Full Sail- a Look into This Unique Florida College

Many high school teens and parents share the frustration of searching fruitlessly through cookie cutter state universities and community colleges. Perhaps you’re looking for an unusual major. Maybe you want a lower teacher to student ratio and more one on one time. Full Sail in Winter Park, FL is a specialty media, art, and technology school where you will find these things and more. Full Sail caters to a more artistic crowd than many “regular” colleges It takes a particular kind of student to go to this unique school. You won’t find fraternities or sororities at Full Sail. Neither are there sports teams, although hackysacking groups run rampant on campus. There also is no on-campus housing. The majority of students live within walking distance at one of dozen of apartment complexes in Winter Park.

At Full Sail there are only six majors: Digital Art and Design, Film, Show Production and touring, computer animation, Recording arts, game design. Each program is extremely intense and accelerated. Students finish their Associate of science degree in 11-13 months and can add the bachelor program on in only 9 months. The school keeps a 24 hour schedule, so students can have class at any hour of the day or night. This takes a little while to adjust to, but it becomes an accepted part of the full sail atmosphere. Classes are usually broken down into four hour chunks of either lecture or lab. Lecture take place in classrooms of ten to twenty five students with course instructors. Labs are usually in the hours following lecture and include no more than six students per group. This is when students get their hands on experience using all the gear talked about in lecture.

The gear at Full Sail is a definite selling point, if not its greatest point. Student get a once in a lifetime chance to get their hands on expensive technology the pros in their field use in the entertainment industry. The film department has sound stages, the recording arts department has studios, show production has live music venues, etc. Students are educated on how to use everything that they will encounter in the real world, as Full Sail lives up to its full name: Full Sail-Real World Education. No where else in the nation can you go to school with such a wide range of facilities. In addition at Full Sail, are a wonderful group of instructors, all with real world industry experience in their field. They are an invaluable asset to the students as they are prepared for a quick entrance into the entertainment industry.

As a current Show Production and Touring student, I’ve seen all the amazing facilities first hand. Full Sail Live is the school’s largest live even venue. It has a complete three phase power system complete with truss and lighting rig, several PAs to be chosen for different types of events, multiple analog and digital sound boards, countless effects systems, extensive communications equipment, a video suite, a broadcast room, and tons of other gear for any kind of live event imaginable. It’s a dream come true to be able to touch all these things before entering the industry and there no other place I could have expected to do so. Many students come to Full Sail to attend the Show production program with an intended focus in mind such as audio systems or lighting, but find they have broader interests once they are able to try out other fields. Again, this is an invaluable experience because you may never otherwise find these hidden passions.

Many of my course instructors have provided countless hours of extra help and individual instruction any time I’ve asked. You will never be turned away at Full Sail because there is a great committment to learning. I have never had an instructor who didn’t go the extra mile for his or her class. This is great because it can sometime be easy to get lost in the accelerated schedule.

Of course, all schools have their drawbacks. This is an extremely intense environment and everyone at the school is very dedicated to what they do, so it is not the place to go if you do not posses a strong will and motivation. Classes average only one or two months in length, so material goes by quickly. You must study and attend every lecture and lab to stay on top of your studies. In addition, the grading scale at Full Sail is stricter than most other schools with a 95-100% A, 85%-95% B and so on. The biggest drawback may be the cost though. At about $40,000 for the associate of science program and at least $10,000 more for the Bachelor, it can be a high price for many. I personally believe it is worth all this because the pros greatly out weigh the cons.

Full Sail schedules full facility tours monthly during its “Behind the Scenes” day. Prospective students can come tour the campus and meet current students and teachers. This is a great way to check the place out and see how it ranks against others schools you might be investigating. Good Luck!