Hello all, I'm a junior CS student so I've been researching potential graduate schools in my spare time. I'm definitely interested in a program like the Guildhall at SMU, RIT's Game Dev department or DePaul's program. However, I'm a complete stranger to the way graduate financial aid works and the realities of paying for graduate school. SMU, for example, is $51,000 per year and housing is not provided. That's pretty much what my current institution charges, but I'm fortunate enough to only have to pay less than $5,000 due to generous need-based aid. I'm curious as to whether I can hope for such a situation at one of these schools. I know for a fact I will not be able to attend one of these programs (if accepted) if I have to pay anywhere near that much AND pay for living expenses in some cases. I could probably ask my current school's financial aid office for advice on graduate aid in general, but I don't know who to go to about the situation for game development masters programs specifically. So, if anyone's been in a similar situation and has some: a) advice, b) wake-up calls, etc for me about how in the WORLD I can even think about affording these great opportunities. If it's just not possible without $40,000 more in loans, I'm probably better off getting a regular programming job and trying to get into the game industry a few years down the line. Thanks!

What is it you hope to gain with the graduate degree is a good place to start.

-me

Quote: Original post by Palidine
What is it you hope to gain with the graduate degree is a good place to start.

-me

I'd like to continue my education with a structured game dev program in order to get more experience working with other students on complete projects from start to finish.

I understand this isn't the end-all, be-all. It's the "if all else fails" option on my list of post-graduation priorities. Ideally, I'd be able to attain a game-programming position upon graduation. If not, then I'd hope to have a non-game programming job lined up. If I can't find a job at all, I'd like to continue my education and build my portfolio at the same time.

That being said, I'd never drive myself into a financial hole over it. I could still bolster my portfolio on my free time. I understand that much.

When I looked into grad school the only type of assistance I qualified for was loans. I would suggest trying to win scholarships. You may also qualify for grants. It may be possible to reduce your total out of pocket down to 5k, but I highly doubt it. From what little information I have seen, grants and scholarships are mostly targeted for undergrads.

There are other options. Working as a research assistant. Teaching classes etc. These things will most likely not apply at SMU. I know they do not apply at the UCF Game Dev masters program.

The professor I consulted with about grad school suggested I attempt to get into a PHD program. This way it is paid for by the school (by teaching and/or working as a research assistant). If I did not pass my quals or decided it was not for me, then I could simply leave with no large debt and a masters.

Be prepared to go into debt.

FSA

Quote: Original post by kibokun

I understand this isn't the end-all, be-all. It's the "if all else fails" option on my list of post-graduation priorities. Ideally, I'd be able to attain a game-programming position upon graduation. If not, then I'd hope to have a non-game programming job lined up. If I can't find a job at all, I'd like to continue my education and build my portfolio at the same time.

Attending grad school should not be a 'if all else fails' option. You should have a real desire to go. It will not be anything like an undergraduate program. I don't know, maybe these game dev programs are different from standard CS graduate programs.

Is it really that expensive?

I thought my program at Digipen was expensive, but costed nowhere near that much per year -- at the time I went it was closer to 24k/yr. That was undergraduate, but I never heard that their Master's degree was any different.

Alot of advice you get around here is to stay with a traditional program in CS, rather than a gaming-specific education (a point I'd contend with, in the case of Digipen, as I found it to be a fine school) but that advice doesn't really hold if you're extending your education beyond the typical 4 year experience.

If finances are troubling at some of these schools, Digipen's Master program is a viable option that, AFAIK, would be less costly, and also puts you in the middle of one of the bigger game development areas in the US, geographically.

Quote: Original post by smc
Attending grad school should not be a 'if all else fails' option. You should have a real desire to go. It will not be anything like an undergraduate program. I don't know, maybe these game dev programs are different from standard CS graduate programs.

Yeah. I agree which was why I had asked the why question initially. If it's a masters, then having no direction is probably fine. But if it's more PhD-like then going without a concrete idea of exactly what you want to study/create is going to be a huge waste of time and money.

There also remains some question of the usefulness of game-specific degrees from game-specific institutions within the industry in general. It's pretty new still and a lot of us inside are pretty skeptical that it's worth anything at all in a new applicant (some of use older curmudgens still perceive it as a strike against you because the early graduates coming out had their heads filled with gobbly-de-gook). But having a clear goal on exactly what you want to explore could mitigate that:
"I wanted to focus on procedural city genration and here is my published academic article". That would win you points.
"I took some classes and here's my final project" -> couldn't you have just done that as a hobby on the side?

As for money... If you're going for a CS PhD from some normal institution (some UC school, MIT, CalTech, whatever) that's totally worth it, again if you have a really clear goal. CS PhDs can get pretty dope salaries from the likes of google, for instance. And having something of practical use to a game developer in your thesis would hold a lot of weight (though b/c of the lower salaries might take a lot longer to pay off your investment)

-me

First of all, thanks for the replies. It made me think. :)

Graduate school isn't an "if all else fails" option for me in that I'm doing it just because It is the least desirable option to get where I want to go. (The other two involve a) getting directly where I want to go. b) getting my career started to lead up to a lateral shift into game development.) I definitely know that a CS PhD is not in my future. I'm not interested enough in research to devote 5+ years of my life to it (or else I'd be doing research now!)

I'm definitely interested to hear more perspective on whether it's worth it for a graduate degree, though. If I go, I'd want to go with as little financial impact as possible for various reasons. One of them is being out very little if it turns out to in fact, be of little use. I personally don't see any value, in my case, in paying an exorbitant sum of money for this degree when I could be out taking the aforementioned route b).

I guess to sum up my current stance, I'd say I only want to go if I can go on the cheap. (Saying it that way makes me sound lazy, but I find it to be an opinion grounded in a good bit of thought/internal turmoil.)

Also, on the subject of Digipen's tuition, from what I'm reading, it's approximately $24,000/semester for MSCS (+ living expenses) for four semesters? Hard to say whether that's a lot, but covering living expenses would be exceptionally difficult in any of these cases except for RIT as they do internal graduate housing.

I'd say that 24k figure is right on. The first year I attended I took out a loan for 30k, which allowed me to cover moving, getting settled in, and purchasing a modest, used car to get around. On subsequent years I took loans of 24k which paid for everything. I didn't live like a pauper either -- I still had plenty of money to entertain myself, buy new games, build a new computer every other year, and date -- I also probably ate out more than I should have, and lived off of convenient (expensive for what it is) food when I ate at home. I imagine you could probably get by on as little as 20k (tuition and books included) if you share an appartment with roomates, as most students there do.

You could also probably make half of that by working part time, if you can manage the time demands and still keep up your research and studies.