Although the Digipen curriculum is excellent, I would not recommend that students enroll without first obtaining a college degree. Many students at Digipen do in fact come straight from high school. The average age of freshman students at Digipen is 18. 18 years old! I can remember 18 well. I was getting ready to head off to Boston University, move into a dorm, meet tons of people…and have FUN!

Digipen is nothing like what the majority of young adults perceive as "college life." There are no English, foreign language and history requirements. There are no dorms. The course load can be extreme if the student does not know how to manage their time efficiently. Many of the assignments are programming source files handed in electronically. If the student doesn't have the correct software to work on their assignments at home, they must come to the school during lab hours (5-10pm) to finish their work. It can become stressful at times-especially if you feel as if you are the only student that can't complete their assignment in time. It's typical to have a handful of students drop out after the first semester. They find out that they really don't want to develop games, but would rather "play" games.

I feel that I have an advantage over most of the younger students. I have been in a work environment, where professionalism and adhering to deadlines are a must. Knowing how to manage one's course load and milestones are necessary. Depending on the student, it may become overwhelming if they fall behind in their studies and miss assignments due to poor time management. My knowledge of another programming language is a great benefit because I can recall and relate language tactics easily, which are usually universal in all types of programming languages. Receiving a bachelor's degree in mathematics also prepared me for the high level geometric calculations needed during game development.

Unfortunately, the only way to acquire "life" experiences is to live life. I tend to wonder if the rest of my classmates will end up feeling short-changed by not going to college first. Some may argue that attending Digipen is going to college, but I would have to disagree having attended a university and seeing the many differences. They not only lose out on that educational experience, but they also lose out on a big part of growing up-specifically "college life" experiences, typically referred to as "the best time of your life."

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