They where very poor at informing students about there college

I took the Game Art Bachelors degree and was forced to take a whole other Graphic Design degree that I had absolutely no interest in, another 50+ of debt in order to take the Game Art degree in the hopes I could update my skills to a professional level. While there were some good classes and big name instructors from the industry, It pains me to say that in the end, the courses were sub-par.

You are expected to learn from HTML text and books you can buy off the shelf (more on that later) and are expected to 'participate' in class with forum software which seems to be written in 1991. There are almost no video tutorials and the HTML "Online Lectures" actually linked to FREE TUTORIALS ON THE WEB (3d Total Joan of Arc) to "teach" their students.

My experience is that (with one exception) there was hardly any actual real help from the instructors and students were left on their own to basically self-teach the subject while the school conveniently graded them for their exhorbitant fee. I ended up subscribing to other tutorial sites like Digital Tutors that offered vastly superior video instruction for a quantum fraction of the tuition paid at Ai in order to supplement and actually help me learn what was needed to successfully complete modeling assignments.

Getting back to the books, I was actually able to save almost 90 percent of costs by buying used texts from places like Amazon, Half, & eBay. The school nipped this in the bud by making electronic texts mandatory and students are expected to pay 90 dollars PER BOOK with the excuse of saving money and the environment.

In short, this school is a rip-off. Don't let the commercials or recruiters fool you. This is a for-profit school at its worst.

haha, my fortune cookie reads: You will have better results getting student loans from Check City than paying tuition at Art Institute

I am now trying to transfer out of AI Minnesota for a cheaper, technical school. My family moved to Georgia, and I feel uncomfortable being so young and living by myself. Especially since if I get sick, there will be no one to help me or even know I'm sick. Why do I rate it so low? Well, it goes a little something like this:

It's a trap.

The credits hardly transfer to other AI schools, if at all. That is a waste of money, way too much money. And the classes? Many times, I was told to "Google" how to use a piece of software....for the WHOLE CLASS. THE WHOLE QUARTER. Each day. Everyday. I might as well paid Google to teach me. Now that I'm trying to move, they make it damn near impossible. AI is great if you don't plan to do any moving around or you like paying that amount of money.

But really, in the end, it is "FOR PROFIT" not "FOR YOUR FUTURE."

Reading these reviews really breaks my heart. The Art Institute Online really set me up for success. Yes, it is a pricey but what school isn't? Its because they employ instructors who have actually worked in the field. Not just got a teaching degree. My instructors NEVER had an issue responding back to me, which says way more than my community college I attended.

As far as job placement, NO SCHOOL CAN GUARANTEE THAT. YOU CANT EXPECT SOMEONE TO FIND A JOB FOR YOU!!!!! Get off your butt and do it yourself. There is online services to help with your resume and mock interviews. Thats what you should be doing anyways. The staff, have you ever been interviewed why you wanted to go to school? At my community college I was just a number. To speak to an Academic councelor took me a wait time of FIVE HOURS! Then she didnt even care what I wanted to do, why I wanted to do it, or even know what she was talking about.

I feel, people expect too much. Expectations are the root of all problems.