If your D is truly interested in film/tv then a 34 vs 35+ superstore won’t move the needle. It’s her portfolio that will matter most. The schools on your list aren’t exactly well known for film.
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BU, Emory, Brown, Northwestern— all good film programs but also generally excellent academics. She is a writer. Not a producer or actor. Most of the schools on her list do not ask for a portfolio or even a major declaration at the time of admissions. She isn’t a classic pre-professional “film school” student. Will probably double major in a social science even.
Those are great schools. I think BU is on that film list. That said, I would still look at some of the schools on the list. Writing is a big part of these programs. Lots of opportunities to build a portfolio and learn the entire film/tv process. Ultimately it’s your portfolio and experiences that matter. The schools on your list are $80k COA. Is that realistic for a BA in Creative Writing?
When my son handed me his list of schools I hadn’t heard of some of them. Others I thought had mediocre academics. However, after talking to people actually in the industry they were highly regarded for that specific niche. It really is a different animal.
Right now Atlanta is hot for everything entertainment but the writing is still mostly in LA. S20 is at Georgia Tech but likes Emory. He goes over there often. Pretty campus.
For another reach look at Carnegie Mellon. World class CS and engineering but so are their arts programs. Literally a who’s who of writers/producers.
Boston is also great. Probably the best college experience. Emerson is worth a look. Urban campus but highly regarded for arts. They offer scholarships. It was probably S21’s top choice.
I would also throw Florida State in the mix. S21 ended up there. He didn’t get into the film school. They take 20 out of 500+ applicants. He did get into their digital media program. Combined with Honors program and OOS tuition waiver it was a no brainer. He’s already an intern working on a documentary and collaborates with the film kids. They offer creative writing. FSU also has it’s own circus big top on-campus. What other campus has that? Good luck.
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We’ve seen these lists but thanks! She has her own agenda I guess. Emerson is definitely not academic/intellectual enough for her. CMU we will look at. Se loved Emory. Weird thing is she hates LA and won’t set foot in Florida. She’s a NYC kinda girl. Though not for undergrad. Not enough normal college life in the Big Apple.
Sounds like the most challenging part of creating the school lists will be identifying a handful of match schools and at least one affordable safety each kid would be happy to attend.
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I think we have some identified! Have to visit to make sure though.
Maybe it was ED1, although top colleges insist that if you are not recruited, it’s not a big factor, other than the ultimate show of interest.
We didn’t see her file so no definite opinion here.
A more likely scenario, based on what we were able to learn informally: 34 was good enough for them to look at other aspects of her application, which were interesting enough. That’s what I meant, 34 doesn’t send your application to the rejection bin.
Since we didn’t pursue merit, I have nothing to add to that part.
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The invalidation thing you are worried about is not a common issue and would not be triggered by taking the ACT 2 or 3 times. They will be fine retaking it in the spring or summer. Both are excellent scores with a little room to build it they want to.
FYI- Pre-Covid, ACT was about to start letting kids just retake one section or multiple sections, but abandoned that for now.
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they did abandon that plan unfortunately.
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I didnt realize that - thanks for sharing. I was sort of wondering why i hadnt heard much about it though recently.
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Very similar to my twins although they have not taken any standardized tests. She also wants film and he wants engineering/science. I have older kids and each got their best ACT September of senior year. I think a 34 is great and I think the breakdown works for their areas of interest although your DS should consider working on Science. Note science is really reading comprehension with graphs etc. The problem with the test is at the upper levels it is so easy that 1 or 2 wrong answers will push you to below a 34 (not sure the exact breakdown). My older DD went from a 28 in science to a 33 or 34 (I forget she is out of college already) and it was working on reading comp that did it. She was not intuitive at reading comp although she is great at English. For my older kids who were not math students, the math was the hardest to improve. I would suggest working with a tutor although that did not help as much as I’d hoped. Is the 30 consistent with what she got in practice? I have one kid who is a choker so it would not matter what he got in practice and then I have others that will always do better on test day.
What prep did they do for the 34? How much did they go up from their first practice test and in what areas?
As a twin mom, I had heard that if kids are statistically similar, elite schools will take neither or both if both apply. Any thoughts on whether that is true?
As for getting merit at Emory etc. The only students I know and this is going back years who got merit at BU or Emory were students (not siblings) who ended up getting into Harvard or Yale, one had a 2380 and the other a perfect 2400 (SAT was out of 2400) and other things going for them to make them interesting candidates. One of my older ones was accepted to Emory RD with a 34 but no merit money and ended up going elsewhere
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You listed in another thread that each twin’s overall score came up from a 34 to a 35, which is just great. Can you give some info about what they did to prep for the second admin, and what specifically happened with their scores the second time around?
Sure.
Sitting #1
KidA: Math: 34, English 33, Science 31, Reading 36 (34 composite)
KidB: Math 30, English 36, Science 33, Reading 36 (34 composite)
For both sittings they only used a test prep book I ordered from Amazon, free online practice tests from Princeton Review and other free online test prep material they ran across. The second sitting they really focused their prep on the lowest subsection but did take 1 full length practice test.
Sitting #2:
KidA: Math 33, English 35, Science 35, Reading 36 (composite 35)
KidB: Math 34, English 35, Science 32, Reading 32 (composite 33)
Superscore:
KidA: Math 34, English 35, Science 35, Reading 36 (composite 35)
KidB: Math 34, English 36, Science 33, Reading 36 (composite 35)
One of KidB’s school doesn’t superscore but we think we will just submit the scores from sitting #1. Even the 30 in math is around that school’s 50% and KidB is taking rigorous math courses with A+ grades and 5 on AP math exam. Neither is pursing a major in a STEM area.
In general KidA is a slightly lazy procrastinator but things seem to always work out. He was also very sick with a cold and sinus infection during sitting #2. Not even allowed to remove his mask and access tissue in his bag to deal with congestion. I don’t know how he managed it honestly.
KidB is very diligent with prep but as a perfectionist she struggles finishing timed exams. So timed practice was really key.
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