Southern Adventist University

Date: Sep 26 2019
Major: Art & Design Department (This Major's Salary over time)
So, I went to Southern because I wanted to attend an Adventist University and they also offered the degree I wanted to go into. Our first year, the competition started where professors would praise people in class and tell other students to be more like them. By sophomore year, if you weren't already showing progress, professors had absolutely no interest in helping you. My junior year was when everything really went south. There was a dispute about a collaborative project within the animation department and if you were against the original idea, you were ostracized and then guilt tripped into working on the project rather than being allowed to work on your portfolio. It was a NIGHTMARE. The original project would be made on brand new program and the idea was too big for the students who were just starting to learn it. When many students voiced their complaints, our professor called us lazy and told us we didn't even deserve a peptalk. THEN senior year, we worked on our portfolios and talked about getting our first jobs. BUT we didn't have any opportunities to meet with recruiters from any studios or any form of networking available to us. I didn't even learn about recruiters until a whole year after I graduated. Once you graduate, it is almost impossible to get a job unless you are a technical animator and work with either rigging or coding or vfx. The placement rate is like 5% (in other words: Terrible). My recommendation is if you are interested in animation, RUN (all the way to California and attend school in a good location). Don't waste your money AND be unemployed.