I''m looking into attending the University of Washington this next year and going for their CS program. They also have a game development 4 class certification... check it out!

not sure if you''re looking to relocate, but
the university of texas in austin is a good
school for game development..
we''ve got alot of companies here getting people
fresh out of college as well.. activision, acclaim,
origin, and more

UT also is host to alot of game development/design workshops
featuring some of the industry''s best known people.

-eldee
;another space monkey;
[ Forced Evolution Studios ]

Getting a degree from a GOOD Computer Science school is always beneficial. No one''s going to turn away a MIT grad.

On the lines of "specialized schools", these schools are very good at teaching you what you need to know to get started out. However as with any other school they can not gaurentee you a job, there is only so much a school can do to get you a job after a certian point it''s completely up to the student to answer the interview questions correctly, take the tests for entrance, and have a personality that fits in at the company.

So I''d definately reccomend either of the above. I would not reccomend going to some little school in po-dunk town USA and taking their computer science course unless they happen to be on the top list of computer science schools. You have 4 years in college, most colleges require you to "save" your core classes for your second 2 years. So by the time you figure out if your getting your money''s worth out of the school your a year away from graduation, and at that point it''s difficult to transfer out to another university and maintain your credits. So most people just say "to hell with it" finish their last year and graduate with a sub-par education. And quite frankly no matter what you pay for college your getting ripped off if you graduate and think your education was sub-par.

just remember that digi-pen and full sail are vocational
schools.. alot of companies will look past the name and
simply see ''vocational'' and pick the next guy with a BS in CS.

computer science is all about solving problems, and when programming
a game, you''re going to have a lot of them.

-eldee
;another space monkey;
[ Forced Evolution Studios ]

first off, a lot of companies won''t pass up the name of the college. a company may pick someone because they came from a well known school rather than a lesser one.

in full sail, even though you only get a AS in computer science, the amount of hours you spend with c++ is actually equal to what you would get for a BS. also, if i understood them correctly from when i took their tour, you can come back anytime to take a refresher course when they have room for free, and you can use their labs anytime.