Bowdoin vs Wesleyan

^I’ve heard it’s still possible to take courses, though you may have to be flexible about the timing. It was not my impression that the entire curriculum is shut off from the rest of the school, which itself would be unLAC-esque.

D was going to take a course, and the issue wasn’t access to the film course, but rather the need to take a conflicting physics course requirement.

Yes. Just to be clear, you can take any course you want, but to be admitted to major you have to score high enough grades on the intro classes to be admitted. You can get a C in the intro class and still take all the higher level film classes, but you would not be admitted to the major.

Can’t go wrong either way. A few specifics:

– Wes doesn’t have a screenwriting program nor many classes on it. It’s film program is a classic liberal arts film critical studies major. They do have a cool dedicated film building and a reputation due to all their grads in the industry. When I did the film-specific tour I didn’t find their facilities for actual production particularly impressive (but then I went to UCLA so perhaps an unfair comparison), though compared to Bowdoin or most LAC’s they were better. Most of the great an amazing work on actual film production take place outside the confines of the specific course load. And there’s something to be said if you’re interested in film for being in an environment with other talented peers who were also attracted to the program because of it’s reputation. So if you’re serious about film, Wes is a great choice.

– I personally really like Wes. My son came down to exactly these two schools and ultimately picked Bowdoin and is happy there. Wes’s vibe was a little too politically activist/intolerant for him (his personal politics lean in line with the dominant view of both schools but he just doesn’t like people who feel the need to be militant about it – shutting down the paper if they don’t like an editorial for example, like Wes did; or the constant people pushing petitions on him at the cafeteria when he visited). These same reasons may be why some people love Wes and that’s totally fair as well. I don’t think he found the campus or town attractive either, or the housing between them.

– My son is none of the cliches for someone interested in Bowdoin – he’s not outdoorsy, he’s not preppy or interested in social status, he’s not athletic and he favors American comfort food and the the options in their two cafeterias are almost totally lost on him. But he’s still found more to do there (and people to do it with) than he has time for – saying no to things because he’s out of time and can’t be in more than one place at once is his main problem. Professors have been great and accessible. And getting campus work is guaranteed and easy.

^One tiny correction: the Wesleyan school paper was never shut down. Some hard copies were burned and some rather intemperate votes were taken in the WSA to reduce its funding. But, after much alumni hand-wringing (including a lot heavy-hitters at the NYTimes and other publications), over the course of the year, the students were able to smooth things out among themselves. I think most of the people involved came out having learned something from the process.

That’s what I get for trying to generalize in too few words in a parenthetical. I knew it was never totally shut down, though a group asked for the student government to defund it and they temporarily did. The fact that a governing body thought it was appropriate to withhold funds from the paper for publishing a student op ed from someone not affiliated with the paper right next to a counter point editorial because some students didn’t agree with the student’s opinion is crazy. Bad enough that some group thought it was appropriate top ask for that but crazy-town that it was successfully voted on. And when a group of journalists and alumni contributed to a relief fund, they then spiteful tried to take actions to counter that as well until, as you say, cooler heads prevailed.

^TOS rules don’t permit us to get too far into the weeds about what-really-happened-and-when, but suffice it to say, that this probably wouldn’t have happened at Bowdoin because as far as I am aware, Bowdoin doesn’t have an active Black Lives Matter chapter.

Wes has the single most successful per capita film/TV program in the world. Not only by the numbers of class size vs. grads vs. successful industry jobs, but the Wesleyan Film Mafia is just that. It’s like the Williams Art Mafia – the entire industry knows about it, respects it, hires from it. Wes grads bring each other up the ladder. Speaking as a film grad, I can promise you Wes dominates in Hollywood in a way most people don’t understand unless you see it first hand. But also know it’s incredibly hard to get into the College of Film and the Moving Image now, because of its success. Check the catalog, call the dept. and ask about taking the appropriate screenwriting class as a non-major elective. It may or may not be possible. Good luck!