Art Institute of Vancouver Among World’s Best Schools for Studying Game Design

The Princeton Review recently released its sixth annual ranking list naming the best schools for undergrad and grad students to study game design.

US schools thoroughly dominated the list, but one Canadian institution fared extremely well. The Art Institute of Vancouver ranked fifth among undergraduate schools.The survey asked the school’s administrators to report on everything from their academic offerings and faculty’s credentials to their graduates’ starting salaries and employment experience. Among the surveyed schools, The Princeton Review found that undergrads are earning an average starting salary of $58,000, a 20% increase from last year and 28% more than the average salary for all 2014 undergrads.

Students studying game design at these schools also find professional achievement while still in school. Forty-eight percent of undergrads and 66% of grad students work on a game that is shipped before they graduate.

“For students aspiring to work in the burgeoning field of game design, these are truly the ‘cream of the crop’ institutions from which to launch a career,” said Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s Senior VP – Publisher. “Some are nationally-known universities; others have well-deserved reputations within their regions. All are renowned for their exceptional faculties and awesome, state-of-the-art facilities.”

 

 

“Collectively, these schools have graduated legions of the industry’s most successful video game designers, developers, artists, and entrepreneurs,” he added.

The Princeton Review’s Top Undergraduate Schools to Study Game Design for 2015

1. University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
2. University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
3. DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA)
4. Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)
5. The Art Institute of Vancouver (Vancouver, British Columbia)
6. Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
7. Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI)
8. Shawnee State University (Portsmouth, OH)
9. Becker College (Worcester, MA)
10. Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)
11. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY)
12. Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA)
13. Bradley University (Peoria, IL)
14. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
15. Champlain College (Burlington, VT)
16. Ferris State University (Grand Rapids, MI)
17. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA)
18. The University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson, TX)
19. Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA)
20. New York University (Brooklyn, NY)
21. Abertay University (Dundee, Scotland)
22. Northeastern University (Boston, MA)
23. Lawrence Technological University (Southfield, MI)
24. Full Sail University (Winter Park, FL)
25. DePaul University (Chicago, IL)