Westwood College

I'm surprised at some of these reviews. Westwood online taught me the basics of oraphic design which was all I needed. I took it upon myself to learn the animation and web design myself as a bonus. With practicing every day I feel once I earn my degree (less than 2 months) I should have no issue getting a job. I've created such a strong portfolio and owe a lot of it to Westwood.

Before attending Westwood College Online a prospective student may assume that online school is an easier way to go, but it requires a self-teaching attitude because the teacher will never be right in front of you to show you what to do. Extra research to learn is necessary as well, for the same reason, and so expect to do a lot of self-motivated reading and searching. Any schooling requires discipline in order to graduate and I've found that without proper time management and self-discipline a person will struggle to stay bove water. All of Westwood's staff is willing to help a student; they are simply a phone call or email away. Only thing is that it takes the student to make the effort to ask for the help or they won't receive any. It's college and not elementary school so it's the student's responsibility as an adult to take charge. I've had good and bad teachers; nothing is ever black or white. The good teachers were friendly and provided me with useful information and skills, while the bad ones were sarcastic and somewhat insulting. I did have a lot more good teachers than bad teachers though. The school provides you with up-to-date software and likes to keep you updated. Like any college, if you're not enrolled in school full time then you don't get to avoid payments until graduation so that can't be held as the fault of Westwood College. As for the results: I graduated with a degree in animation and obtained a paid internship as a 3D modeler and animator for a video game company before I graduated. So in a nutshell it's all up to the student to take charge of their future; not to sit around and wait for the future to come to them. Getting through school wasn't a walk in the park; it took a lot of time and hard work. But I can honestly say that it was well worth it and that i will never have to make minimum wage ever again.

As many others have said, DO NOT FALL INTO THE WESTWOOD WEB OF LIES!! They are not accredited, credits will not transfer and they overcharge for EVERYTHING. They dropped my program 2 days after the drop date and I still am paying for it with absolutely nothing to show for thousands of dollars spent.

I enjoyed my time at Westwood. Some of the teachers were a bit hard to win over, but for the most part all the teachers were very intelligent on their course subjects. The books are a bit expensive, but isn't that usual for a college anyway? The cost is something many people are worried about. I have yet to see my horrible fate regarding my loans, but I do know it is going to be in the $70,000 mark. About the price of getting a doctors degree! Only difference is you do school from home. You do school in your pajamas. You do school with a cigarette in your mouth. You do school while the kid is sleeping on your lap. You do school at 5am or 10pm or whenever the heck you want. It is very convenient for alot of people. I went to school for 4 years here and not once did I have to pay a dime for books, online help, program software, or my classes. I have well over 10 thousand dollars worth of programs at my disposal on my home pc. Of course, I have to put them to work a bit more after graduated. There will always be that learning process even after school. About jobs. Yes, Westwood does not guarantee a job. You're only as good as you make yourself. The classes do set you on your way, but if you plan on being a master talent out of school, you're in for a surprise. Don't expect anything but an entry level job. You have to get your foot in the door and constantly learn more about your profession. A recently graduated doctor does not become a top surgeon at a hospital in weeks time. It takes more practice and more learning after college. I hear all this stuff about the college not caring about its students and just want money. Sometimes it may feel that way. I felt I was heading down the wrong path. I was frustrated about getting loans. I was booted out of school a few times because loans weren't approved or cosigners were not eligible. My suggestion to you is to talk to your school. There are tons of people who will help if you apply yourself. I constantly got emails from advisors, the dean himself, and success coaches. I even had weekly phone conversations with some that were very helpful. They want you to graduate more than they want the money. Everyone pulled strings to make it happen and set me on my way. Although I didn't rank the college really high, it is a good learning experience. A food for thought is to take something that is useful around your area. Don't go animation just because you enjoy it. Take it because there is a need for the field in your area. That will help those that feel lost with a degree, like myself.

Greetings, I felt I needed to write a fair and unbiased view of Westwood Online, because most of the reviews I see aren’t. I decided on game art design because I felt it would give greater degree of flexibility. I also choose Westwood Online over SCAD and Ringling. The curriculum for Westwood looked more intense and challenging and I wouldn’t have to relocate. I also came to the realization that I was going to have to learn a lot of software packages and I needed to learn the fundamentals of drawing and I didn’t want to tackle either solely via online coursese. I enrolled at ITT for a few hands on courses. It was quite funny because this was a very expensive school, but you would see the 18 - 20 some year olds not doing the work or labs, instead they were surfing the web, playing video games or whatever, and undoubtedly failing the courses or just barely passing!!! The same students who were trashing ITT were the same ones goofing off during class! I took courses in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, 3Dmax, intro to programming, and drawing & perspective. I really enjoyed my time at ITT and think that’s it’s a great school, it’s like anything else you get out – what you put in. After completing these courses I felt I was ready for Westwood. To be honest Online education isn’t for everyone, if you can’t learn from textbooks or the web; or if you’re the type of person that needs to have something demonstrated or shown to you once or twice before you can get it - then you probably shouldn’t be enrolling in a Online Degree Program. Honestly the instructors and communication with them really suck at Westwood. That being said, I found the curriculum to be awesome (much greater detail then what was covered at ITT), and also the textbooks, software, and toolkits provided by the school are equally as awesome. I'm entering my second year at Westwood with an -A GPA and I can really say I've already learned quite a bit. I’ve landed a part-time job teaching animation for an afterschool program, and make money working on side projects after only attending ITT and Westwood for one year ( I was taking courses at both schools simultaneously, I didn’t exceed 16 units a quarter). Though I had to teach myself a lot of the stuff (Westwood) - I could never have done it without the curriculum, books, lecture materials and tools provided by Westwood. The most difficult aspect to realize with the degrees in this area, you need to have a great portfolio to get a job. That means you really have to apply yourself when it comes to the course work, and then find the time to expand upon what you have learned because no curriculum alone is going to get you prepared for the real world or composing your portfolio. Sharpening your abilities so you can compile an outstanding portfolio is going to be your greatest challenge. Those who do will be too busy working, and those who don’t will be here online whining. Carl

I got my degree in Animation but after 3 years I feel like I did not learn much but still graduated with a 3.66 GPA. They teach you the very basics which you can probably learn on your own through books and Tutorials from Lynda.com etc for a few hundred dollars. I paid over $60,000 for the 3 years which I think is more than what a real State University costs. I now have so much debt in student loans and I can't get a job in Animation with the skills I currently have not even an entry level.

They only teach you the basics and they expect you to improve your skills on your own time; skills which are necessary when looking for a job.

They have been more then helpful, the constantly call me to see how things are going. Don't know what happened with this other guy, but I have had nothing but good luck with these guys. I would definitely recommend them to anyone.

this school is horrible. they talk, talk, talk , talk like they want to help you out, but they really don't care. they just want your money. the intitial start up experience was horrible. as soon as i e-signed for my student loans they completely started to ignore me. nothing was done in time, and when i decided to change my major a good 3 weeks before classes were even starting, i checked my student portal, and nothing was changed!! ..and nothing was changed even when classes were starting the next day!!! they are sloppy. there assistant director is the worst. his name is daniel proshuck, and he is full of promises that are never followed through. he's a good talker so don't be fooled. watch out for this school!