Solace assistance, if you will.

[Kuchen Fairy]

Okay, here's the gist of it. A friend of mine wants to be a video game designer. She's pursuing a major in Japanese and a minor in both Computer Science and Game Design. The first two are relatively easy to find; the third, not so much. Most universities that offer a prestigious program for such a degree require lots of money and good grades.
My friend is very smart, at least in my opinion. However, she tells me she's got a bit of an issue getting assignments in on time. From what I hear, she did fine last semester - all As and Bs, from what she has said - but this semester she got two Cs and a D. Yes, a dreaded D.
She was expecting higher grades in the classes with Cs so she said she figured if she retook the D class, any college looking over her grades would be able to see that she isn't incompetent. But since she now has these two Cs, she tells me she doesn't think that's going to sway anybody anymore. So basically she's been bawling over this entire ordeal. I keep telling her to just take it one day at a time, but she habitually looks to the future, and since her career goals are already a bit ambitious, she fears that these three stupid letter grades have ruined her chances of getting into the college she wants, which in turn will ruin her chance of getting into the gaming industry. All in all she thinks this has ruined her life.
I keep trying to tell her it really isn't the end of the world; she's not totally devoted to any one college, though she does have a preference, but she's going for Japanese and Computer Science first, and Game Design later as a graduate. Again, both of those are fairly easy to find, and I can't imagine all universities that offer them are going to turn her down over two average and one poor grade(s).
Then she tells me that her high school grades were terrible as s**t and that if universities look at those grades she'll be boned. I go to IU and don't recall them looking into my high school grades...? But she's convinced it happens, and I'm sure it does, but she's in community college right now so they'll likely just look at those grades. I told her if she gets all As and Bs next year and then applies the year after she should have no problem getting in as a transfer student, but that really isn't helping.

TL;DR: what the ******** do I do? wahmbulance She's making me freak out now.  

[Fresnel]

The gaming industry strikes me as one that applauds skill before schooling. A lot of corporations out there just don't care where you went to school so long as you're good. I'm sure if she wrote up a couple games from scratch, maybe even her and a couple other people, and they come out good, a game design company might be more impressed than they would be if she walked in with an impressive college under her belt and no experience. If there's one thing I've learned from job searching, it's that experience is a hundred times more useful than schooling, and when all other things are equal, experience wins.  

[magmayoshi]

Fresnel

The gaming industry strikes me as one that applauds skill before schooling.

That, experience is a plus and have a good attitude is what they are looking for.  

[Kuchen Fairy]

Fresnel

The gaming industry strikes me as one that applauds skill before schooling. A lot of corporations out there just don't care where you went to school so long as you're good. I'm sure if she wrote up a couple games from scratch, maybe even her and a couple other people, and they come out good, a game design company might be more impressed than they would be if she walked in with an impressive college under her belt and no experience. If there's one thing I've learned from job searching, it's that experience is a hundred times more useful than schooling, and when all other things are equal, experience wins.

Yeah, they do look for skill. I think her main issue is the fact that she plans on gaining experience in college and if she can't find herself in a decent university, she's not going to get said experience.
Which is bullshit, but she's beyond reason for the time being. I'll try again tomorrow. neutral  

[village midget]

my bf is a games coder. he went to university and did a comp sci honours degree. he discovered when he started working that none of the other programmers in his company had been to university or formally studied computer anything...

if she wants to program games getting a degree in computer science will give her an advantage in the workplace, but she will still have to start in a low key position. i don't think studying games design is nearly as relevant as she thinks it is...the industry changes and software eveloves way too fast for colleges to keep up and teach anything close to what is really happening in the field. by the time lecture plans have been drawn up their content is obsolete. my bf said this was also the case for a lot of his comp sci course.

if she wants to work in games as a coder she needs a sound understanding of programing -meaning a working knowledge of languages like c++, and strong higher maths understanding - especially vectors. most importantly, she needs a portfolio. which means coming up with a lot of (small/simple) ideas for games and making them happen in her spare time, not getting them published/releasing them (although that would only be beneficial) but having something to show she is serious and capable.

ps. if she can't get into university because of her high school grades, she can take access courses at college or she can go straight for work experience in the industry and reapply as a mature student - matutre students have different entry requirements and don't need anything like as many academic points.

also, if she wants to be a designer/artist/animator/concept artist in games she should be looking at an art or design degree...in fact i don't really understand why she is opting for japanese as the major - even if she wants to live in japan, the computer science/design is much more important for getting a job in games.  

[Kuchen Fairy]

village midget

my bf is a games coder. he went to university and did a comp sci honours degree. he discovered when he started working that none of the other programmers in his company had been to university or formally studied computer anything...

if she wants to program games getting a degree in computer science will give her an advantage in the workplace, but she will still have to start in a low key position. i don't think studying games design is nearly as relevant as she thinks it is...the industry changes and software eveloves way too fast for colleges to keep up and teach anything close to what is really happening in the field. by the time lecture plans have been drawn up their content is obsolete. my bf said this was also the case for a lot of his comp sci course.

if she wants to work in games as a coder she needs a sound understanding of programing -meaning a working knowledge of languages like c++, and strong higher maths understanding - especially vectors. most importantly, she needs a portfolio. which means coming up with a lot of (small/simple) ideas for games and making them happen in her spare time, not getting them published/releasing them (although that would only be beneficial) but having something to show she is serious and capable.

ps. if she can't get into university because of her high school grades, she can take access courses at college or she can go straight for work experience in the industry and reapply as a mature student - matutre students have different entry requirements and don't need anything like as many academic points.

also, if she wants to be a designer/artist/animator/concept artist in games she should be looking at an art or design degree...in fact i don't really understand why she is opting for japanese as the major - even if she wants to live in japan, the computer science/design is much more important for getting a job in games.

She doesn't want to program them - she wants to design them. But the same stuff still applies.
She also sucks terribly at math, but I can't imagine game design uses it nearly as much as game programming.

The Japanese degree is just a positive asset for her. She wants to work for global companies and figures she'll be a benefit to have around if she can communicate with foreign sister companies and the like, I guess.  

[village midget]

Silver Screen

village midget

my bf is a games coder. he went to university and did a comp sci honours degree. he discovered when he started working that none of the other programmers in his company had been to university or formally studied computer anything...

if she wants to program games getting a degree in computer science will give her an advantage in the workplace, but she will still have to start in a low key position. i don't think studying games design is nearly as relevant as she thinks it is...the industry changes and software eveloves way too fast for colleges to keep up and teach anything close to what is really happening in the field. by the time lecture plans have been drawn up their content is obsolete. my bf said this was also the case for a lot of his comp sci course.

if she wants to work in games as a coder she needs a sound understanding of programing -meaning a working knowledge of languages like c++, and strong higher maths understanding - especially vectors. most importantly, she needs a portfolio. which means coming up with a lot of (small/simple) ideas for games and making them happen in her spare time, not getting them published/releasing them (although that would only be beneficial) but having something to show she is serious and capable.

ps. if she can't get into university because of her high school grades, she can take access courses at college or she can go straight for work experience in the industry and reapply as a mature student - matutre students have different entry requirements and don't need anything like as many academic points.

also, if she wants to be a designer/artist/animator/concept artist in games she should be looking at an art or design degree...in fact i don't really understand why she is opting for japanese as the major - even if she wants to live in japan, the computer science/design is much more important for getting a job in games.

She doesn't want to program them - she wants to design them. But the same stuff still applies.
She also sucks terribly at math, but I can't imagine game design uses it nearly as much as game programming.

The Japanese degree is just a positive asset for her. She wants to work for global companies and figures she'll be a benefit to have around if she can communicate with foreign sister companies and the like, I guess.

then surely she will do better getting an design qualification like an art degree majoring in new media, or a media degree with a major design element? computer science is only going to teach her programming and only about one semester is going to have any relevance to games design at all, the rest will all be databases and corporate stuff. the extra asset of speaking Japanese shouldn't be the major, it's extra. She needs to look at the focus of the job she wants and get as much education in that as possible, japanese is an very non essential asset, some knowledge of basic programming is more helpful but not essential, design qualification and or experience essential. maybe the best thing she could do is seek out some proffessional careers advice? if that's not possible then i would say research what it is she will actually need by looking at job vacancies and their requirements, contacting companies and asking them (they will be more than happy to advise and she might make a contact for the future), and contacting potential universities and asking about specific courses/talking to heads of departments about what they think.  

[Kuchen Fairy]

I stand corrected; apparently one of those Cs is actually a B now and I think my sly little friend is working on getting another B and a C, as opposed to her original grades. Community college must be pretty lenient.  

[Fresnel]

Silver Screen

I stand corrected; apparently one of those Cs is actually a B now and I think my sly little friend is working on getting another B and a C, as opposed to her original grades. Community college must be pretty lenient.

Horny teachers and cleavage. That's all you need to make it through school...  

[village midget]

lol, i misread "cleavage" as cleaver...like a meat cleaver...l  

[black_wing_angel]

Fresnel

Silver Screen

I stand corrected; apparently one of those Cs is actually a B now and I think my sly little friend is working on getting another B and a C, as opposed to her original grades. Community college must be pretty lenient.

Horny teachers and cleavage. That's all you need to make it through school...

Well, are the horny teachers actually attractive, or are they like..in their 90's?

That DOES make a difference.

And if they are, in fact, young and hot...then where can I get a student loan?  

[Fresnel]

black_wing_angel

Fresnel

Silver Screen

I stand corrected; apparently one of those Cs is actually a B now and I think my sly little friend is working on getting another B and a C, as opposed to her original grades. Community college must be pretty lenient.

Horny teachers and cleavage. That's all you need to make it through school...

Well, are the horny teachers actually attractive, or are they like..in their 90's?

That DOES make a difference.

And if they are, in fact, young and hot...then where can I get a student loan?

I knew a half-dozen girls who flirted their way through HS science. I guess the guy wasn't bad-looking for a 30-some-year-old guy with ******** up teeth, but the fact that the mere sight of cleavage would bump you up from a D to a B+ mixed with the fact that his WIFE WAS A SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER AT THE SAME SCHOOL... you know how kids are. There's no way she'd never heard.  

[black_wing_angel]

Fresnel

black_wing_angel

Fresnel

Silver Screen

I stand corrected; apparently one of those Cs is actually a B now and I think my sly little friend is working on getting another B and a C, as opposed to her original grades. Community college must be pretty lenient.

Horny teachers and cleavage. That's all you need to make it through school...

Well, are the horny teachers actually attractive, or are they like..in their 90's?

That DOES make a difference.

And if they are, in fact, young and hot...then where can I get a student loan?

I knew a half-dozen girls who flirted their way through HS science. I guess the guy wasn't bad-looking for a 30-some-year-old guy with ******** up teeth, but the fact that the mere sight of cleavage would bump you up from a D to a B+ mixed with the fact that his WIFE WAS A SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHER AT THE SAME SCHOOL... you know how kids are. There's no way she'd never heard.

Wow. And here I had to bust my a** to graduate...