Game Programming or Game Art?

Art Institute of Atlanta?

• I want to go to the Art Institute of Atlanta for Visual Game and Programming. I just wanted to know what its like.

• Answer:

  If its one of the Art Institutes run by EDMC (all of them that use the AI logo), avoid them like a plague. They're not an art school employers take seriously. They're open enrollment, they take ANYONE. They just want the financial aid from the government that you are entitled to. If you ask me, they're an elaborate corporate scam to funnel as many Government Pell grants and guaranteed loans out of students as they can and leave the students with the bill. They're like McDonald's of Art "Colleges". They're a chain that is popping up everywhere. They buy out dying schools, rename them, keep the accreditation. They may seem like they would be good, but it is all smoke and mirrors. Pretty building with pretty computers. Meanwhile, it will just ruin your life. The market demand they say they're meeting is not the demand of the Job market, its the demand of the students. Students that graduated AI are struggling to get jobs and have over more than $50,000+ or $90,000+ in debt depending on what degree they went for. Degrees that are worthless in the job market. Basically, AI is a degree mill. They use bloated success stats and circle logic to back them up. They count students working at Toys R Us as in the field. Avoid them if you want to actually have a decent future. If you really want to pursue your passion, go to a community college, study fine art, and then transfer into a state school. It will be cheaper and the money you save you can buy your own equipment and STILL have money left over for a better future. Their job leads are bogus, they go to Monster, Craigslist, and career builder just like everyone else. Their top employer is HOME DEPOT (Check their own website) and I guarantee none of those are art jobs. Don't make the same mistake my friends and I did. We'll be paying for it for the rest of our lives. If you go with AI you'll be folding clothes at Target or hawking video games at Toys R Us for $8.25 an hour and struggling to pay $90,000+ with bill collectors haunting your every waking moment for the REST OF YOUR LIFE with no way to stop them because there is no bankruptcy protection on Student loans. Please please please make sure you check out these news articles below. Many are accounts from students, staff, and teachers of AI. Feel free to check YELP ("Filtered results" as well.) What you do with this information is your choice, I just want to make sure you know everything before listening to one of their recruiters sales pitch. Remember, they're paid sales people. Not your friend. College may be expensive but what these guys are pulling is straight out highway robbery. And if those news articles aren't enough, check the news. The New York Times, Bloomberg, and, CNBC all have a story about the department of Justice acting on a lawsuit against EDMC for illegally paying their recruiters. Decide for yourself.