I'm hoping to go into game development after I'm out of college.
If you really want a job in the gaming industry, my advice would be to pick a company that you really want to work for, then go and apply for a job. Any job. Quality Assurance, most likely. But tell them you'll take a job as a janitor if that's what they're hiring. Degrees are nearly worthless, and experience is valuable, but far more valuable is
knowing people.
Yes, tell them you're working on your computer science/programming/graphic design/whatever degree. And tell them that your life's goal is to be a game developer. And then tell them that you're so enthusiastic about it that you don't want to wait to finish your degree, you want to be involved in the industry right now in the meantime while you're working on that degree. Hiring managers remember that kind of thing, and whatever value there might be in a degree, or experience, or knowing people, your best bet is to have all three. If you get a job in QA, and six months from now a developer position opens up, who do you think they're going to give it to: someguy they don't know, fresh out college with a piece of paper from some university, or you...who is friendly, cheerful, and has a sixth month track record of being reliable, dependable, and observant of detail?
My experience has been that most hiring decisions are made within the first 10 seconds of an interview. And only human resource depatrtments care about resumes or formal qualifications. Being
likable can get you a job. Being
enthusiastic can you get you a job. Degrees don't get you jobs. Degrees get you
interviews.
By working for a company in some other capacity (QA, etc) you give them the opportunity to get to know you. And you get to know them.
Knowing people is extremely valuable in any industry. And, if six months down the road a developer position opens up, odds are good nobody is really going to care if you still need two more years to finish your degree so long as you're enthusiastic, likable, and capable of doing the work.
Any particular advice
1) Identify exactly what you want.
2) Pick a company you
like and get your foot in the door in any capacity. QA is a good place to start, as it's often an easy job to get and it's much closer to the developer's chair than janitorial work is. But take the job as a janitor if that's all you can get.
Anything you can do to be there, talk to those people, and give them the chance to remember you is likely to help you.
3) Don't worry about formalities or degrees, and if a job listing states that it requires 5 years of experience or something...apply anyway. Human resource departments write job descriptions. Department managers make hiring decisions.
4) Go ahead and keep working on your degree, but don't expect it to make much difference.
5) If you apply and don't get a job, that
does not mean no. It means: not
right now. Keep checking their job listings. If a new position opens up, reapply. Previous applications are generally trashed, but if you show up a month later still enthusiastic for the company, that will make you stand out.
6) If the company you choose has released modding tools, make a point of being familiar with them before you show up for the interview. For example, if you applied to Blizzard, it would probably look good if you had authored a number of starcraft maps.