Full Sail University Reviews

"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 Or they inform me that what I'm learning is outdated, or the opposite of what a professional would do.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."

"Let’s get this out there first I graduated top of my class with a gpa 3.8. I earned this because of my own hard work! Not Full Sail’s great courses. Facts of the matter are the classes are outdated not kept up with or even looked over. I had to personally fix multiple problems in multiple classes cause teachers were no help not all teachers but most are lazy and unprofessional. I feel it was a waste of money and I could’ve learned it with free courses with better materials. For any one denying this I have videos and pictures and conversations saved proving what’s being said here. Out of my whole class only two students graduated and that’s due to the poor standards of full sail. I also have multiple files documenting all my complaints that full sail throws under the rug and does nothing about it. I actually had two teachers in a live meeting with students for class belittling students, complaining about students, complaining about doing there job , complaining about students messaging them to much yup all in a live meeting with the students watching them pretty crazy huh but true I recorded it! Did these students get an apology or anything nope it got swept under the rug like everything else at full sail. If a student needs any guidance or anything like it don’t count on full sail you will waste your time getting no where. My question is how does a school charging that much have 2 year old courses or courses that are incorrect or not best practices. Ful sails tutoring is a joke by far and you have to jump through hoops just to get it and 95% of the time you won’t get the help you need in time before they fail your assignment not to mention if your late it’s a 0 for the assignment. The online program needs a complete overhaul because it latterly does nothing for students unless you learn yourself which defeats the reason of going to a college I mean after all that’s why we’re willing to pay the amount is because it’s supposed to be more then go learn your self. I can go on and on about full sail and it’s negative features and there is a lot of them, most fall on students which is wrong and they should be held accountable. I was reported and almost punished for reporting problems in classes and directors not doing there job correctly or plain just ignoring students yup that’s right program directors that ignore you for weeks and then act like it’s a gift when they actually finally answer the student. I made sure I graduated and showed every director / teacher that I did also so all the directors that refused to help with issues repeatedly happening over and over in classes. I would not go back to full sail for any other education due to there inability to correctly teach classes and to have resources that are up to date or looked over. I wasted 20 grand for a degree I could’ve got for a couple thousand. Do your self a favor if you want to learn find a good learning web site that offers certified classes with degrees or certificates and save your self a bunch of money and time and aggravation! Student mean nothing to full sail ! You was warned !"

"Full Sail looks attractive and shows it as this massive school whos graduates go on to contribute to these massive projects like movies, shows, games, songs and list goes on. DO NOT EXPECT THIS AS AN OUT COME! I took audio production and graduated in 2017. I graduated salutatorian and would have been valedictorian if I had stuck with the bachelors course. I was so done with this school and I went to drop out but they I found out I could complete 3 more months and receive my associates so I did. After paying $27k at this point I wasn’t going to leave empty handed. Online is a joke, classes are a joke and out dated. The pro tools shown in the lectures was about 2 years old and the instructor didn’t record a new lesson and half the time didn’t update the lesson plan so you’re left to google everything. I learned more from google, YouTube, Lynda, udemy, and asking friends than I learned from Full Sail. The work is basic and you don’t ever learn a fraction of the software before you move on to a new month. If I had relied on just learning what Full Sail taught me I would only know how to set up Pro Tools and Logic and a few basic things I could learn from a 30 min into video about each DAW. Just dumb, boring and unoriginal. I graduated with a 3.8 gpa so I put in the work, I studied and put in all the effort to make it work but after paying $27k I didn’t know enough to land a job. And people with a bachelor degree couldn’t find work either. Just so everyone knows, everything that is taught at this school requires no degree to get a job. Don’t think this school will give you an advantage either because you will end up doing internships and getting paid nothing which is the same as if you didn’t have a degree and just starting out in the industry of choice. I really wish I could say something positive about this school. The only thing I can think of is the launch box they send you but everything they send you is over priced and you pay more for it later on the back end so that’s not worth it. Just hope on udemy or YouTube and learn that way because you will be relying on those sites anyway, only difference is it won’t put you tens of thousands in debt to still land an unpaid internship."

"Full Sail University is a cash grabbing joke. I literally removed myself from a course 12 hours after the designated time required and they refused to remove my financial obligations. They took me through the credit process and after saving 6 months to pay what i believed to be the full payment, sent me notice of additional funds to close the account in full. So... in a nutshell, Full Sail University is unwilling to negotiate payment totals, like every other organization much less UNIVERSITY. Like I said upon starting this review: not only is your degree a joke, the organization is a cash grabbing COW."

"If you are pursuing MUSIC PRODUCTION, do not attend this school. Full Sail is a terrible school for music production, especially if you're a beginner. You'll graduate only learning music theory and how to set up a Pro Tools session. That's pretty much it. Yes, you'll have a degree and your basic education to pursue further education, but if you're looking to join Full Sail because of its accelerated program thinking you'll be able to make money sooner by getting through school quicker, you're fooling yourself. Your future reality will be a whole lot of student loan debt with basically no skill to be independent. This school is great at marketing itself--basically they are great at sales. Do your own research! There's a reason why their graduation rate is so low compared to other schools. They brag about how graduates get most of their first jobs through other graduates, and there's a reason for that. It's almost as if the school is designed to put you in a dead end loop that only they can get you out of. ONLY if you're willing to kiss others behinds and live your life the way they want you to. Basically, your passions has to align with their vision on how you'll have any level of success--even if it's less than $100K/yr just looking to live a simple life. Attend at your own risk..."

"TL;DR is this: Full Sail Instructors are so out of touch with their students. The assignments have so many typos, bad links, and obviously have no interest in properly teaching their students. If the assignment isn't done the way they want it done (professional level) even though we only JUST learning - then it's a 0 or a MASSIVE deduction in points. Don't waste your money - please just look up YouTube videos to teach yourself (it's no different from the many classes I've had so far where they simply link a TedTalk or YouTube video). I'm going to start off with the clique of saying, "I never write reviews but this is just absurd." It's true. I am beyond frustrated with the "instructors" at this school. For the sheer amount of money I have spent, I should AT LEAST get adequate feedback on my assignments IN A TIMELY FASHION. Not at the end of the week. I work full-time at two different places, run my own business selling art prints and stickers, and keep up with school full-time. I was fully aware that I would be stretched thin. I've managed myself well until this point. The frustration I feel towards my instructors ludicrous! They wait until Thursday or Friday to gives grades for assignments that build off of each other (so if I need to fix anything I either have to wait for the end of the week or just assume that I am okay to proceed when I move on to the next assignment). Not only do they inconvenience us students CONSTANTLY, they also don't seem to care about the welfare of out learning. Typos everywhere in the assignments, bad/expired links, zip files only containing half of the content we need, and rude instructors. At the beginning of the Computer Animation program, I felt the instructor genuinely cared - I could feel the good intent. The further I progressed, the more it seemed like the instructors progressively got more irritable. They have this attitude of "I know more than you and you'll never make it," type attitude. Now, I submit an assignment about my future goals for my career (which I am supposed to look back on in the next year and see how far I've come) and my instructor deducted 10 points from my PowerPoint because (get this) my goals are "too lengthy and elaborate." I ask why I was deducted for this (one would think it would be good I have thought this far ahead...) and I never received a response... Don't even get me started on even asking a question about an assignment either...most of the responses I have gotten have been, "You should watch the video again," or "I already answered that in the instructions." Why do I need you then? If I just sign on to my Portal and see you've assigned us to watch another TedTalk or video on Youtube...then why am I paying you thousands and thousands of dollars? I am so incredibly close to stopping completely and quitting. What a waste of time and money. Full Sail, it's fine if you're burnt out from teaching others about the animation industry. I get that there are a LOT of people in the program who don't take things seriously sometimes...but don't screw over the people who put their blood, sweat, and tears into this. They can see you don't care about them (and you wonder why the graduation rate is so low!)"

"I am currently an online student studying audio production and studio engineering. The class assignments have broken links to necessary videos and examples... Assignments might not upload... Tech support is only able to help with software issues- they have little to no experience with hardware- interface, mics, keyboards- etc... The instructors are as helpful as possible and professional but they are extremely limited with assisting with many problems. I have had major issues trying to attend live lectures, Im only able to watch the live recordings. When it comes to most issues, we are recommended to ask our classmates via dischord groups... This "school" is a rip off."

"I am halfway through my degree in the Entertainment Business Sports Management Master's Program Online. I love it. Growing up, I always had a passion for sports and technology. It was always a dream of mine to attend Full Sail but it was too expensive at the time. Now that I am older and have a steady job, I am able to pay for it. One thing I LOVE about FSU is the accelerated programs. I have always wanted to get my Master's degree but I hesitated because I didn't want to go back to school for two years. Instead, I lowered the intensity of things going on in my life for one year and dedicated myself to getting this masters, and I don't have any regrets. With all due respect to the other reviews I have read here, many of the complaints are from personal experience. I quite enjoy the online classes I take and with a full time job the schedule fits perfectly for me. I don't think it is healthy nor productive to rely heavily on an instructor to pass or fail a class. I have found that if I just work hard and ask my professor for help as a last resort, I will be just fine. Also, anybody with a basic understanding of economics and money management should know the financial risk you are taking when enrolling at Full Sail. They do not hide how expensive it is to attend, and I think everybody who enrolls know the debt they are creating for themselves when they decide to go here. If I wanted to go to a different University to save money I would have, but I knew the programs and advantages that Full Sail offers and I have not been disappointed in the slightest. I have attended 3 different Universities and the instructional experience that I have had at Full Sail is second to none. The detailed videos each week are more than reasonable and give me everything I need to complete the assignments for the week. The only complaint I would have for FSU is the lack of job opportunities for online students who don't necessarily live in the Winter Park area. I would love to work in the Sports Entertainment field as I work on my Masters degree, but I haven't had much success in finding one through Full Sail. However, I put more of the blame on me than Full Sail, as this was something I discussed with my Guidance Counselor before I enrolled so I knew what I was getting into."

"I’m currently doing this major right now, but I am truly not enjoying it, not one bit and this school sickens me so badly. Yeah, they just want our money and all, but it gets worse and worse. It’s really sad to see all of us suffering in that school because the classes became completely unfair and ridiculous. Teachers don’t even have any idea how much hard work we put into assignments, yet they lower our grade even if we tried our best. Teachers don’t know what they are talking about and aren’t even specific. And not only that, when we do what the instructions/rubric told us to do, it doesn’t matter. They lower our grade or give us a 0. Assignments didn’t really taught us anything. Oh and good luck on asking instructors for help because they’ll never help you. They just get you into discord having only students to help you. I know for sure students are experiencing the same problem too. Also, keep in mind that some students might have a chance to graduate, but I doubt that will ever happen since this school has the lowest graduation rate. They also give you YouTube videos, and then later on, the questions were the ones we all never learned throughout the assignments."

"Sad to see people actually falling for fsu. I dropped out and transferred to my in-state university and I have to say the difference is night and day. Yes i attended online classes but the classes are honestly ridiculous. The teachers have no idea what they are talking about and I once spent 2 hours on a lecture watching an “instructor” trying to figure out why the code wasn’t working(P.S he never found the solution and ended up scraping the example and moving on) I was a computer science major and the classes were complete jokes! the assignments didn’t build on each other and taught me next to nothing. For those of you assuming i probably thought the courses were too hard, quite the contrary. I left the school with a 3.8gpa. The classes were taught by complete idiots and they offer no financial aid at all! For comparison I only had a federal pell grant my freshman year of 6,375 but for my new university i received a pell grant of 14,740(this includes federal pell grants and university pell grants i received). I will end up paying less for all four years than one semester of fsu. My advice is get out while you can, trust me you won’t regret it."

"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."

"I started Full Sail in the spring of 2019. Everything was going good until fall of 2020, when I THOUGHT I was going to graduate. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed all of the classes I took. They sent me my graduations information and everything...but NO GRADUATION! I called them to get an understanding of why I wasn't graduating and they told me I had TOO MANY CREDITS! Never in my life have I ever heard of "having too many credits" so you can't graduate. Smh. They need to get it together. I was very upset about it. I won't say I won't recommend anyone to this school, nor will I say I will. Enter at your own risk."

"The biggest problem that everyone has already said is that Full Sail is not regionally accredited. Suppose you plan to pursue a graduate degree after getting an undergrad at Full Sail. In that case, you will run into a lot of problems. I was turned away by so many regionally accredited institutions because Full Sail is not regionally accredited until I was finally accepted at one of the best research universities in the US. While I am not getting a graduate degree in a research-related field, I was finally accepted into a legitimate school. Suppose you plan to get education equivalency in another country like I was. In that case, Full Sail won't cut it because it is not regionally accredited. It is also expensive like crazy, and I took out so much financial aid. The education itself was good, and many alumni have gone on to very successful and lucrative fields in their majors. If I were to rewind back to when I enrolled and was given the option to attend or not, on the one hand, I would say no, due to the accreditation issues that happen after and the massive amounts of student loans. On the other hand, it has enabled me to get more professional jobs. Currently, I'm in the last semester of my MS degree. Once I earn it, I can then do education equivalency. So Full Sail served a purpose for me on a long trajectory. And it serves a purpose for people who know without a doubt they want to have a career in their major. It is a career school. It is not a school to help you get into graduate school."

"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 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."

"I say this from experience in my time here at Full Sail University (pursuing a degree in Game Art and in the past Computer Animation), this has everything to do with how the classes are formulated throughout the Computer Animation and Game Art degrees specifically. Courses are four weeks in length or shorter. It's like bootcamp and even for bootcamps and workshops they teach things that are "useful to know" but are not aimed at preparing folks for career ready degrees that will be used to get an industry career. Four weeks is not enough time to learn and demonstrate career ready knowledge and be 80% successful. Maybe 30-40% successful. In which case, in my opinion, Full Sail is not internally setting their students up for success. Classes only get more difficult as students climb closer to graduating; with no breaks in between classes to reset the mind, this whole heartedly feels like a set up for disaster and student failure at best. If the goal is to break students and see who climbs out of the flames alive--then Full Sail should keep its rigorous bootcamp structure and continue making money off of the students who burned in the flames. I think as time goes on, it will gain a reputation for how low of a success rate it keeps and deter collage age and adults alike from choosing this institute for knowledge. If the day ever comes that Full Sail starts to wonder why it only has a 29% success rate, maybe they will begin to change their ways after listening to the honesty of their students. If this wasn't enough fo a statement as to whether I would recommend the school, my answer is no. It's true that game art industry and computer animation degree knowledge is hard to come by and there aren't many schools who offer this knowledge or area of study. Yet the truth remains that there are better schools with better structured course length times who will offer you the same if not better industry knowledge. I have more knowledge where I am now--but I have paid a hefty price for what knowledge I've retained throughout the fast paced structure. Find better and do better for yourself, your mind, and your overall health. Sincerely, Game Art Student"

"I Am Currently in school here at Full Sail University Online for Video Game Design. So far what i can say is it started out ok but after the first 3 months it quickly made it see like they didn't give a crap about their students. Matter of fact I had one of the professors there tell me and some of my classmates that we will never be at his level. I am overall disgusted with what I have been put through and if I could have know what I was about to get myself into I would have gone somewhere else. This is utterly disappointing and if anyone ask me if I recommend it I would say no. If you wanted any chance of having a break for summer or much break at all during the year you are screwed because your not going to get it along with they give you pretty bad feedback on assignments you have turned in. So if you are thinking of going here quickly think of any other options because you can get a whole lot better education somewhere else and not have to deal with the big egos of the professors that team the curriculum at this school. I still have like 13/14 months left and I have thought about dropping out multiple times and going somewhere else to finish off my schooling because this is ridiculous."

"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."

"Honestly, I could have learned everything for free on youtube without all of the stressful deadlines. Feels like I payed 11k for a macbook, and a few test trials of 3D softwares, and 7 months of stress and anxiety that literally made me sick. I know its supposed to be real-world experience but no starter job would expect a studio level product 3 days after they taught me how to do it."