   GameDev Schools
  I'm a Freshman in Highschool and have been programming C++ for a little while. I am still a n00b, but getting better. I have heard that Full Sail is really good, and I liked the ciriculum. They didn't say how much it would cost on the web site though.My Questions-1. Is it even worth it to go to a community college?2. What is different between Full Sail and DigiPen?3. How much do most colleges cost?4. What should I do to prepare?5. What is the usual pay for a programmer?Basically, I know I'm not going straight to head guy. I'm just expecting to start at grunt coder until an opportuinity arises. (Pardon any spelling errors please.)   
  OK, I'm a freshman in college right now, so I can try and answer some questions.1. While you may learn the same things in a community college, it may be much harder to prove yourself to possible employers with only a 2-year degree from a small community college. I recommend getting sa 4-year CS degree froma well-established public school. you will have more resources, more classes, and a much better degree for a resume.2. They are both trade schools specializing in game programming. Look at their game-dev curriculum to see the various classes you would take.3. A decent public school may run you around 5-10k in-state (just tuition). A private school may run over 20k (My school costs over 30k, thank god for financial aid). Full sail and digipen, from what I know, will be even more expensive.4. Keep programming. Try to learn some of the more advanced topics in c++ (It will help greatly later). Also, find out what language you college of choice uses (often java or c++) and try to learn that as well.5. It depends greatly on location and what you are doing. As a junior programmer in a cheap area, you may get under 30k. With more experience and in more expensive regions, it is well over 50k. Also, It depends on what you are doing. A code monkey is going to be paid less than the project lead.From what I have heard from various people on these boards, A degree from Digipen of full sail may be a mixed blessing. There are some very talented people who have gone through these programs (looking at your JBourrie). However, many companies will not value the degree as highly as others. Also, at a trade school, you learn an extremely specialized task and do it well, however, it may be hard to do anything outside of game programming. The game development industry is difficult to get into and having a backup plan is a must.Edit: Honestly, you can get a greeat education anywhere. If you are a motivated person, you can and will learn things outside of the basic classes. However, employers like to see a good degree on an application. They will more than likely offer a job to someone with a BS from Univerity of __, over a 2-year associates from __ Community College. However, if you are truely a great programmer, you will have various demos and possibly even a complete project to show to employers, which will mean much more than a piece of paper.[Edited by - Sr_Guapo on May 24, 2006 4:27:55 PM];  This is a frequently asked question.You can reference Tom Sloper's FAQ site: Lesson 44: Regular School? Game School? for good information about it.   