ACR Staff
Our fine staff of contributors at Animation Career Review includes:
Shawn Harrell
Deanna Thompson
Jen Lampton
Brad Prescott, Founder
Our fine staff of contributors at Animation Career Review includes:
Shawn Harrell
Deanna Thompson
Jen Lampton
Brad Prescott, Founder
Currently, Colorado is crawling with creative artists seeking well paid employment in graphic design, more technically known as communications design. With several large, media-friendly cities and a population well over five million, Colorado ranks highly among states in terms of educational and professional opportunities in this broad commercial field.
Lately, video gamers by the score in Providence, Rhode Island embark on careers in animation and video game design. With a resident population of nearly 180,000, Providence is an ideal location for qualified designers in search of these high-tech positions. All kinds of Rhode Island businesses hire video game experts. The majority of these businesses are in Providence.
If you’re interested in a career in animation and you don’t know where to begin, a great place to start is the Internet. It doesn’t matter if you plan to work in film, advertising, web design, or graphic design, you’ll need a degree from a good school and experience to get your foot in the door. Head to the Internet and you’ll find hundreds of animation schools as well as art and design schools, technical schools, and even traditional schools that offer animation programs. Along with pages and pages of animation schools and programs, you’ll find an endless number of websites that list the nation’s top animation schools.
Minnesota is home to a number of excellent art & design schools, including animation schools. Some are new to the scene and may have only a few hundred students while others are part of a traditional university where the student body may consist of thousands. No matter what type of animation school you choose, the method for reaching your decision is common among many ambitious but cash-strapped students. Your decision may be based on factors such as tuition cost, convenience (will I need a car or can I take public transit?), or the school’s job placement record.
Have you ever wondered why some schools land a spot on the “top schools” list and why some don’t? For starters, some schools may cost more than others. For a top school list, price is always a factor to consider. Another reason may be convenience. If students have to spend several hours commuting or if the school is so isolated, you’ll have to purchase a car, it might not make it onto the top schools list. Other factors that may be considered include job placement track record, types of clubs and organizations, cultural activities, access to recreation, sports teams, class size, and quality of the facilities.
What does it take to earn a spot on the list of “Best Animation Programs?” Many students think cost is a major deciding factor, while college ranking agencies look at other factors such as student selectivity and teacher-student ratio. Well, when it comes to compiling the list of the best colleges and programs, the college ranking agencies are correct!
When it comes to the official “best of” lists, exactly what makes an animation school program the best depends on the formula used to determine who’s in and who’s out.
Although for different reasons, some of the “best” animation schools are also some of the “top” animation schools—at least according to students, alums, and a bunch of ambitious bloggers! So, how does an animation school make the “best schools list?” Ask any reliable ranking organization such as Princeton Review or U.S. News & World Report and the answer is the school has to offer a variety of programs, it must have excellent graduation and retention rates, faculty resources (student-teacher ratio), excellent financial resources, and it must be selective. Peer assessment may also come into play.
An animation school with a large student body can be a good thing for many students and a bad thing when it comes to official rankings. Some students believe that the more people enrolled in school, the more popular it is, while some college ranking agencies this might have more to do with “lack of student selectivity” than popularity. In addition to student selectivity, ranking agencies consider factors such as faculty resources (student-faculty ratio), program offerings (how many and variety), financial resources, graduation and retention rates, and peer assessment.
If you’re an aspiring animator, you probably already know that there are hundreds of animation schools across the U.S. Some are free standing, while others are part of a larger art school, technical school, or traditional college. Most of these schools are accredited and many definitely have what it takes to help you start your animation career. The question is, are some animation schools better than others? Bloggers, college ranking agencies, alums, and many students think so, which is why they often create lists of the “best” schools or the “top schools” in the nation.