I've gone to college in the past, and as part of a career-change, I'm currently enrolled in the Game Dev BS program. I'm also concurrently attending public university for Computer Programming. I feel I have enough exposure to both traditional public college and Full Sail University to write a brief objective analysis between the two. This has been my experience so far.
Full Sail is nationally accredited, not regionally accredited. All this means is the criteria for transferring credits into or out of Full Sail differs slightly from the criteria for transferring credits between two regionally accredited schools. It makes no difference to an employer. Full Sail's administrative offices are my biggest complaint, as the various departments tend to have trouble communicating and coordinating with each other. It took several weeks for them to figure out my VA benefits, FAFSA eligibility, billing, transfer credit, etc. However, once all that was done, it was smooth sailing thereafter.
The teaching staff has been great. Every instructor I've had has been knowledgeable, experienced, available, and easy to learn from. The material is also great. Very little time is wasted on irrelevant general ed courses, leaving only those which actually benefit you in the field (Composition, Public Speaking, Interpersonal Communication, etc.), and the rest is all core training.
Education at a traditional public university feels so slow, dumbed-down, and dull. Doing 6 classes at a time, not zeroing in enough in any of them, and then having the same classes for 3-4 months straight tends to leave me scattered, unfocused, and bored. A year of college left me feeling like I had the same level of expertise as I did before I started. Then public school has the added stressors of hoping the class you need next is scheduled to run next semester, hoping you can register for it in time before it fills, figuring out which book (the one on the website or the one in the syllabus) is the right one for your class, finding and buying that book before class starts, and often having to attend different campuses all over town to get the class you need. Half the time the instructors have very little involvement with the class and are only at the school for their own research projects, are inaccessible, and have poor teaching practices as reflected in their ratings. Tutors sometimes cost money too. Parking decals run about $80 a term. There are some student success programs, but I've never seen much recruiting done on campus at any of the public colleges I've attended. A 2-3 hour class drags on painfully as I check the clock every 2 minutes.
By contrast, at Full Sail I focus on one or two classes at a time, delve deep into the subject, and learn so much more in a single 1-month class than I learn in six 4-month classes at public school. I mean that literally. My first 1-month long programming class taught me more than I'd learned in a year of programming in public school. My scheduling is done automatically, my books are issued to me before each new class, and all my core classes are in one building. Brand new books are issued for free (covered by your tuition), laptops with the appropriate software pre-installed are issued (covered by your fees), tutors are available for free, and classes failed can be retaken for free. Even classes passed can be retaken for free. You're (usually) free to sit in on any class in the program if you have the free time and desire to do so. All of my instructors so far have been great, and all of my instructors for my next few classes have high ratings. Parking is free. I've personally witnessed representatives from AMD, ATI, Google, and EA recruiting on-campus. An 8-hour class blasts by in the blink of an eye, sometimes before I'm even ready to leave.
As a veteran, my education benefits would pay for me to attend any public school I want 100% free. To attend Full Sail, however, I have to spend several thousands out of pocket, because the VA pays private schools much less. I chose Full Sail anyway, and I couldn't be happier with that choice.
I also want to add that people who complain about not being able to find a job should not be blaming Full Sail. Full Sail is not your personal job finder. It is a school. You pay for an education, and they give it to you. What you do with it after graduation is on you. Entertainment industries are extremely competitive, and this is something you should already know and accept before ever enrolling at Full Sail. It's up to you to decide if your passion is worth the situation it puts you in economically. Most of these complaints are exaggerated and misrepresented, some are outright lies.
On a final note, I do want to stress what others have said, that if you don't really know what your passion is, and you don't have a strong work ethic, then Full Sail will be too fast, focused, and demanding for you. read more