Texas A&M Is Among Top 10 Public Schools For Game Design
Texas A&M University is again in the top 10 among public schools nationally for game design, according to new rankings by Animation Career Review.
The university comes in at No. 8. It is the eighth consecutive year that it has been highly rated since the rankings began in 2016.
Texas A&M ranks fourth in the Southwest and has been in the top five each year since the rankings began. The university ranks third in Texas and 22nd overall.
Game design is part of the Visualization program in the university’s School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts, which debuted Sept. 1. The school offers an undergraduate degree, the Bachelor of Science in Visualization, and two graduate programs: Master of Fine Arts in Visualization and Master of Science in Visualization. A minor in game design and development is also offered.
Among schools with gaming-related Master of Fine Arts degree programs, Texas A&M ranks sixth, and 14th among schools with Master of Arts or Master of Science programs. It is No. 15 among schools with Bachelor of Science degrees.
“I’m enthusiastic about our continued high ranking as a games school, despite not having a games program,” said Interim Dean Tim McLaughlin. “The technology, design thinking and visual artistry of games continue to evolve and expand, and that’s great for our approach to games education through Visualization at Texas A&M. What we hear from employers is that they come to Texas A&M to recruit our students because they like the way they think and know that they have the first day on the job skillset, along with the capacity to grow and evolve with the field.”
The Texas A&M game design experience extends to the LIVE Lab — which stands for Learning Interactive Visualization Experience — a research center in which students create educational video games through interdisciplinary collaboration within the university and with other schools.
Visualization, which also features highly rated animation and virtual/augmented reality programs, has been a pipeline to top gaming companies including Blizzard Entertainment, Bluepoint Games, Brazen Animation, Bungie Inc., Cloud Imperium Games, Epic Games, Gearbox, SideFX and Virtuix.
Animation Career Review’s rankings criteria include academic, admission and employment data, along with tuition value and graduation rates.
Photo: The LIVE Lab at Texas A&M created the environments in the game “Variant,” which helps college students learn calculus.
