Full Sail University Reviews of Bachelor's in Graphic Design

"I saw some poor reviews and I am not certain why! I found that all of the coursework was framed to be relevant to my major, even in my science class, they explained how that knowledge would be used in design projects. The curriculum emphasizes real world use in every aspect of my learning. They ensure you feel prepared for the workforce and if you don't, you are given every opportunity to get support. I definitely recommend this school."

"I am currently attending this school, and I just have to say that I have never been more unimpressed with the state of an accredited education program. I have kept a consistent 4.0 in my program, but the material is confusing, busy, and overall almost completely pointless more often than not. Rarely is the work relevant, or up to date. I often run the lessons by friends and family who work in the field I'm studying for, and they almost always tell me that what I'm learning makes no sense in the context of a Graphic Design job. Or they inform me that what I'm learning is outdated, or the opposite of what a professional would do. I often feel that I leave a class knowing less about the subject than when I went in. If it's not that, the material is so convoluted and confused about what it's trying to teach that I end up seeing students solidifying bad habits just to get it done. I need this degree so that I can qualify for the kind of jobs that I want, but I am struggling more and more with every class to keep my head up and stay engaged because of how educationally void the lessons are. And then on top of that, there are so many typos, and grammatical errors, and broken links, and so much contradictory information in the lessons that it feels like none of the professors have ever proofread anything. Which is massively hypocritical considering that the students are regularly reminded to check their spelling and grammar for the sake of professionalism. It certainly seems like they have no oversight when it comes to the quality of their lessons, and I question if they have any structure in place at all to verify the quality of their classes. The classes these professors prepare are so unprofessional and disorganized that I would personally be embarrassed to have my name attached to them. I'm baffled that Full Sail considers this to be an appropriate bar for a school that we have to take on massive amounts of debt to even attend. It feels like such a colossal waste of time and money, and while I have liked some of the professors, none of them feel remotely qualified to teach. They may be good at the work they do in their respective fields, but their actual educational proficiency is severely lacking. I have been an educator, and have experience building curriculum and scaffolding information in a way that makes it exciting and builds your knowledge up over time, and the courses at Full Sail feel as though they are at the complete opposite end of that spectrum. Rarely does the information build upon itself. More often than not we revisit the same basic info over and over and over again, and then once in a while they drop something on you that you are just expected to know, even though it was never taught to you. For example, we were made to use InDesign for the entirety of one class even though we had never been given any instruction on the program at all, and I have had to turn to Youtube almost weekly to fill in the gaps in their teaching. I have been a student in a community college in a small town that costs next to nothing to attend, and the education I received at that school was heads and tails above Full Sail in terms of quality, and qualified professors. Anything I know since I started this program I have had to teach myself in my own free time in order to keep up with the workload that is outrageously busy when held next to the amount of actual teaching that is happening. Especially considering that the live class sessions almost never expand on the material (or directly contradict it), and have consistently been a waste of one or two hours that we could have spent doing our assignments. I can't believe that I am going to be more than 50k in debt for a piece of paper from a University that completely left me to my own devices. I need to finish this degree for my own life goals, but I often consider transferring to a different school. I absolutely do not recommend Full Sail. If I had known how poor the quality of the education was going to be, I never would have enrolled here."

"This school is honestly the worst. If you're wanting to pursue graphic design here, be prepared to learn music theory, more English, and random math, and also you'll have to create TV scripts. Doesn't sound like graphic design, does it?! Attending this school has genuinely been a waste of the last three years of my life and a waste of $70k. Don't go here."

"I want my money back! This "school" is real world experience, in the fact that you're on your own. There is a fake support team and all these empty promises. However they trap you, they get your money then say you cannot transfer out. My TEM instructor said ' you're not here for the material, you're here to network.' I should've ran. I hope that this school is sued. During the pandemic they got my whole GI bill, while I was supposed to be an on campus student...so I could NETWORK. This place takes OUR money from the government and buys themselves new toys. This for profit school does not care...it shows in the results, not the promises."

"I am currently enrolled Full Sail University and I’ve had huge issues with them because as a returning student, they had me come back with a schedule missing several key, progressive classes. They admitted they don’t have a great policy for returning students and didn’t really have a plan. Eventually the course director said she would handle all of my main assignments herself and we’d come up with a plan together. She then went on to miss our first zoom call, and then never gave me any feedback on work sent directly to her, for months after. I wanted to escalate the issue but the program director called me on his personal phone to make every excuse in the book for what happened. I have been trying to complete my last five classes for a year now, I’ve contacted the program director directly again, as I was told to by student advocacy and he is refusing to respond now, as is his supervisor. Both of my experiences here were good until they absolutely weren’t and there’s no accountability for administrators."

"Communication at full sail is horrible they only took a few credits from my previous school which I had 30 they didn't even use half. I am in my first semester and I was doing fine not like a top of the class student but I have been doing my best. While I have still been in my current class I got an email saying I was being taken off my current degree and moved to a media certificate which is no where to my goal! I've talked to the advisors and it has just been a nightmare now I owe $6000 and have no idea why I'm being put in to a certificate program when I only struggled in one class and passing grade for the rest! I do not recommend this school and I fully regret going to this school!"

"I'm currently in the Graphic Design program at Full Sail University. I've never dreaded an education more than I have within this program. Going into it, I had already amassed a somewhat sizable pool of knowledge of design, but I was talked into attending just to get the paper. Worst decision of my life. Now I'm stuck in $20,000+ of debt and all I got out of it was a MacBook and a playlist of YouTube videos to watch. This system (if you can even call it that) of education that Full Sail has built, especially for their online students, is laughable. I've had professors flat out not respond to messages, I've had professors who did answer only to say "review the video and try again" to my questions, and I genuinely wish that I could get the year and a half of my life back that I devoted to this school just to be egregiously under-prepared for the job market after graduation. I haven't even graduated yet, and I can just tell that I'm not going to be supported in any way, shape, or form. Opening the website every day just fills me with dread. I'd be fine if the system wasn't built off of YouTube and the professors actually gave a damn, but... I definitely wasted my life and money here. Please don't make the same mistake."

"This school is a complete joke. The teachers do not know what they are doing and decide to teach you using youtube videos. They waste your time and don't answer questions when you ask them. They also do not answer their emails or respond in a prompt manner. I had one class where the teacher did not even grade the assignments until 2 weeks after the class was finished and then noticed a bunch of other students leave the class I was in halfway through because they had failed and had to repeat. Avoid this school at all costs. All they care about is your money."

"I greatly enjoyed my time at Full Sail and feel like I really got the education I paid for. I did the online Graphic Design BS program. I see a lot of negative reviews for Full Sail on this site. But, from my perspective, it was a great ride and well worth the money. I will say you have to be self-motivated and serious about your education if you are attempting any online program. Every month is a different class and the classes are taught by people who are or were in the Graphic Design field. That greatly helps because you know they know their stuff. I graduated Valedictorian and won Advanced Achievement as well as 5 Course Director Awards. I put in the hard work and Full Sail gave me every opportunity to (for a lack of a better term) sail. I ended up getting a job as Marketing Coordinator & Graphic Designer because of my education at Full Sail. If you are self-motivated I would recommend the Full Sail online programs 100%!"

"I had studied for one of the online bachelors degree that they offered. Let's just say one thing, every time I talked to the administration office or student liaison it was almost a new person every call if not every other call. I don't know if it's high turn over rate or what but normally institutions have a consistent group of people working with students and I find it odd how I found myself meeting a new person each time. This continued over 3 years. Now how this effects my academics is concerning. If I were to have personal issues with struggles in school I would likely have to re-explain myself each time I call. I do not like how I didn't have a designated go to person to talk to to feel secure about my academic progress at the school. The courses are highly accelerated and quite annoying to me because I don't properly soak all the material that is taught. You basically spend 1 week on curriculum that is meant to be spread out for 3 weeks. I also felt as if I never properly got to work on assignments the way I wanted to or to be creative and put my creativity to work because you cannot rush creativity. I always felt I was rushing to meet a deadline more than I was creating quality work and was never satisfied with majority of my outcomes and this is meant to be your portfolio to present to companies or people you'd like to work for, how can I submit that when I'm unsatisfied with it? If you're considering this school, I'd advise you to go elsewhere. Credits are nontransferable, the institution itself doesn't care about its students, you're merely pocket money they're accumulating. It costs the same as other institutions so it's better to just go elsewhere for your education and is much more worth your while than here. While I find everything about this school irritating, curriculum goes so fast that you barely have enough time to really fit in any questions you have to your professors. The one positive thing I have to say about this school is that most of the teachers are very passionate and very caring (but most professors at any school are about the same so it's nothing special here); however you're still paying to essentially teach yourself. Seriously. Find a different school. I really wish I did."

"This entire school is a joke. There are maybe 3 teachers out of all of them that actually care to create their own coursework and tutorial videos. You could literally teach yourself the entirety of what they "teach" you via YouTube tutorials or Google. I have had plenty of teachers actually link to another professor's work not even attached to this school on Lynda.com instead of teaching the course themselves. Responses are always delayed and unhelpful as well, and it's generally as if the instructors don't want to put the effort forth to teach you. Don't waste your money here. It's basically a scam and not worth it. Go somewhere else that will actually be worth your while and will actually TEACH you. I'm only going through with this so that I can get my degree since it's too late for me to back out now."

"Amazing graphic design online program. It challenged me, was fun, increased my knowledge and ability to design. The staff and instructors are helpful, approachable, caring, and experts in their subject field. My time at Full Sail was worth every penny I spent. I'd recommend Full Sail 100%."

"I just want to forewarn anybody who is considering Full Sail Online (that's all I know of it, I was not a campus student) that the school is solely a piece of paper (if you make it to the end.) I feel like it was a waste of years and that I need to continue learning by myself (which we mostly had to do) but now I'll have the time to learn what I want and actually get in depth details. Most instructors took forever to get grades back, and each class lasts a month long-- if an assignment builds upon the assignment before it, it's just not fair to not receive any feedback in time. Materials are so unorganized. I don't think information was presented the best way it could have been. With a school like this they should have had a well thought out program from class 1 to the last class. So it flows and everything is covered. But many important things are skipped and easy thing are covered over and over again. No option for physical text book. I hate that. I love flipping through pages and highlighting THEN KEEPING THE BOOK IN MY OWN LIBRARY. But they have a Safari online library that expires when graduation expires I'm assuming. I just think I would have learned so much more by only spending money on the Lynda.com account originally. I would feel a lot more confident about my skills and a lot less stressed about money right now. The only good thing about the school is the "friendships/networking" with my classmates. PS, it's just been 2 days since my "graduation" date and within that amount of time I've learned a heck of a lot more on Lynda than I did in my last three classes combined."

"So far, I love this school. Anything that has gone wrong while attending has been entirely of my making. I did have problems when I was first trying to get in. A couple of the student advisors weren't people friendly and were not as attentive as they should have been but that was finally remedied when I finally got the nerve to ask for someone who would do their job. Other than that issue, it's been great. I have recommended this school already to many people and have even tried to get people to reconsider going to other schools and look into Full Sail. I wish I wasn't just an online student. There are so many great events that take place on campus that I would love to be able to attend. Unfortunately, the drive from Maine to Florida and back is just too exhausting for me to do."

"Full Sail University is one of the best. They actually take the time and prepare you for the real world. Your classes actually matter and are not just there to fill the time or for an extra credit. I feel that they fully prepared me to go out in the real world as a designer. I learned valuable skills and was given advice that I will take with me. The instructors care and are always there to help. The student support is amazing, everybody wants to help and are there for advice, feedback, and just to talk. They give you all the equipment you need and keep you up-to-date, which is extremely important in the entertainment field. I also like fast-paced curriculum, it only took me 3 years to get a Bachelors' Degree. While doing it online, I did not feel isolated. The only thing I have to say is that it is expensive, like any other degree program. There are not too many scholarships, but they do try and help you out where they can. The support is amazing after school as well, the advisers are there for a lifetime, they will help you find a job and give advice. I would highly recommend to check this school out!"