If you've decided to go to Full Sail, you'll have a great time, that much I can promise. Within the first week, I'd made some of the coolest friends at the school, and I'm extremely introverted. I promise you, if you're like me, just talk to one person at that networking summit thing during orientation and your whole career at Full Sail will be so much easier!
Now, month one, you'll have two classes that are pretty simple. No matter what program you're in, you'll have Creative Presentation and Psychology of Play. They're really easy classes, just do your homework, and for the love of all things nerdy, REMEMBER TO DO YOUR REPLY POSTS! You'll understand when class starts, but seriously, don't forget them.
Here's the part where I turn into Navi from Ocarina of Time and tell you "Hey, Listen!" but that's because, like your teachers, I want you to succeed here and beyond the school's walls. It's time for a tip list!
1. Network! Go nuts meeting new people. Hit up Vistaprint.com and get some business cards, they're like $30 for 200 of them and that'll last you a good couple months. Just remember to give them out! They don't even have to be anything special really, just a neat design with your name, what you want to do, and some contact info. Mine just says "Matthew Scarpa, Aspiring Screenwriter" and has my email, phone number and address on it. Simple stuff, and the school president, Garry Jones already has one because I had them on me. Look at that, an important man already has my info, boom.
2. Set aside some homework time EVERY DAY! I kid you not, every single class, you will get anywhere from one to three homework assignments and they can take up to six hours a piece if you're slow at them. The teachers are going to cram as much possible learning as they can into the month they've got their hooks in you, so be prepared to work and work hard! I know you'll hate it, but hey, in the real world, this kind of thing happens a LOT so better to get used to it now rather than later!
3. Go to events! Full Sail has absolutely INSANE events. In February, we basically shut down all the classes and party for a week to celebrate the six coolest alumni that have been outside Full Sail for a decade or more at the annual Full Sail Hall of Fame. And let me tell you, that week is absolutely nuts! Food trucks, games, absolutely awesome prizes (I won a $400 audio interface that I still have zero idea what to do with), and at the end of the week there's a huge award ceremony and party for our Hall of Fame inductees. Besides that, Full Sail hosts WWE NXT every year so snag some tickets, or better yet, volunteer to work it for some free wrestling! And of course, we have club events like the LAN Club's Clash of the Campus (where Full Sail and neighboring UCF go head to head in Super Smash Bros 4, League of Legends, Overwatch and more!) that officially starts this September at our very own Full Sail Live Venue! And speaking of clubs...
4. Find a club you like and join it! Or if they don't have one already, make it! No joke, Full Sail has so many clubs, I can't keep track. Like I said, we've got the LAN Club (with a twitch channel right here where we stream our events like last month's Super Smash tourney that Nate and I got to commentate on), Cosplay Club, Tabletop Club, Role-play Club, one for Creative Writers (represent!), heck I think if I look hard enough I'd find a club for long boarding in a chicken costume we've got so dang many!
5. Do collaborations! This goes back to networking, but once you guys meet people, do stuff with them! If you guys meet me and you want to do a webseries or T.V. show, just text me! Be all "Yo Matt, I got a story for a show, but I need someone to write the script." I promise you, by the time you're done typing out that next text I'll be all over that like white on rice, I love this stuff, and the people who go here love their field as much, if not more than I love mine!
6. Explore the campus, especially when it's busy! Hit up The Fishbowl in FS3B at any daylight hour and you'll see anywhere from fifty to a hundred students all doing so much cool stuff it'll blow your dang mind! I promise you, make a lap around The Fishbowl and you'll meet at least two people who are cooler than the fridge in your apartment that you'll want to hang out and work with.
7. Finally, and this one is a personal piece of advice that I learned REAL dang fast; meet your instructors. These men and women here want you to succeed like I said before, so they will be your harshest critics, but also your biggest advocates if you just follow their advice. Each of them has so much experience in their field and nine times out of ten, in the field you want to go into. If you can meet your department heads one-on-one too, holy crap you'll be golden! They'll hit you with so much info so fast, you'll get whiplash and start yelling "That was awesome, can we go again?!" And of course, be on the look out for Garry. He's without a doubt, one of the coolest guys you'll ever meet (I mean come on, dude's gone crowd surfing at concerts hosted at the school he's the president of!), and he actually genuinely cares about you succeeding at what you want to do. He's like the cool uncle that watches you rock people's socks off. Plus, if you actually go up and talk to him or ask him for advice, chances are he'll hit you up later in the program (make sure you give the man a business card!) to see how you're doing. That's good looking out Garry.
Anyhowitzer, thanks for letting me spit my opinions and junk at you through this whole thing, just remember to do your best and don't miss that balance of work hard, play hard and you'll do fine. Now if you'll excuse me, I've put off homework enough for today for V.E.M (month 2 class for film, CW and the like programs) and I need to get things done. Peace in the Middle East, I'm out!
Me and Garry rocking the Hall of Fame Feb. 2017
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