Ex’pression College for Digital Arts
Locations: Emeryville, CA
Degrees: Bachelor's
Programs: Animation/Visual FX, Digital Filmmaking, Sound Arts, Interactive Audio, Game Art/Design, Motion Graphic Design
Tuition Range: $6000-$11,200 per semester
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Located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, Ex’Pression College of Digital Arts is a media arts college offering degree programs the visual and audio arts. The school currently offers bachelor’s degrees in six unique fields of study: Sound Arts (Audio Engineering), Interactive Audio, Motion Graphic Design, Game Art & Design, Digital Filmmaking, and Animation & Visual Effects. The school also offers short-term certification programs in various softwares through its Ex’Pression PRO department.
Although structured as a college, Ex’Pression is a career-focused school offering accelerated training, so a bachelor’s degree can be earned in 2.5 years rather than the typical four. Tuition for all bachelor’s programs is $11,200 per semester full-time, with part-time options available. Tuition does not include fees.
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Student Reviews
Located in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, Ex’Pression College of Digital Arts is a media arts college offering degree programs the visual and audio arts. The school currently offers bachelor’s degrees in six unique fields of study: Sound Arts (Audio Engineering), Interactive Audio, Motion Graphic Design, Game Art & Design, Digital Filmmaking, and [...]
Review by Andrew W.
January 17, 2012 2I graduated in 2008 with a Bachelors of Applied Science in Sound Arts and some $40,000 in student debt. Fortunately I’ve found lucrative jobs in the sound industry that have allowed me to pay lump sums on my loans. But my case is very rare, all my friends ended up in hotel AV and haven’t been started to pay of significant amounts of their loans. I’ve worked at commercial studio’s, recording studio’s, mastering studio’s, location sound recording, I own a home studio I do Audio Post work for and I’ve done live sound. I’ve managed to find 90% of these jobs on craiglist. I would say I’m pretty good at gigging and I know how to save my money.
As far as the school goes, it was a great facility, the staff was OK and the equipment was the best. But I still think it was totally a for profit art college just like all the others in America. The career development department wasn’t really helpful. They only hooked up the students that were older and had better relationships with them. They didn’t really reach out to students who were the more talented I would say. Which is expected in this industry, not what you know but who you know.
I would not recommend going to an art college. Especially not mine since the tuition has risen about 10k a year since 2003! I would recommend contacting studio’s and professional and work for free to build your way up. Or take out a loan and start your own company and learn the gear yourself. It’s relatively simple equipment to learn, and once you have the gear, you have something that employers want. Whether they like you or not, they love your gear and that is valuable. I’d say more so than the silly degree we all got. (Not one employer has asked to see my degree.)
Looking back on it all, I wish I had all that $$$$ and started my own business & not gave a rats ass about some corporate college. They are all the same, make you passion your profession, haha. good luck, they don’t teach you how to hustle!!!
Debt Accrued: $25,001 - $50,000
Found work after graduation? Yes
Review by Vin M.
September 30, 2011 1In 2006 I graduated high school and enrolled into the E’xpression College For Digital Arts in Emeryvile California (Bay Area) with hopes of one day becoming a successful audio engineer. While attending ECDA I was pretty much promised a position by the time I graduated or at least ASSISTANCE finding a job which was far from the truth. ECDA is not your typical college. It is like college on steroids and shrooms. What they do is condense a 4 year program into about 2.5 years worth of material to help you complete the program quickly with a BAS degree. At first it sounded like a great deal because I thought I would get out before 21 and start my career sooner than I anticipated. Here is the Catch 22: There were 5 week long “terms” which were simplified semesters that taught you the basics of subjects such as post production, recording, av, etc. WE COULD HAVE LEARNED THE MAJORITY OF THIS BS ON OUR OWN. The typical class schedules would vary between 9am-12pm lectures and 8pm-4am labs. These schedules would fluctuate without notice every 5 weeks which made it extremely difficult to balance a job and work simultaneously. There was a time when my schedule would go like this: MWF lecture from 9am-12pm, work from 1pm-6pm then lab from 8pm-4am. then class on T,TH and sometimes Saturday with another whacky schedule. There were times when I would sleep in my truck because I was too tired to go home. At the end of the day or should I say by the end of my stay at ECDA I graduated and never received help finding a job. They sold me on a dream by utilizing a few alumni that made it in the industry. 60k dollars later I’m still looking for a job. The crazy thing is this is the same story all of my friends will tell you about ECDA. FML
Review by Steven R.
May 9, 2011 1No amount of success this college can bring you is worth a $700/ Mo. student loan payment. And i’m one of the “successful” ones…
It’s all great fun, until you graduate.
Warning.
Review by Emily W.
May 6, 2011 1I can only speak for the sound program, which I graduated from. 5 week terms may sound great, but you simply can’t completely grasp a subject in that time. Once you really begin to get something, you are moving on to a totally different topic and because you are so busy with your new term, it is nearly impossible to revisit topics as needed. Great teachers, poor curriculum. The fact is THERE ARE NO JOBS. The sound industry is flooded. Most sound graduates end up doing AV work for around $15/hour, a job you could easily get out of high school. They claim this is job placement. They do not offer internships. Having a job is virtually impossible because they don’t give you your lab schedule until the 1st day of the term. Free studio time? Good luck getting it. Count the # of studios and the # of graduates…you get the drift. They make it sound so glamorous, but the fact is once you graduate you will be drowning in about 70k of student loans and working at Swank setting up fast-folds in a suit.
Review by Christine M.
April 9, 2011 2I started at Expression College in 2001 and ultimately graduated with a degree in Digital Graphic Design, which they no longer even offer. When I first started there, I was in the Web Design program.
In some ways, I felt a little screwed over by Expression. I got really stressed out and needed some time off. Instead of being able to fall back just 2 months, I wound up having to take 6 months off because there wasn’t a Web Design class behind me. When I came back 6 months later, the program had been restructured, with less of a focus on Web Design and more of a focus on Motion Graphics. I wasn’t interested in Motion Graphics, and I had a hard time getting up to speed with my classmates because I wasn’t taught Motion Graphics when I first joined the Web Design program.
I didn’t graduate feeling well-rounded or ready for the workforce.
I also felt like the management didn’t care about the education of the students. We were nickled and dimed to death, like with the $50 fee to park in the lot. As if tuition wasn’t enough! Text books were supposed to be included in the tuition, but they never came on time. In fact, sometimes they came after the class was over! Things were really disorganized when it came to staff, and it was really frustrating.
Some of the instructors were jerks. Some were out-of-work graphic designers (I started during the dot com bust) and were very bitter. Some were artists who thought they were holier-than-thou.
However, MOST of the instructors were really great. Many of the instructors I had back then aren’t there anymore, but there were many instructors that cared deeply about their students. Extra help was often readily available and the good teachers were incredibly personable. The facilities were great.
I’m glad I went to Expression, because at the time I would not have fared well in a traditional academic environment. I did better in the “total immersion” environment, even though I did get overly stressed and had to take time off. I’d recommend Expression with a series of caveats, namely being this one: Expression is a business, not a true academic institution. Go there, and get what you can out of it.
Review by Leonard H.
March 6, 2011 1Don’t go to Ex’pression College!
After my initial visit to the school I was sold. The studios were amazing and the instructors name-dropped every big artist in the book. The price of admission was extremely high, but the administration and financial aid department made it so feasible for me to get loans. A month into school and I still hadn’t received any money and they made no attempt to help me out. I couldn’t even pay my rent. Turns out they were holding my funds in their bank account as a new policy– they never clarified what that meant. After completing a year with great grades, I was turned down for loans, even with the most qualified cosigners, and was forced to leave the school. I now have a full-time job to pay off $30,000+ worth of dept. This was truly the biggest mistake I’ve ever made! If you already have the funds to attend Ex’pression without the need for financial aid, you might have better luck. Otherwise it’s not worth it.
Review by Nicole B.
February 20, 2011 1I’m reviewing this not as a student, but as someone very close to an Ex’pression student (my boyfriend currently attends)
As I’m not a student, I can’t really properly review the educational experience, although my boyfriend seems to be learning a LOT, he likes all the teachers, etc.
But one thing I *can* comment on is the scheduling. I swear to god, whoever does the scheduling for this school is an idiot. It’s an absolute NIGHTMARE: he only finds out his schedule five weeks at a time, and usually only a week or two in advance. This has made it impossible for him to have a job, and you can pretty much forget about making plans more than a month in advance.
Case in point: My cousin is getting married in June, and my parents wanted to know if my boyfriend would be able to come, so they’d know whether to book one or two hotel rooms. But there’s *absolutely no way* of knowing if my boyfriend will be able to come until probably just a couple weeks before the wedding. I’m not even sure how I’ll RSVP for the wedding… “I can make it, and my boyfriend MIGHT but his school sucks so I don’t know for sure”?
This school seems to think that its students shouldn’t have a life outside of school. I find that to be absurd.
Review by Jake B.
February 8, 2011 1Student of Ex’pression for 20 months. Have put in well over $25,000 in loans so far and have to say it wasn’t worth it (no longer attend).
If you like the idea of having classes AT or UNTIL 4am, classes with “no excused absence” policies, classes that cost 4 thousand dollars for 5 weeks, classes that have 4 hours of lab time in front of one board for 10+ PEOPLE.. this school is for you.
Main thing is this isn’t a school. It’s a business which operates on the idea of “give us your money and fuck off” they spend lots of money on the open house days to sell you their school. Don’t be fooled and waste thousands of dollars like I did.
Also, they have the nerve to tow their students who don’t pay the ridiculous $50 a month fee to park. This school’s owner passed away months ago and since then it has been falling apart. STAY AWAY!