The U is also fairly inexpensive. Yes, it is the most expensive of the state-run schools, more than Weber or USU, but assuming you've got in state tuition you're looking at a pretty good deal.

If I were to choose the U, I would be paying out of state tuition.

The U also has a good emphasis program on games. They still have the rigor of their CS program, but they hit some issues unique to games. It is a good program. I know quite a few people who finished their program, you should have no problem.

So even with the emphasis on game programming, my skills should still be applicable elsewhere if that time comes right? This was one of the concerns I had with the program...

It is a shame EA Salt Lake recently closed their doors. Otherwise you could take Trax from the school down to state street and hit up either Junior's, Rich's, or the Pie Hole over lunch to meet with people at the studio.

Really? I had not heard of this. One of the major factors in me choosing the U was that I heard that EA offered a ton of internships to people within the program. Do you know if these internship opportunities will still be available from other companies or will this experience be lost?

So even with the emphasis on game programming, my skills should still be applicable elsewhere if that time comes right? This was one of the concerns I had with the program...

It is a regular CS degree. The completely optional EAE emphasis can be added by taking some additional courses that are mixed with some technically-inclined art students, plus choosing a subset of the normally available elective courses.

If you are applying to a job where it looks useful, make your resmue contain: "Bachelor of Science, Computer Science, Entertainment Arts & Engineering Emphasis". If you don't think it would look useful, change the line to "Bachelor of Science, Computer Science".

Really? I had not heard of this. One of the major factors in me choosing the U was that I heard that EA offered a ton of internships to people within the program. Do you know if these internship opportunities will still be available from other companies or will this experience be lost?

EA Salt Lake had anywhere from zero to three summer internship roles each year, that were low-paid jobs where the work was relatively minor and heavily supervised. Corporate wide across the entire 10,000 person organization they typically have a double-digit number of internship jobs, I wouldn't call it "a ton of internships". We had more CS students come in under the QA umbrella than we had under the summer intern programs.

Since EA Salt Lake has had their doors shuttered, no they won't be offering those jobs any more.

Warner Bros has re-opened Avalanche and there are several other studios in the valley, so there will still be game jobs. There are also various effects studios, 3D application companies, marketing companies, and simulation studios that all tend to have jobs available. Finding a job should not be particularly difficult, although it still requires a job hunt.

As a CEO of a small game company I can say for sure that job security is a challenge. You will get paid more easily working in another sector. But working with games is a lot of fun. Do what feels right for you.

As a CEO of a small game company I can say for sure that job security is a challenge. You will get paid more easily working in another sector. But working with games is a lot of fun. Do what feels right for you.