The Art Institute of Pittsburgh

Date: Feb 27 2014
Major: Design Arts - Industrial Design/Graphic Design/etc (This Major's Salary over time)
I was in the Game Art and Design Program for four quarters. This Review is focused on that field and what I experienced.

I was accepted into the school with without any background or skill in art. I was horrible at concept art. After the second quarter, I saw a dramatic improvement in my sketch work. Once I transitioned into the digital end of artwork, I began to notice, I was spending the majority of my time learning how to use 3DS Max on YouTube. My professors only criticized the work, which is not bad. I only wish they had helped me learn the software in the classroom. I used standard grading rubric to rate the school. I would say about 25% of the classes, and professors that taught them, were excellent. I took multiple classes where the professor would just sit at their desk and draw while ranting how 90% of us will never find a decent job. I was also told that I would have the opportunity to learn some basic computer programming, because we are studying VIDEO GAMES. No programming class work at all. The courses are not even offered. The game design club would get about 10% into the actual game development process before encountering a problem that requires some basic knowledge of a programming language. The students were set up for failure before they even started.

On top of the incredibly poor curriculum, the student housing was substandard and unsafe. It was common to ride in an elevator that would drop one or two floors before getting to the floor you needed to be. It was all concrete with little paint. I did not reside in the student housing. I was not that much of a sucker. However, my friends who did, said there were being charged somewhere along the lines of $1500 a month. In addition, one of my friends had two other roommates, all being charged $1500 a month. That is $4500 a month the school made on students living in substandard conditions.

To sum up the experience, I had few professors who actually taught a course. The majority of my class time was on a computer watching YouTube lectures, trying to self teach. If you have a passion for Game Art and Design, I would strong recommend that you save yourself the $80,000 and take some programming classes at Community College. Spend your down time learning off YouTube and other Game art forums. You will save yourself A LOT OF MONEY and not be crippled with debt. I do not even put my education from the Art Institute on my resume. I am embarrassed by it. If you are serious about actually working in the field of Game Art and design, DO NOT ATTEND THE ART INSTITUTE. Get a real education.