Well, I know there are many other places to get information about this from but too many are contradicting. I get the basic idea that I'm being given, but I don't know anything about college. I just moved from a very small town to a quite bigger one and from a small high school offering absolutly no computer related programs to one worth millions and filled with macs. So I'm pretty far behind in it all. What I need to know is what should I be looking for in a college? By that I mean in every aspect. Yea, I'm probably being lazy, but considering that back home people thought that a game designer only programmes games, I have wasted too much of my time learning nothing. Now I'm too close to college to not know what I'm going for so I really need some help. So can you guys please give me some advice of what I should be looking for in a college? Like I said, in basically every aspect. Oh, and I live in Texas, USA if that matters (hear the UK way is different). Please understand though that I'm not just some bum who expects to get into the business easily. Up until now I only had internet access for half an hour at school...on school computers which were very limitd in the content I was allowed to access. I was able to put Game Maker v.7 and Bloodshed C++ compiler on my computer (no internet though) but the code given to me in a C++ book I bought wasn't working on the compiler so I started GML, which I'm still very limited in. If you still think I'm a bum, please tell me. I really want to get into the business so any advice on how not to be a bum would be very much appreciated.

http://www.sloperama.com/advice/designprep.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson25.htm
http://www.sloperama.com/advice/lesson34.htm
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Find colleges that have a game design degree (obviously) if that's what you're interested in. If you want design look for technical writing and game design degrees, if you want programming look for general computer science or game design degrees with an emphasis on programming. There are numerous degrees that are 'game design' but some focus on art, some on programming, some on design, etc... Then, look over their courses and see which courses you feel will benefit you the most, also look at college pricing and how the students at that campus feel about the school (there are some good colleges with decent degrees that simply overcharge for their courses). Definitely try to take a tour if possible.

I would suggest getting online more if possible. The internet is a great resource from which you can continuously learn and is relatively cheaper than many of the expensive programming books (of which I own plenty).

Find out what you want to do (art, design, programming, sound) and pursue a degree in it. Every aspect of building a game (art, programming, sound) all have general degree's you could take instead of one focused specifically on games (and is preferred by many employers).

If you're still in high school, talk to a counselor. Typically, high schools will contact college recruiters and have information for many colleges available at your HS.

Good Luck.