@mriordan Sorry about the delay in responding.
First read the two threads that are pinned at the top of the CB Education forum: "Getting a job in the industry" and "FAQ Recommendations about college education". There is a ton of information there that we created just for people like you. I encourage you to take "Getting a Job in the industry" and share it with an adult who knows you well and whose opinion you trust. Have them read it and discuss it with them. There are a lot of great things about careers
Second. DO NOT GET MORE EDUCATION THAN YOU CAN AFFORD! In this industry, an expensive diploma is NOT a golden ticket to a magic career. A cheap diploma with a lot of hands on work in a community theater or working in a rental shop or something can be more valuable. By the time you are 30 no one will ever ask what university you went to or what your degree was. They will want to know who you have worked for and what the quality of work you did there. The community is very small and there is a good chance your new employer will know your old employer and the most important part of the job application will be your references and the phone
call made to find out if you are a good employee. Secondly, it's HARD to put together a career that makes money. You are likely going to have to work a lot of different gigs and be "
on the bounce" for the first 10 years of your career. Paying off student loans is really hard to do in that environment. I have a friend who spent a lot of money on his college degree and couldn't afford to work in theater because he couldn't afford the student loan payment. So he has never worked in theater.
Third.
Gaff's rule of three in tech careers. There are three forces that
effect your ability to get a job:
1) Your Education
2) Your hard work and experience
3) Who you know and random luck
You can have a lovely career in tech without EVER getting a degree. It requires a LOT more luck and hard work. But it's possible. You can start a career without knowing anyone and without having any
practical experience... but you better have a diploma that's gold plated. There is no magic solution. So I always recommend that you pick a theater program where you will get the most hands on experience. Better yet a program in a city where you can do a lot of extra stuff outside of school. Here in the northwest I encourage people to consider University of Southern Oregon, it's a small town college with a GIANT Shakespeare festival. Tech students all get tons of experience working on the festival.
Watch out for the size of the program. Giant programs may be really hard for you to get any real experience... the seniors do all the design work. A small college may not have enough budget to do cool stuff. So I suggest a medium sized college where you will be needed and get your hands on the gear right away, but big enough that they do lots of cool stuff.
Finally Full Sail... This is a touchy subject. There are people around here who went to Full Sail, loved it, and have great careers now. There are also people around here who will not hire anyone from Full Sail. There is a group of people in the industry who believe it's basically a diploma factory where they sell you a degree regardless of if you know anything. Is it a good education? I don't know I haven't been there and haven't worked with anyone who has been. I know people here on CB who say it's great and they learned a lot, but there is absolutely a group of people in the industry who will
throw away your application if you are fresh out of Full Sail. That said, once you get that first job and impress someone with 5 years of work, no one will care if you went to Full Sail.
As was said above tell us more about what you really want to do and we can give you more specific advice.