CSC News
NC State’s Video Game Design Program in Top 15
NC State has been recognized as one of the top 15 undergraduate programs to study video game design on The Princeton Review’s fourth annual list saluting the best schools in the U.S. and Canada. This is the third year in a row that NC State’s program has been recognized.The list, “Top Schools to Study Video Game Design for 2013,” is based on a survey The Princeton Review conducted in 2012-13 of 150 programs at institutions in the US and Canada offering video game design coursework and/or degrees. Overall, the list salutes 50 game design programs (30 undergraduate/20 graduate) at 35 institutions.
The list is published on The Princeton Review’s website.
The survey, which included more than 50 questions, covered a wide range of topics from academics and faculty credentials to graduates’ employment and career achievements. Criteria for The Princeton Review’s school selections covered the quality of the curriculum, faculty, facilities and infrastructure. The Company also factored in data it collected from the schools on their scholarships, financial aid and career opportunities.
Dr. R. Michael Young, professor of computer science and director of the Digital Game Research Center at NC State said, “After three years being ranked in the top 30 game programs, we're very excited to be ranked #15 in North America by The Princeton Review for 2013. It's a reflection of the strong academic programs we have in games here at NCSU and of the impact that our graduates are having at leading games companies like Epic Games, Red Storm Entertainment and many others. NC State has a unique program that blends games courses taught in world-class engineering and design colleges. Instructors work with games industry leaders like Electronic Arts, Zynga, Microsoft Game Studios and many others to ground class work in real-world practices. As a result, our graduates are trained as excellent software developers or designers with all the tools they need to hit the ground running at a game company. Our graduates land jobs at large, international companies like Epic Games, dynamic North Carolina game studios like Spark Plug Games or start-ups that they found themselves, like Mighty Rabbit Studios.“
Robert Franek, Princeton Review Senior VP/Publisher, noted the burgeoning interest among students in game design and the exceptional study options available from specialized college majors to concentrated graduate degrees. “We salute the schools on our 2013 list for their commitment to this professional field. We hope our project will guide students considering careers in game design to schools best for them on our lists and on to companies at which they can apply their creative ideas and skills for the next generation of game players."
The Princeton Review is also known for its annual rankings of colleges, law schools, and business schools in dozens of categories which it reports on its website and in its books including The Best 377 Colleges and The Best Value Colleges.
For more information on the computer science department’s undergraduate concentration in game development, click here.
For more information on the NC State Digital Games Research Center, click here.
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