way to sign up for the classes you want as soon as possible the ubcoming year at the respected school you want to go to. :D

Get into the university with the 4 year degree or the college that will let you transfer there and kill a year doing electives and other useful classes that might help get you a place in the industry or meet other goals you may have. If Tom is recommending you get 4 years to be able to compete with others looking to get into the positions you are looking at, then he is probably right, but more than that, if you can take other classes and make yourself valuable to potential employers by having more skills than just the writing, then you have a better chance of getting into game writing.

IE, what if you manage to get into this program, graduate, and find you cant get a job in a game company because no one is hiring, there is more supply of people like you than demand to fill. What do you do then? Well, if you are smart, you will have something to fall back on that can get you in the company and when they *do* hire, you are already there, will hear about it first, and they will be more likely to hire you than someone from the outside.

So go get a fallback skill, or at least start on one.

Concerning the time of year, you're a little late in application for this up coming year. Have you considered the possibility of starting in the Sprint instead of the Fall though? Otherwise, you do have about a year wait as I don't know of many colleges who are going to be taking in applications this late.

Quote: Original post by Shadownami92
Well don't think of waiting a year as a wasted year, think of it as a time to sharpen your skills and to write down ideas. earn some money, maybe pick up an extra skill that maybe helpful in your life in some way. The possibilties are endless. To me there is no such thing as a wasted year unless you decide to be lazy and rely too much on formal education to get you through life.

I agree with this, also. Get the best education you can get from a 4 year university.