People tend to look at "can I use all these courses when doing games". The thing about a degree is not that you will learn everything you need, it''s about creating a foundation that will make it possible to continue learning. A foundation that let you take the steps into something new and gather experience.

IMHO, the worst thing you can do is to think that you''re "ready" and "fully-learned" when you''ve got your degree. Or assume that will be the case when you''re thinking of going 3-4 years to university.

For example, some math may seem very distant. But it may be very helpful because it let you train your logic-thinking and come up with solutions when problemsolving. This "way of thinking" may then be applied to any gamedev related problem.

My 0.02...

The Diffeq will help *a lot* when you start trying to decipher some of the graphics formats. It may not seem like a big deal, but more and more of the image formats are being introduced that are reduced with FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) and DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform). It also pops up in animation (inverse kinematics), sound formats (MP3), compression in general, statistical prediction, noise filtering and interpolation. And, yes, this all good stuff to know if you''re game programming.

I would like to add one thing to this. Back in 1991 I was in the Army (in Germany) and decided that it was not the life I wanted. So I sat back and thought, "What would I like to do for the rest of my life?". (Back in the 1980''s I was programming in Basic and ASM, but got discouraged at a science fair and stopped programming all together (bad mistake).) While trying to answer that question, I read something that helped. I don''t remember who said this, but he said that there wasn''t any college courses that ppl can take to learn how to program games, the closest thing they have is Computer Science degree. That statement gave me the focus and dedication to work hard at getting that CS degree. I am not saying that the degree is a requirement. To me, a Math degree can help just as much as a CS degree.

I''m a CS major, but I''m working towards dropping out...again. Before I go into my education speech, here are a few people who didn''t get college degrees: Ron Gilbert (Money Island/Maniac Mansion), Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Shigeru Miyamoto, perhaps the greatest game designer in the world, was a cartoonist with a degree in architecture. Hell, Weird Al Yankovic has a similar degree.

Will a CS degree help you get into the industry? Sure.
Will a CS degree make you great? No.
Will not having a CS degree keep you from greatness? No.

I can''t say that college education, CS or otherwise, is the perfect fit for all people. College is built around education people of average to below average intellect. If you are super smart (as a disproportionally large percentage of programmers seem to be), college can be an extremely frustrating and ultimately horrible experience. I can say that you need to go to college, and be right a majority of the time, but the truth is, college isn''t for everyone. I don''t want someone becoming bitter and spiteful towards higher education because of something I suggested.

So, you need to look at your decision on a personal basis. If you were bored during high school, yet can do the most amazing things on your own...maybe higher education doesn''t need you to fill seat #237 in the auditorium, because your time would be better spent on your own persuits.

Most importantly, if you work on programming, have something to show for it. I haven''t finished a game in 5 years (roughly senior in high school), but I''ve worked on so many half-projects, read so many books, that I''m quite a good programmer now. But a game developer is going to see that I have no college degree with no demos...If you don''t get a degree, MAKE SOME DEMO GAMES.

If you can wade through the core, the rest is downhill.

Seriously, though, I''ve seen two sides to obtaining a CS degree. The first, you coast through the courses and do what is expected of you. The second, you take the initiative and go beyond what is expected.

For the first side; yes, you can walk away with an ''A'' by conforming to the status quo, however, as a programmer you do not grow. Can you grow, if you don''t flex and test your wings? As for the second, when choosing a project, do something that you haven''t tried yet.

You get out of a CS degree, what you put in it.

Later,
Brett

P.S. : When selecting a professor for your CS courses, try to get the part-time professors that are programmers outside of Academia.

The university of Abertay in Dundee in Scotland, have a 4 year degree course in Computer Games Technology specializing in the Games industry. Do a search for Dundee Unversity for more info.

Thanks for all the suggestions, the help''s all been helpful. I think my main reservations in going for the CS degree have been mostly the time required to earn it. Our CS degree requires upwards of 50 credits (with pre-concentration requirements), and that''s a lot of time to spend on something that I''m not even sure that I want to pursue as a career after college. On the other hand, I''ve always been intrigued by computers (and games) and think that it is a field that I could see myself in. So I think I''m going to try and "pass out" of the lower level prereq''s and do a double major. In order to pass out of the lower-level programming classes however, I have to show an advisor some completed code that demonstrates the basic knowledge. Any hints on what type of program/demo to show the guy? Thanks again.