Village Gamer

The Princeton Review — one of the United States’ best-known education services companies — has issued its fifth annual report naming the undergraduate and graduate schools with the best programs for students to study video game design. The University of Southern California is #1 on both the undergraduate and graduate school lists (complete list is below) in the 2014 report which names 50 programs overall — 25 undergraduate and 25 graduate — in ranked order 1 to 25. The Art Institute Vancouver and Vancouver Film School were both named in the list.

The Princeton Review selected the schools based on a survey it conducted in 2013-14 of 150 institutions in the U.S.A., Canada, and abroad offering video game design coursework and/or degrees. The 50-question survey asked schools to report on a range of topics from their academic offerings and faculty credentials to graduates’ employment and professional achievements. Among the 60 data points the Company considered in its assessments: the program curriculum, facilities, career services, and technology. The Princeton Review’s report on this project includes profiles of the schools with application information and links to the school sites.

For the second year in a row, The Princeton Review teamed up with PC Gamer, a monthly magazine published by Future plc, as its reporting partner on this project. PC Gamer has a feature on the top schools list in its May issue. The feature has information on some of the schools’ degree programs, class offerings, events, prominent professors, and alumni. The print edition of the May PC Gamer is being sent to subscriber mailboxes this week and will be available on newsstands on April 1^st.

Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s Senior VP – Publisher, praised the very specialized learning opportunities available at these schools – from undergraduate college majors in game design to professionally focused graduate degrees. “For students considering careers in video game design, these are the ‘cream of the crop’ institutions to attend. Some are among the nationally best-known universities in higher education. Others have well-deserved regional reputations in this field. All have state-of-the-art programs in game design. Collectively, they have graduated many of the field’s top developers, artists, designers, and industry professionals.”

The Princeton Review’s “Top 25 Undergraduate Schools to Study Game Design for 2014” are:

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. Hampshire College (Amherst, MA)
6. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA)
7. Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
8. The Art Institute of Vancouver (Vancouver, British Columbia / CAN)
9. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
10. New York University (Brooklyn, NY)
11. Shawnee State University (Portsmouth, OH)
12. Michigan State University (East Lansing, MI)
13. Northeastern University (Boston, MA)
14. Oklahoma Christian University (Edmond, OK)
15. Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA)
16. Champlain College (Burlington, VT)
17. Becker College (Worcester, MA)
18. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY)
19. Vancouver Film School (Vancouver, British Columbia / CAN)
20. DePaul University (Chicago, IL)
21. University of California, Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA)
22. New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark, NJ)
23. North Carolina State University (Raleigh, NC)
24. New England Institute of Technology (East Greenwich, RI)
25. Ferris State University (Grand Rapids, MI)

The Princeton Review’s “Top 25 Graduate Schools to Study Game Design for 2014” are:

1. University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)
2. University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL)
3. Southern Methodist University (Plano, TX)
4. University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
5. DigiPen Institute of Technology (Redmond, WA)
6. Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)
7. University of California, Santa Cruz (Santa Cruz, CA)
8. Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)
9. New York University (Brooklyn, NY)
10. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA)
11. The University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson, TX)
12. DePaul University (Chicago, IL)
13. Savannah College of Art and Design (Savannah, GA)
14. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Worcester, MA)
15. The Ohio State University (Columbus, OH)
16. Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, GA)
17. Sacred Heart University (Fairfield, CT)
18. Full Sail University (Winter Park, FL)
19. University at Buffalo (Buffalo, NY)
20. University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA)
21. Parsons The New School for Design (New York, NY)
22. Trinity College Dublin (Dublin, IRL)
23. University of North Texas (Denton, TX)
24. University of Miami (Coral Gables, FL)
25. St. Mary’s University (San Antonio, TX)

The Princeton Review is also known for its annual rankings of colleges, law schools, and business schools in dozens of categories that it reports on it site and in its books including The Best 378 Colleges and The Best Value Colleges. The Company is not affiliated with Princeton University and it is not a magazine.