Full Sail University Reviews of Bachelor's in Interactive Media Design

"I am currently attending Full Sail and I am very much enjoying it. I was hesitant to actually attend only because I have seen many negative reviews. Although, complete transparency, the school is very breakneck. Courses are four weeks each, and there are lots of learning assignments and assignments that require a turn-in. I've been attending for about 6 months now, and I do warn that it only gets harder as you get on. If you have the drive to take on the accelerated program and enjoy working fast like I do, I say absolutely go for it. The professors that I have had so far are incredibly kind and communicative, and there are a multitude of people who have had professional experience within the industry teaching at the school. It is not too hard to get accommodations if needed, either. If your mental health needs a break, I believe that you can get up to six months off (at least for the bachelors program). If you are online and planning to go on campus, they will keep you online if you need to stay home for mental health or other reasons- it just has to be a valid reason. One thing that I absolutely recommend is to put in what you wish to take out. Get as many scholarships as you can before going in, and you will be in much less of a pit as many others. Participate in the events that they host with game studios who scout from their college. Talk to professors and make connections, and just do your best. If your mental health can not handle the rigorous course, I do encourage you to look elsewhere for an education in the arts. Overall, I do enjoy this method of learning, but it all boils down to preference. I would not recommend Full Sail to many of my friends who wish to go into the art industry only because of how they work and learn."

"Nationally accredited, not regionally. If youre looking to get a M.S. or transfer credits to another school at a later date, that information will be EXTREMELY important later on because regionally accredited schools are accepted everywhere but its not the same for nationally accredited. It will be severely limited. First half of the degree is great, had a handful of instructors who really love their job and it shows in their work ethic. However, there is a severe decline in instructor participation and response time in the second half. In order to succeed you cant just rely on the information provided in class. You WILL need to explore other resources (most are provided in your tuition but so few people actually use them) like Lynda, YouTube, Substance, Artstation, etc..... The school literally gives you the foundation but in order to build a house, you need to utilize your resources or else you wont last. Ive had confrontations with some instructors on the grading scale and to be perfect honest, one of the best things that they could work on is an universal grading scale because some instructors are FAR more advanced than others and because of that their grading curve is far steeper. You may get away with an A for delivering the basics but in another class, that same effort will only get you a low C. So beware trying to get through the program with just the basics. You may be able to graduate but you wont land yourself a job."

"I was misled about what classes I'd be taking. The courses kept changing every other month to a class that I didn't originally sign up for or it was moved to a different month. My email was quarantined for months by the school causing me to be fail 6 classes. They kicked me out 2 months before graduation. After dozens of phone calls over the 6 months, they finally resolved it by forgiving one month of a failed class even after admitting they caused the fails by blocking my communication unintentionally. They has me using UDK when UE4 was already out for a couple years and forced me to use a Macbook with a Bootcamp partition so the Windows specific software would run even though Bootcamp doesn't use the specs of the computer's hardware causing a single click 10 minutes to process. One of my teachers is a registered sex offender for taking up-skirt photos at a Target in Winterpark, FL. You won't even learn all of the fundamentals at this school. Most instructors only respond to emails a week later after the assignment is already due and never respond to requests for guidance on a project. I ended up $80k in debt when I was told it would be half of that price. The school lies about helping you find a career and the amount of alumni in the industry. I was 2 months from graduation when my instructor told me that the school doesn't have connections with any game studio. Most alumni become instructors at Full Sail to pay off their insane debt."

"This comes from the bottom of my heart. Full Sail has amazing staff but it will ruin your life if you cant get a scholarship. How you expect to get into the game industry with 80-100k of debt? The game industry is centered in some of the most expensive places in the world. You wouldnt even be able to afford to live in a cardboard box with that kind of debt in Cali or Vancouver. I have lived with parents for 3 years yet make over 50k a year. In fact I make much much more than that. And I can barely afford to keep my car fixed and have enough food in the fridge. My first loan kicked in the day I got my first job acceptance and it wasnt even a job in games. Now I have a better paying job and am still an indentured debt servant despite paying over 1000 dollars a month. My first student loan interests rates on my private loans had interests rates close 10 percent on some of the loans. Do you know how much a loan over 80k accumulates with that interest rates of 8-10 percent? Its attendance policy is ruthless and designed to take your money and repay classes. Theres is virtually no dorms, the compus is gaudy when all they need is to focus on the essentials needed to be the best in your field. (Hope that giant TV they have was worth it). If you genuinely want to get into games remember that you can literally go anywhere else and as long as you put in 8 hours a day just like full sail makes you then you probs end up just as good. I regret the decision I made when I was younger to go to full sail and if I can stop whenever is reading this from making the same mistake that will cost them the best years of their life then maybe Ive done some good."

"I am a current student here and about to graduate with a BS in Game Design. I will tell you that you will be fooled by the "high tech, fancy, cutting edge" propaganda that this university will sell you. Yes, you will get tech and new products (I was given a Macbook and an iPad mini), but you will pay for them so what's the point? Your instructors will be people who have very little experience or credentials and will constantly give you conflicting information and remain extremely unprofessional. I say that as a generalization, but in my entire time at this university possibly 5 of my 30 instructors have been professional and worth the money you will pay for this school. You will constantly call to complain or inquire about this and that because nothing will be done correctly or the way that you were told it would (take for example my current class, which should have started 2 days ago. There are no assignments posted and the instructor cannot be reached by me or by the university). Those who leave good reviews saying "You get out what you put in" are not wrong. You will not be taught anything. You will be given direction to watch a YouTube video about a subject and then expected to find any additional information about the subject on your own. So, yes, you must put in A LOT in order to get ANYTHING out of this school because you have to teach yourself. Why not save 100k and just do it yourself? If all of these things are not convincing you to not attend this university because, like me, you want the fancy degree and you want to be able to say you went to a "leading" school in this industry -- PLEASE read reviews from companies that refuse to accept graduates from Full Sail. Your degree from this school is worth nothing and companies in these industries only care about your skills and what you can offer. You are STILL much better off learning for yourself the information and gaining these skills."

"PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE I DID. This school started out fine for the first 3 months. After that its been downhill and is becoming apparent that this is a for profit school. I was on track to meet graduation date I had to retake a class that I passed with a D even though still passing just so they could collect a fee for retake the reasoning oh the teacher said you were on the borderline so thats why it was done. Therein lies the problem Ive threatened with transfer to another university only to find out none of the credits will transfer Im too deep in now to quit and the teachers act as if its even a chore to help you the online videos are either from YouTube Lynda.com or a classroom lecture that has the audio with a PowerPoint on it and no real showing of how to navigate or use a program please please please do yourself a favor and RUN as far away from this school as you can."

"------READ IF YOU DONT LIKE DEBT------- When I first looked at full sail I was aware that it was a for profit school. When I looked up reviews for this school I saw that most of the issues where with the students. That has not been my case of problem. I am convinced that this school is boarder line a legal scam, and want to warn people out there before attending this school. I am using GI, pocket money, and and a small amount of loans to pay for my school and housing. In the first place GI does not apply well. I have 60% GI but in the end it only really covers 30%. When I tried to apply another military scholarship (folds of honor) that I had won, they applied it in a way that means they get the money from the scholarship but I my tutition stays the same. It's a messed up system. They have really poor communication with other departments so make sure to stay on top of issues and directly call departments or people yourself. I think the only redeeming factor is that they have semi interesting classes. If you want to get the most out of your education make sure to talk to your teacher. They don't really take much interest in the students personally unless the student initially talks to them. I don't think that this school is right for everyone and definitely think you should consider other schools before this one. The way I have things set up I graduate with $15,000 in debt which is not a horrible debt. I do not advise you go to this school if it looks like your going to graduate with anything over $20,000. It's not really worth it. I would drop out but I'm far enough in the trap that I can't get out without loosing in the situation. The school looks nice and they play nice in the beginning, but in reality they don't give you an education that is worth the money. Please take head to these conserns that I and other people write about. I wish you luck in your education."

"After attending a "digital art" program at a tradition school, I was very frustrated not to be on the cutting edge of technology. Full Sail has provided a much better learning environment, and I LOVE the 20 month undergrad program...not having to slow down for summer and long winter breaks is the way every school should be. This also translate to more value for your money. For the record, Full Sail University is accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC), and is licensed by the Commission for Independent Education (CIE), Florida Department of Education. I wouldn't had attended otherwise. As a fairly new program, there is always growing pains but I am having a great experience at Full Sail"

"I researched this college and there was 50/50 on ratings, so I decided to do the online courses for game design.. I most say NEVER.. EVER will I do this again threw this school.. the bad reviews were 100% correct!!! Instructors did not communicate.. the used other websites for teaching and not teaching it them selves to you, so you pay them to send you to a website, if you do not get perfect grades, they do not let you do others assignments causing you to fail. It's a waste of MONEY!!! Do not go here or do online!!! Heed the warning!!!"