9 Best Masters Programs In Seattle, WA (2022 Updated)

I'm giving 4 stars because DigiPen is an incredible school, but it can be very unforgiving. I attended from August 2015 to October 2015, and do kind of regret it. The experience was incredible and surreal, going to a school like itself. It's a good school with a great learning community if you are very, VERY committed and into it. I went in wholeheartedly believing I could push myself to excel, but I quickly learned that (in my case) staying would be a very bad idea. I'm not an artist, and I suck at math. The half-semester experience left me $20,000 in debt, which I might have paid off by the end of next year. Also, if you owe the school money, the minimum payment is $500 a month. Keep this in mind: this is the real world, and if you have any doubts about this school, do not attend unless you have enough money to come out unscathed should you decide to leave. If you graduate (or complete most of your degree), you will be WELL over $100,000 in debt. Also, should you need to finish at another school, keep in mind that no classes will transfer at all. This is a highly specialized curriculum. Lastly, if you suffer from homesickness or don't hate where you live now, the move will take a toll on you. I moved from South Carolina, and it was very difficult after the first month. If you 100% believe that you can handle this school, and know for a fact game design/art and animation is what you want to do with your life, then go for it. Keep everything I've said in mind, and PLEASE talk to DigiPen students before you enroll. Ask them about the workload and the difficulty. Check out their assignments if possible, and be sure to go in with full understand that you will be pushed to your limits.Nick Francois

Updating my original review from 3 years ago (see below). My son just completed his first year here and he loved it! Rigorous, challenging and he had lots of fun. The staff both is amazingly helpful and they really do great things here. He had a great first year. If you are a freshman sign up for the early arrival program! Its great and my son made great friends there and was able to move into self living before the craziness of school started. I even had a bumper sticker made see my photos LOL ——- original review Summer 2019 ——— Fantastic staff and facilities. My son will be attending here soon and has been taking part in the summer sessions on game programming and design.Scott McLaughlin

This school will offer you the best education if you are committed to that education. Lots of people that go here are not ready for it, if you just want to play games, this school is not for you. If you just want to talk about games, this school is not for you. If you're not ready to take yourself seriously and do more work than you've ever done, this school is not for you. But when you are ready, this school is the best place to go. I'm studying computer science and game design, i think going here was the best decision i ever made for myselfZachary Keenly

I was apart of this program in 2016 so take my review and be sure to ask the right questions. I came into this program with enough of a Computer Science background to get by but, from what I saw, it doesn't matter. This school is COMPLETELY unprepared and during the time I was there everything was unorganized. 1: My Discreet Math and Data Structures course was taught by two gentlemen and, by all appearances, appeared that they were friends of "so and so" and were asked before the semester started, "hey, do you wanna teach this class?" Halfway through the course, they switched things up because more than half of the class wasn't doing well. At the end of the semester, the two teachers basically gave everybody A's and B's. How do I know this? They announced it before the final. What a joke. 2: This school isn't a full blown University but just a sister location with the same name as the college in Boston. It's a two story building. I personally enjoyed the building as there are plenty of places to sit and code with wall to wall white boards. There's definitely plenty of room for students to interact and code. 3: I honestly feel bad for anybody who is at this school now and wasn't there for one of the teachers named Theo. He was, by far, the greatest teacher and mentor I've ever known. He knew exactly what he was teaching, how to teach it, and every day was planned and well thought out. He was tough, direct, and could be a little intimidating, but I found him to be amazing and the only reason I stayed as long as I did was because of him. I honestly felt that he genuinely cared about his students and if you were one of the ones trying your hardest (like me), then he would do the same for you. His methodology for teaching and how he would hammer into us the idea that you shouldn't just write code, you should design it, influences how I code today and I'm so thankful that I was able to meet him and enjoy two grueling classes with him. I hear he's not there any more and again, I feel bad for any students taking the program that won't be able to benefit from his teaching. 4: Parking isn't fun and when I was there they didn't have a section for you to park if you were a student. I'm a veteran and they didn't even have any sort of hook up for me in the parking department. Either you got there early (like me), you got lucky, or you lived in the area and you just rode a bus. 5: For transparency, I ended up leaving the program because I knew I wouldn't be able to complete it. The material goes by so fast and I just wasn't ready to handle it all. There's a huge vibe in MSCS program to "get you in and get you out to a job" and I didn't like the idea of be churned in and out like a bunch of robots on a factory belt. I wanted to actually understand and know how to do well in my field….not just get experience and a piece of paper. Most of the other students were either a lot smarter than me or didn't care about that aspect. When I left, the school tried to put on the transcript that I was kicked off the program…probably for tax reasons as veterans give colleges special perks. All in all, I left the school mentally exhausted, displeased, and feeling like the entire thing was a scam. I was kind of happy to find out that Theo had left the program and I sincerely hope he's doing well as well as the classmates I left behind. If you were to ask me, "Should I do this program?" I would tell you no.J W

I recently graduated from Northeastern University – Seattle, with an MSCS. I was in the first ALIGN cohort for the computer science program, which began in the Fall 2013 semester. The ALIGN program is tailored for individuals with non-CS undergraduate majors. In my case, I was a mechanical engineer with a background in the aerospace industry. The Seattle graduate campus encompasses two buildings in the South Lake Union neighborhood of the city so does not have the traditional large university feel. However, for me, the relatively small size promoted a friendly, almost family atmosphere between the staff and the students, which I really enjoyed. The staff were always incredibly responsive and helpful throughout my time there. Having been part of the first cohort, I witnessed some initial teething problems with our program and also how the university addressed those problems. Northeastern listened to student feedback and made improvements in every area while I was studying. Those initial issues mainly surrounded transitioning to a greater number of onsite faculty and TAs (i.e. a reduction in the reliance on Boston based resources), and improvements in the scope and focus of the ALIGN foundation courses. At this point, most, if not all classes are taught by an "on-the-ground" faculty member in Seattle. To be clear, this was mostly the case at the start but the situation has only improved. On the other hand, having the Boston campus as a resource benefitted several courses that I took, as there was a lot of mature, well developed material available from existing Boston classes. I should also mention that the breadth of availability of classes is also constantly growing. The faculty in general are mostly, but not exclusively, professionals from industry (there are also classes taught by full-time faculty) and are typically highly qualified (often PhD) and abreast of current trends. The downside to this, at times, was access to the instructors but they generally put in a major effort to make time for office hours and to help students online. I believe that, as more TAs, become available as the program matures, that issue is easing. The quality of education I received was very high and I'm very satisfied with what I learned. If the small campus feel is for you, I'd certainly recommend considering Northeastern in Seattle.Steve Court

Albers School of Business did a great job preparing me for my professional career. Having transferred from a larger school, the small class sizes and personal attention from each teacher(not T.A.'s) lends itself to an invaluable experience. I would highly recommend anyone interested in obtaining a business degree to look into Seattle University.Reilly McHugh

Quality faculty, and great students. Seattle U does a great job of educating the whole person, and I felt like their program gave me the knowledge and experience needed to succeed in the business world.Douglas Buser

I graduated from Albers in 2010 and had a great experience there. I developed relationships with professors and my peers that I still have today! I'd recommend it to anyoneIan Walsh

I loved everything the Seattle School stands for, but I'd hold off on applicants attending for counseling until they get CACREP accreditation (unless you want to stay in WA). Overall, a great budding institution of learning!!!Isaiah Morehead

I am amazed at how welcome I feel everytime I do a presentation in Dr. BARNS NESS students. They are so kind and willing to learn from the experiences of myself and others. Bravo to you all, you are an addition to us all.dawn shepherd

Every staff member I came in contact with were professional and the surgeons were exceptional as well as kind and compassionate. My husband’s surgery went well and I am happy with the results.Angela Jefferson