Westwood College

I will start off by saying if your serious about learning Westwood provides you with 1/3 of that. I am in my second to last term and have taken both on-line and on-campus courses both morning and late night. The difference is night and day on campus. AM students and instructors are a good deal more laid back and sometimes way too lenient. Night classes are comparable to a real college or university (people are there to learn) Game Art program at the Anaheim California campus is a bit of a joke (strictly in my opinion) i also think they are slowly phasing the program out completely. instructors: 4/10 when joining the school they make sure you know that all instructors have a masters degree and all have many years of experience in their respective fields. not true. when i started there were 10 instructors and now there are only 4 left due to unqualified instructors. doesn't mean they were all bad and doesn't mean they were not valuable to some degree. they just didn't meant standards to teach core classes at Westwood. students: 3/10 I guess you could say I am one of the older students in almost all of my classes, closer to 30 than to 18. this does cause a bit of alienation on my part because Im there to learn and to get the knowledge i need. don't get me wrong some of them are nice but if you know what a "troll" is than you will understand. it reminds me way too much of high school where it takes students 20 to 45 minutes just to get in to class for a 2-4 hour class, and constantly disrupting lectures and projects. hardware: 3/10 if a technical college, and yes Westwood is a technical college has 4 career programs that are dependent on computers and at least a semi decent connection to the network and they fail to provide even that then should they even keep the career programs running? computers are basic server grade computers. 10 minutes to boot up and log-in and a network connection barely able to load a 2 minute youtube video for a stoyboard breakdown assignment. (thank you criminal justice students on facebook) software: 6/10 this is the "meat and potatoes" of game art program, the programs you need to know so you can get a job in the industry. if the computers were actually able to run the programs we need and even somewhat effectively then there wouldnt be a problem. the programs we use crash the computers constantly and have errors at least a quarter of the time you use them. "remember to save every 3 minutes" quote from instructor. some classrooms have the programs needed some dont, some have up to date and others are so full of errors they wont even start up. materials: 8/10 they provide you with some great materials, books, lectures and resources but in school and class you might not even use them. the only reason the binding in the books on my shelf at home are even broken in is because i read them, i use the discs that come with them, and i review them. I have had numerous classes where the instructor recommends the students save the money and not buy the books or they dont even use them at all. this wouldnt upset me as much if the instructors knew the material front and back and could explain it better then the author of the text books but in an ever changing industry this is unacceptable. (teach yourself) facility: 7/10 on a good note the place is clean i give them that. bathrooms, classrooms commons and parking lot are relatively clean but they also share the area with the local "Honda Center" because they own the land. so i hope you have your parking permit because if there is an event at the Honda center you will have to prove your a student or pay $15 to park in the lot. about a year and a have ago they used to have a game room for the students to play video games but it was riped out because it was a waste of space.

Graduated in May of 2010. Been searching for an entry level job for 2 years. Every job in the US requires 2 to 5 years industry experience or a published game to my credit. Found 1 job in Tokyo that does not require experience, but Westwood did not offer language course to get me there. Westwood did not prepare me for a career nor did I get my major amount of moneys' worth.

Few things. One, nothing is going to be given to you, you have to earn it. I have completed two years and am starting my third. The classes are tough at times, I will tell you that math was not easy at all. And the English classes were writing intensive. I got plenty of feed back from all of my teachers. I even got to talk to a teacher on the phone for about 2 hours once to help me work through a problem i was having with a project. I am 40 years old and attended Music school back in the day, this is just as tough and I do it working full time and i have kids. The online structure is tough but doable for me and is the right fit. I agree that this is not for every one. If you are lazy and not a self starter do not attend this school. they will make you earn your degree and work for it. I had one teacher that was horrible. I completed that class however, and made the best of it. Let's face it there are a ton of bad teachers out there. The school has always been professional with me and treated me well. I had a death in the family on term and the teachers were awesome about it and extended my due dates that week. I have enjoyed my time here. Also does it matter if i get the knowledge from a book, or an online video, or a tutor in my living room? it matters how I use the knowledge I get. In game art I have learned a ton, about the industry as well as software. the former students here talking a bunch of crap, are one small portion of the student body. Haters got to hate, be positive and better your life with experience and knowledge. Westwood is a good school and the right fit for me.

I will start off by saying not all schools are equal and students are better off with the educational institution that fits their degree. Before you attend a college or university make sure they offer exactly what you want. Do not settle when it comes to your education. I was attending a state university before I enrolled in the Westwood College online campus. I love the online platform over a regular campus! The Game art program is perfect for setting my career path and I feel like I am getting my exactly what I am paying for. I mean that in a good way. I do not have to worry about being late to class, missing a lecture, or taking notes. The courses are set around my schedule for me to get the most out of the material offered. A lot of people think online school is easy because you can use your books during a test but that is not true. The tests are designed in a way that you have to search what you have learned in the lesson by selecting a multiple choice answer or answering in word form. The technologies we use in the art and design courses are the same the developers in the industry use. I would have to say the best part about getting a degree at Westwood College is the tuition-free retraining program offered to graduates. This is a wonderful program for graduates to stay on top of the latest advances in their fields after graduation. After I graduate I have the security of knowing I will not have to pay for high-cost retraining. Overall I am happy with my higher education choice.