Hi guys! This July I'll be going to U.S in order to visit some universities that offer masters degrees on game development (or have a focus on that). For now, I have Digipen with their MSc in Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon with their MET and the Guildhall at SMU. Could you give me some guidelines on what I should expect from them, which one you think is better, and so on? From what I researched till now: Digipen Advantages: cheaper, takes shorter time to finish (apparently), nearby many famous studios where I could look for a job after finishing the degree, like Valve, Nintendo, and so on. Disadvantages: Redmond has very cold weather >.< Guildhall Advantages: I like the idea of interdisciplinary studies and working with people from other areas, since I already do that with my gamedev group at my university (University of Campinas, Brazil). Seems pretty focused on preparing for the market. Disadvantages: Texas has tornados (hey, I'm a brazilian and here the weather is hot and we don't have stuff like this lol). Carnegie Mellon Advantages: seems very focused on making creative and artistic projects, the campus I'd study on (at Silicon Valley) is obviously on a great place and has nicer weather than the 2 above. Disadvantages: takes longer to complete (which means it is more expensive). As for my background, I'm a Computer Engineering undergrad student, currently on my 4th (out of 5) year. I already work on a small game porting company, make indie games using XNA with a gamedev group at my university (but we are now moving to Ogre3D) and will start a Computer Graphics specialization next semester. Even so, I still have huge interest for game design, and would rather study on a place where I'm not limited to programming duties, though I know on the market you do have to stick to only one kind of work... Any help would be appreciated, thanks! Carol

Redmond's weather is gorgeous, don't listen to those naysayers from out of town.

My advice concerning game schools like DigiPen and Guildhall.

"Disadvantages: Redmond has very cold weather >.<"

Really? We barely even get any snow in the winter.

In Brazil we don't have any snow (in fact, winter here is like 12, 13 Celsius degrees), so I really don't have parameters on what "very cold" is like for U.S people o.O

Hey, I don't know much about the other two programs, but SMU's Guildhall is nearby where I live, and I've only heard good things about it. About the tornadoes, you really don't need to worry about that, lol, I've lived here for 18 years and never been through one, and I'm only 30 minutes away from SMU, they tend to stay farther north, so don't use that as a reason not to come ;). Like I said, I've heard only good things about the SMU program, so you should at least check it out!

Thanks for the replies, guys!
I´d like to know more about cost of living in the Redmond, Dallas and Pittsburgh areas. Where could I get this info? Or if anyone lives around, do you know how much would a small apartment rent cost and so on?

Thanks again!

can't delete, edit note still has my username, very aggravating

I wouldn't trust Digipen for an MS. They seem fairly good at turning non-coders into coders in their undergrad program, but I don't have any anecdotal information to suggest that the masters program is significantly useful for people who already have undergraduate CS degrees and have done some graphics work.

I don't know enough about SMU to make an informed judgment.

I know more successful game developers from Carnegie Mellon than from all other game-specific programs put together.