Haha, I am far from a counselers. Most Counselers are salesman so remember that. Take waht they say with a grain of salt. There are many articles out there on what the industry is looking for. I would maybe also call a few places and talk to someone in HR. Tell them you are thinking about going to an Art school and what are the most important things I should learn. Now you know what you should learn and have some ammo to ask questions. Do not let them lead you. They are very good at that.

If you are thinking about traveling, two schools I would also look into are Gnoman in hollywood or Centery City (not sure which) and Academy of Art in SAn Fran. Closer to the action the school is the better the connections are. I toured both and I was very impressed with Gnoman. UAT does still have the best of the bunch in equipment. Unlimited games. There is a straw hut bar were all the computers are linked to play whatever games you want. They have a large projection TV you can hook the X box or PS2 up to. Well AIPX also has UT on all the computers that are all networked so you can play online antime you want to. Just do not get caught doing it during class. Phoenix is a lot cheaper to live that LA. The less you have to work and the more time you put into your school the better.

For traditional it is important to be able to visually comunicate Ideas like concept sketchs and such. Everyone I have ever asked that is in the industry say that drawing is one of the most important skills to have but it is not always neccessary. The computer is another tool like a pencil. I have seen people who can make things photoreal with a pencil. Everyone knows how to use them and if you look close at there drawings there really is nothing magical about it. I am not saying you should be able to make thing photoreal with one but being able to use whatever tool is put infront of you is very important.

I know about the idiot thing believe me. There are a couple of them in school. One that I have watch rip off work and call it his own. He sucks and then all of a sudden he comes in with something awsome in the middle of crap. He put Yuna from FF in his last project and everyone knew it. He got busted and i think he is on the verge of getting kicked out. Kicked out after thousands of dollars spent. Now that is dumb. OK, enough of a book.