Would you hire someone who spent $125K on an umimpressive bachelor's degree?

I was a member of PTK years ago and let it expire. Now I'm sorry I did. My daughter has a higher gpa than 3.5, I wonder if she could get in.

 

I would hire Fill Sale Graduate

Since some of my sons best friends are in the Entertainment Industry and they are successful at what they do I heard that the Full Sale University is actually regarded well.

Bachelors Degree cost for on line students is an average of 56,000. So 14,000 a year.
I actually in 2004 recommended this school to a son of a coworker. He took some courses at local comunity college and then transferred to FSU.

In some industries unknown schools to us have weight.
In Music, Film, New Media and Game industry Full Sale may be viewed as top program.
In some magazines the Full Sail seems to be ranked as top 5 or top 10 or top 3 program in Music, New Media and Games.
Full Sail is Nationally accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career
Schools and Colleges (ACCSC).


For 30 years, Full Sail has built relationships within the
Entertainment Media Industry and has learned from industry
professionals, our alumni and Advisory Board members,
those items that are crucial to a successful career.

FSU weeds out the amateurs.

http://www.fullsail.edu/grads - Read the Grads stories

30th Anniversary/Hall of Fame
See also: List of Full Sail University people


Full Sail University's Hall of Fame
On April 20, 2009, Full Sail marked its 30th anniversary with the opening of the Full Sail University Hall of Fame.[16] The event included testimonials from Neil Portnow (president of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences), filmmaker Kevin Smith, recording artist Anthony Hamilton, and others. Six graduates were inducted into the Hall of Fame:[17] Sebastian Krys (producer/engineer, four-time GRAMMY Award winner, seven-time Latin Grammy Award winner), Cordy Rierson (development director for Double Helix Games of Foundation 9 Entertainment), Gary Rizzo (sound re-recording mixer and Oscar award winner for Best Achievement in Sound), Steve Switaj (motion control camera operator), Phil Tan (mix engineer and three-time Grammy Award winner), and Jayson Whitmore (creative director/principal, Royale).
In June 2010, the second set of inductees was selected and added to the Hall of Fame:[18]
Leslie Brathwaite (mix engineer and GRAMMY award winner)
Steve Cainas (production coordinator, LOST)
Troy DeVolld (supervising producer, Daytime Emmy nominee)
Marc Fishman (sound re-recording mixer, Emmy winner)
Kristifir Klein (set modeling lead, Up)
Martin "Tike Santos" (live sound engineer, Paul McCartney)

Full Sail Announces Studios Gateway | MovieMaker Magazine

 

That sheds some light on the school, thank you. I can understand the price tag to some extent now. Unfortunately, the industries that Full Sail trains for are some of the poorest professions for actually finding a decent paying job, or any job at all. The few that make it are quite happy and well-compensated, some even rich and famous but the many thousands that don't make it will find they have wasted their money. The recording industry is especially floundering. I worked as a professional guitar player doing studio work and live dates for many years; still do from time to time. So I have had some contact with this kind of industry.

 

I totally agree. I would even be interested in doing the recording arts program, the problem is that it is extremely expensive to go through just to satisfy a desire. At that price, there are not many who could afford to do it just for interest. Can you imagine going at least $56K, probably more, into debt just to satisfy an interest? The other problem is that technology is changing so rapidly, a student might find that their degree is out of date in just a few years. For the few that could easily afford it without debt, it would be awesome. Otherwise, not so much.

Also, those kinds of industries do not actually require a degree. In fact, a degree in that sort of thing only helps a little bit, if at all. Reputation is the key for finding work. Fortunately for me, I was able to impress some small-time producers. Alas, I was never amazing enough to make it into the big time. But I just heard a song I played on on a local Christian radio station this morning, that still gives me a thrill.

 

My co-workers son, with my advise got detailed program, then he took classes in community college, He was able to transfer these classes. This helped to cut the cost by 14,000 approximately.

Any way good points about education, some people like teachers know that their income is not going to be high yet they like the profession and do it.
I think today many industries are suffering.

My youngest son is in Film Production class second year and he loves this profession. Its an elective in his high school after 4 years they end up with practical professional portfolio of real work, they are filming on weekends and evenings in addition to 5 hours of home work every day. They learn to use all the professional software and we the parents donated money so the school got latest Mac's with Final Cut pro and many other professional software and new HD cameras etc.

My coworkers son graduated from FSU in 2008, not a good year as the economy was down, he was able to find a job with private production company. From what I hear he is happy and had continues employment there. I don't have salary details.
Two of his friends ended up with Pixar and his girlfriend who graduated with him is with Disney productions.
HE did tell me that some hiring managers and his first supervisor were FSU graduates.

He is especially glad with FSU as his SAT's and Ap's were bad and it was challenging to get in to universities at the time, this led his father asking my advise since I had already older son in college at that time. They got other opinions but the kid liked my advise. The student loan is 2/3 paid off and he is enjoying his career wile many of his friends who who graduated from other universities couldn't find work for very long time. Some are working in completely different field because of the economy. Maybe one story is not an indicator but some how I get an impression that the graduates do get employment and some are seem to be successful. I think the school has its hand on the pulse and adding classes in areas of demand in the industry.

 

Good insight, thank you. I was generalizing my insight into the music industry over to the film industry, an area in which I have only a little experience. So I appreciate your correction. However, I am still assuming that there are many who attend Full Sail and are unable to find work, but once again it is just an assumption. I have played guitar on exactly one film score and that is the extent of my experience there, so I'll be more careful with my generalizations. However, I can almost guarantee you that what I said in my previous post about the music industry and the job of recording engineer is accurate. The music industry is in a shambles.

 

I think its like with many other schools, some graduates are more successful then others. All I know about is 4 or 5 people out of thousands that graduated. I never conducted a survey so your assumptions may be correct. But what I hear is that if a person was able to complete the program and earn a degree from FSU then they are worthy of chance, a lot drop out in first years of the program.
I see markets or niche markets were RA vs NA the gap is small.
Among vocations such as technicians and journeymen and etc, especially on AS degree lever seems like no one really care if its RA or NA unless some one is trying to continue to a higher level
of education. Transfer NA credit to RA school is a problem.

 

I have to agree with SurfDoctor. I wanted to be a game programmer since I was about 8 years old and at about 20 years of age I realized that going to college was not going to help my cause. I decided to spend all of my free time outside of my computer technician job doing game programming. I learned assembly, C, C++, GDI, Windows API, MMIO, DirectDraw, Direct3D, DirectInput etc in order to become a game programmer.
The level of software I was developing was beyond the masters degree level in some ways, and rough and childish in others. But the point is that I was learning. I was learning at a savage pace. The experience allowed me to mature as a computer programmer and within about 1 year I was gainfully employed and making very good money. The point is that if I had bet the farm on institutionalized education, I may not be where I am today.
Now that I have a good career, tuition reimbursement, and some time on my hands, I can pursue a formal education and explore my interests.

I think schools like Full Sail are a great thing as long as students don't bet their lives on the dollar value of their education. School is what you make of it. If you just show up for class, you are wasting your money.

When I was a kid, you couldn't keep me away from a computer. That kind of passion is what kids need these days, not $100,000 tuition bills.

 

Good points, I concur.

 

I always maintained that Professional is = Education + Training + Experience

Education is formal and informal, Training can be also formal and informal to a degree Experience. If you developed an application at home its informal experience.

In many professions there is a trial period, some have 3 months others a year. If you know what you do and a team player etc then most likely the employer will keep you and if you prove your self may be get promoted etc.

Managers do like degrees, for a reason that it demonstrates some stability, ability to stay out of trouble for number of years and learned some skills, etc. Also easier to justify the hiring.

I personally seen hundreds of resumes going to trash been due to lack of formal education i.e. a degree.

One point was made that I really totally agree is about investing in learning and doing above the showing in the classroom. I can attest that all the books and projects I did outside the formal education and work complimented me the professional I'm today.
I also learned a lot from people at worked and work with.

 

Former Full Sail U student

As a former Full Sail U student and current independent label owner/artist manager I have some insight into this. First, I began FSU in June 2009 when the economy was at an extremely low point. I had no way of paying for it due to losing my retail job in January 09 after the company went bankrupt. However music and entertainment has always been my passion. That is what people must understand about FSU. It is not your typical college where you go and try to figure out what you want to do with your life as almost all of my high school classmates did. FSU is for those with a passion for the industry and if you are meant to be in the industry, meaning you have the passion and necessary skills, then you will succeed and FSU will open doors you did not even know existed.

As for the cost, my BS cost around $57 K, which is a little over $14 K a year, less than most private 4 yr colleges. I got $25 K in institutional scholarships, $20 K in grants and $12 K in loans. FSU has a ton of scholarships, most of which they offer without you having to apply. I just got a call from my advisor one day informing me that I was selected for 3 of them. My graduating class, not even 2 full yrs later, (yes a BS in 2 years with 128 credits) included around 350 students and a large majority got scholarships and grants. I am still in touch with about half of them and we have all been able to pay back our student loans in full or almost in full with jobs in our fields. So from my experience and those I know FSU was the best educational decision we could have made.

While it is true that the entertainment industry does not require a college education, a school such as Full Sail that has so many connections in the industry is well worth the investment. Without FSU I would probably be in another retail management job or have gone to a liberal arts college and got a degree I did not want. So for those with the passion, FSU is great!

Also, I would like to add that I have attended Liberty U, a few state schools (GA) including GA Tech, and FSU was by far the most intellectually stimulating and challenging. There is no just getting by. With each class being only 4 wks long and consisting of 4 + projects with discussions and papers, it is very rigorous. Those were some of the most intelligent people I have ever met, compared to the ones at the other schools I attended.

If I had to do it all over again without scholarships and grants, I would go into as much debt as it took for the experience and degree that directly led me to tons of opportunities to further my career.