Westwood College Online's Game Art and Design Program

When I found Westwood Online I was at the end of my proverbial rope. Jobless and disillusioned with the local college scene, I started to seek vocational training in IT. I knew I would never be truly happy with my job, but at least it would keep the bills paid, and being under such a tight money crunch at the time, I was willing to give up anything just to relieve the pressure. So I started searching for a quick program in which I could get certified. And while doing so, I just happened to stumble across Westwood College Online.

I admit I was skeptical at first. After seeing a few ads for 'game design' programs online and finding many of them to be just a few programming classes with a History of Electronic Media course thrown in for good measure, I wasn't counting on finding anything worthwhile at Westwood. But I signed up to receive information, and within the next two days I was awoken by an admissions representative. That afternoon, I was enrolled in Westwood College Online's Game Art and Design program.

The Program

The Game Art and Design program is a three year accelerated Bachelor's degree. About 70% of the program is curriculum-based, including classes such as Texture Mapping for Games and Game Design Process. About 25% is general education courses that you would get through any four year degree, and the remaining 5% is comprised of business, administration, and management courses.

Because the programs at Westwood are accelerated, the terms are only nine weeks long, with generally a week between terms. This can make for a pretty hectic schedule at times, and if you're not highly motivated I don't recommend it. But the benefit of having such an accelerated schedule as compared to the 12-18 week terms of traditional colleges is that you'll be shaving a year off of your degree program, getting you into a job that much quicker.