Finding/getting into a art and design college?

[Zac-Donald]

Well I'm still a jr in high school and I'm looking for colleges, I want to go somewhere on the west coast (in kansas right now), with a decent 3D program, with connections to the industry...

And any help getting/finding scholarships would be nice too.
(I can't afford much more than instate tuition (I'll move and work somewhere for a year to get it if I need to)).

We (my school) were visited by a Dave Kaul (recruiter guy from scad (he has a website)) My teacher took him out for to a comedy club and such after the workshop at my school, and apparently he told her, that he really like my work and another students, out of the senior and junior class, so that was cool... shes keeping in touch and seeing if he can help us out with financial aid, but scad wouldn't be my first choice...

So what colleges did you go to/heard about? and input would greatly help

[Zac-Donald]

No help? :(

[Nick3d]

There is a very interesting topic on cgtalk.com about all the schools and college alla around the world about design, art and 3d schools, try to take a look here:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=2&t=69427

[lee]

This isn't a direct answer to your question, but have you considered doing a summer internship at a company in your area that does 3D animation?

[Zac-Donald]

I don't know of a company in my area that does anything remotely 3D oriented.

[3DDave]

In Northern California the two best are American River Community College (focus is on using Softimage) and De Anza College located near Dreamworks, ILM and PIXAR.

[Zac-Donald]

I'll definitely check out American River Community College, thanks for all the help.

[lee]

You didn't look very hard. If you google "3d animation kansas" you get a couple pages of studios offering 3d services in the state. Now you do the search and you say, "those are tiny companies doing crappy local jobs, why would I want to do that kind of work," to which I reply that in 1996 I started at a tiny company in North Carolina as an intern doing 3d titles for wedding videos (and I was completely ignorant in computer graphics when I started), and by 2001 I was hired at Sony Imageworks doing visual effects on the first Harry Potter film. I never studied 3d or graphics or even took a single computer class; I learned everything on the job. Consequently I have no student debt; I was getting paid to learn.

The fact that you're a junior in high school means that you have time to decide. It also means that if you do decide to pursue an art or technical degree, what you do this summer could have a big effect on what college you get into. So doing a part-time job at a local company doing rudimentary 3D can be a big help. A big, well-known school can be picky about which students to accept; they'll be more interested in a student who already has 3D work experience. And the fact that XSI Foundation costs only $500 means that you can have it at home and start working on a demo reel over the next year, which will help you get into a school or get a job or both.

The main thing you should look for at any school is the ratio of students who actually get work as a 3D artist. Don't let the school pump you up with a few examples of high-profile graduates; what you want is the yearly average. In general, any "art" related school (as true with film schools as animation schools), especially the private ones that cost a lot of money, will tell you they've got "many" students getting high-profile work at major studios but the actual number of graduates working in anything 3D-related is probably under 50 percent. I'm not saying all schools are rip-offs (some clearly are), but I am saying that if you can start your career with an internship, you can get paid to learn rather than rack up tens of thousands of dollars in debt for a degree that doesn't necessarily mean very much.