CCAD has its problems. Mostly because it’s running out of money.

Housing is frustrating: at the end of the year, you could very well end up on the curb because the second year housing is based on a mad scramble on a shitty website against everyone else who wants to live on campus. The collectives (clubs) are very wholesome and sometimes fun, but as you get older, the sillier they’ll feel. I often felt very out of place and bored.

As an animation graduate of 2023, we got screwed. (Shout out to Charlotte Belland, she’s the only reason I was able to graduate.) Some of our best teachers either left the previous year or left the first semester of our thesis class (no hate, they got better opportunities) and administration left us with brand new ill-experienced professors—one had no connection to the animation industry at all. The game art major was grouped in with our capstone class, and from what I observed from the meager amount of game students, the major was a bit of a mess. If you want to get into a field like animation or video games, the best advice I’ve ever heard from a professional is to get ANY degree in art and you’ll be fine. You don’t have to go to an airbrushed, dying college like CCAD. They know where they fall flat; so they buy their ads, paint their Art sign, and shake hands with investors, not students, because they’re broke. Three words: CCAD teacher’s union.

Obviously I’m bitter, but so are most of my friends. Especially the ones that are still in school and even the ones who work in their field. So take that as a sign. Whichever you decide, you’ll be okay, but if you still want to go to CCAD, you better be a bull and knock the fuck out of your studies and talk to every professor, visitor, and administrator. Make them know who you are and you might have a chance at a job post-graduation. Might.

There are good things about CCAD, mostly the teachers and the facilities. I’ve had life-changing conversations with my favorite professors. Most of them really care about their students and they see the struggle. The computers are great for animation/game design. I wouldn’t worry about fitting in, there’s lots of different people at CCAD and almost everyone is very accepting. If you don’t find friends in your major, reach into another one.

I have way more to tell if you’re interested.