SALT LAKE CITY — Those interested in a career in video game design, take note: The University of Utah’s entertainment arts and engineering program is the best in the country.

The EAE graduate program earned the coveted top spot in the Princeton Review’s annual ranking — released Tuesday — with the undergraduate program coming in at No. 2. This is the fifth consecutive year the undergraduate program has landed in the top three, according to program director Robert Kessler.

“The program is fairly young, but after five years of the master’s program it’s just so exciting that we have this great group of faculty, staff and students working together to bring about this kind of success,” Kessler told KSL.com. “It’s amazingly exciting and very rewarding.”

EAE — which is currently made up of 400 undergraduates and 110 graduate students — facilitates interaction between a broad range of disciplines instead of specializing in just one area. This allows students to learn in an environment similar to the kind they’ll find in the workplace.

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The Princeton Review ranks the University of Utah's Entertainment Arts and Engineering program (EAE) among the top five schools in the nation for both undergraduate and graduate programs.

“One of the key elements that we have is that we are interdisciplinary — artists, engineers, producers and designers are working together to make games,” said Kessler. “We believe that success requires all these different kinds of talent to work together, and we’re giving that kind of experience.”

Students seem to agree — this kind of collaboration produces stellar results.

“From the first day of classes, we are working in teams,” master’s student Rachel Leiker said in a university press release. “Learning how to communicate ideas effectively, working together to create something amazing for the game and being able to rely on each other for help and feedback has established a work ethic and mentality that people in games look for when seeking future collaborators.”

Kessler says when it comes to the graduate program, it’s the unique curriculum that sets EAE apart from the rest.

First, students take classes in their individual tracks taught by local industry professionals, who provide insight into the latest techniques and trends. Second, every student is required to take design courses, regardless of discipline. Finally, project-based courses allow students to develop hard and soft skills necessary to build games, Kessler said.

“We require our students to publish the games they create, and that gives them the experience of not just coming up with an interesting idea, but seeing it through to completion. It’s important to learn the entire process,” Kessler said. “Because we prepare them so well, they’re easily hired.

Since its establishment in 2007, graduates of EAE have gone on to work for top game companies including Disney Interactive, Electronic Arts, Wahoo/NinjaBee, Activision/Blizzard, Ubisoft, Zynga and Microsoft.

“Because of the reputation and quality of the EAE programs, we recruit, attract and admit students who are passionate about succeeding in and ultimately improving the game industry,” game engineering director Mark van Langeveld said in a press release.

Last December, a team of 13 EAE master's students won the annual Independent Games Festival student showcase. Along with eight other teams, they were chosen from a pool of 350 game entries across the world.

The Princeton Review surveyed 150 schools that offer video game design coursework, and included questions about academic offerings, faculty credentials, starting salaries of graduates and employment experience. The rankings were determined using criteria such as curriculum, faculty, career services and technology.

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