The two schools you found don’t have very good reputations in this field. And the reason why you aren’t finding this major at other, more reputable universities, such as U Florida, is because it’s rarely a separate major. Instead, it’s usually done as part of your focus in another major, such as software engineering or computer science (usually software). So, rather than focusing on game programming as a specific major, and ending up going to a crap school from which some employers refuse to hire, instead go to the best “real” university that you can get into. Major in software engineering. Find out what the specific skills and languages a game programmer needs, and major in a field that will provide you with those skills, such as software engineering. Do a co-op or internship in the field, and when you’ll graduate, employers will be more likely to smile upon you.

Many software engineering students actually program games as exercises as they learn new languages and operating systems. It’s very much a part of that major.

One of the best programs for software engineering is down in your region: Georgia Institute of Tech. You can also look at Virginia Tech, if you want to go that far north. Very good program. I can also, happily, highly recommend the program at the University of Florida, Gainesville.

I hope this helped.

USC (Southern Cal not South Carolina) has a Game programming degree in their department of Engineering.

Here is the Catalog section for it:

http://www.usc.edu/dept/publications/cat2007/schools/engineering/computer_science/undergraduate.html#games

The school’s website is: http://www.usc.edu and that will tell you the requirements for admission.