My advice is to make mods, or download unreal and start doing some tutorials! Most designers need engine experience and have an idea of how to implement game features. If you don't/can't get a degree I would go the QA route and try to get into an entry level position(be warned QA can be a pretty rough experience and I'm not a huge fan of how they are treated in the industry as a whole).
I would then look at universities that offer Computer Science or Game Dev degrees. Personally, I'm not a fan of Full Sail, but they've gotten better since I entered the industry(I actually really like digipen; I would probably avoid smaller no-name private colleges). Honestly if you are driven, actually apply yourself to learn a game engine, you can make it; it just takes a lot of work, possibly some failures, but that's all part of the journey and learning!
If you are more art driven obviously you can look for 3D art style degrees, but I'm super unfamiliar with that space.