First of all, I would like to thank you for your time if you are reading this. I am aware that Tom Sloper already has an article about what should college students major in if thinking of going into the video game industry. However, the reality of this economy is giving me more questions about college major relevancy and I am seeking your opinions on them as well as suggestions on what I should do. I appreciate it if you are reading this too Tom.

Ok, here it goes;

As of right now, I am a sophomore at Brooklyn College aspiring to be a games artist (and hopefully, a game designer or producer). Originally, I wanted to major in Multimedia Computing as a freshman because I thought that doing art and coding would be beneficial to get a job as a game designer and in the industry in general. Furthermore, I felt that learning the same skills that computer science students learn would lead me to better job prospects in case my plans for breaking in the industry fail miserably. Unfortunately, I found that the major requires lots of coding and I found out that I am so bad at that skill. I would not be hired at all if my back up plan were to happen. After seeking Tom’s advice as well as the advice of the forum members in this site I decided to pursue my real passion: art. Thus, I am majoring in studio art and it is still my major as of right now.

One day, I stumbled upon an internet article of the worse college majors and art is one of them. I looked more into this topic and after reading these following articles and one book:

www.forbes.com/sites/.../10/.../the-10-worst-college-majors

http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2012/01/27/what-is-liberal-arts-degree-worth-these-days/

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/53-of-recent-college-grads-are-jobless-or-underemployed-how/256237/

“The New College Reality” by Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder

These led me to believe that art students like myself would have a difficult time getting a job than students majoring in computers, business, or education. To quote from the book “Old Rule: It doesn’t matter what you major I, as long as you get your degree. New Rule: Majors matter.” To quote another from the same book, “Some people say, ‘Do what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.’ This advice sounds good to an aspiring artist, but it is hard to love what you do when your home is being foreclosed on and you can’t afford health insurance.” Basically, my art degree isn’t financially rewarding in this economy. The advice of majoring what interests you doesn’t seem to apply these days and I became pretty much lost afterwards.

So I have two options I am thinking about:

1. Continue the art major and keep building that portfolio in the hopes of getting an internship, and into the games industry years afterwards. Of course, I still risk being un-employed in this economy while mainstream majors reap the benefits of their education
2. Go into my original major prospect: Multimedia computing. Still, I run the risk of bad test grades on coding again. As I stated above, I highly doubt anyone would hire me if my coding skills are bad. Going to another mainstream major may achieve the same bad results as well since it’s not like I am interested in something like financial business (It would be great if I did, I’d be a great math genius!)

Case in point, there doesn’t seem to be an easy route but no one said that life was easy. I still have to be “true to myself” of course but I need to be financially well off as well after collage. So what do you suggest I do? Has anyone had a similar dilemma before?

Thanks for the advice

dude just do something practical. I know you, me and the rest of us here wanna work in the game industry, but it is insanely hard to get into. Dont put so much on the line for something you most likely will not get (a job as a game dev). Here are the majors I recommend if you want a job: Engineering, Nursing, Accounting, FInance, Computer Science, Information Technology. Stay away from the liberal arts if you want a job. I might sound harsh, but its just my advice. I dont mean to be offensive or anything

Interesting that you suggested I take option 2 in my post. I found a post reguarding your dobts in c++ class http://www.gamedev.net/topic/635716-i-feel-paranoid-about-taking-programmingcs-classes/#entry5010080 and it sounds like the issue of what i had. I took intro to c++ and like you, i can't keep up with the class (although i never taught myself programming in my own time, i taught myself art in my own time instead.). Like you, I decided to forget about programming classes because it wasn't working for me. Like I said before, option 2 was my initial plan before my art major but it backfired on me so I feel like I don't have a safe major anymore. I still consider taking something more mainstream but the question is, will I succeed even with a lack of interest? Also, I would like to know, how did you choose your major? Why did you take your major?

[quote name='Tom Sloper' timestamp='1357953934' post='5020569'] Are you a spectacular artist? If so, getting an art degree would not be a mistake. [/quote] I don't consider myself spectacular because I am in the process of making my artwork better. I love art and that love for it was one of the reasons why I switched to that major. (The other reason was that I keep getting low scores in my programming class and that I am bad with math) [quote name='Tom Sloper' timestamp='1357953934' post='5020569'] Are you an untalented hack at art? If so, one wonders why you chose art, and you should choose something you're better at (and still interested in). [/quote] I don't believe I am an untalented at art. I did artwork myself and honestly, I am better at that than anything in the sciences, especially programming I would say I am in between those options because I am building myself up to being "spectacular" and I am finding ways to make my art great so that employers would hire me. Yes I still want to be well off but if I believe that I major in something practical, I would probably fail like I did before an I had no choice but to submit to my passions in the hopes I would get a job like that after graduation. It really feels like running the Death Star trench run in Star Wars you know, and that is really terrifying

Re-iterating the advice: You should try to follow your passions.

If your passion is art, then by all means go for an art degree.

But make sure you temper it with a dose of reality. There are schools where tuition is a few hundred per semester, and there are schools were tuition is tens of thousands per semester. Hopefully you included the cost of the school in your decision. Don't go into debt six figures for a degree where you will be lucky to earn 50,000/year when you start out.