It seems I am leaning towards BU at this point in time, yes. In the same way that the loans convinced me against UCLA, they may convince me against BU, but long-term I think a LAC (at least out of the ones I’ve been accepted to) is probably a poor investment due to the fact that they don’t offer any majors that interest me, meaning that in order to truly specialize in my interests, I would need to go to grad school, which would likely cost more in the long run. That said, yes, I could potentially need to go to grad school if I go to BU as well, so that is what I am trying to consider at this moment. I fear that while others are going to be spending 4 years advancing towards their specific interest/career goal, I will be spending 4 years not having access to the courses of study that will both interest me and give me great opportunities to move into a job that fits my career goals.
I hate to say this…but I think you need a college that will help you FIND your career goals. At this point, you have so many different ideas. Find a college where you can develop as a person AND figure out what career goals you might actually want to pursue.
And remember what many have said…careers sometimes don’t align with college majors. Many students switch majors and more than once.
Just note that many colleges allow for students to create individualized majors, so it’s possible to create a coherent major that crosses over multiple fields.
Most majors don’t align to career goals. Yet people find careers. OP is missing that.
The reason most people in journalism and tv film struggle if they don’t make it is because their skill sets don’t necessarily give them the hard and soft skills needed to survive in society. On the flip side many programs require a second major fkr this reason.
I mean I intend on double majoring if I major in film at BU. I fully intend to study something more practical as a backup (or hopefully a supplement). I’ll certainly be proactive about developing the hard and soft skills, especially since BU is a very career-focused school. In fact, what I’m liking about BU a lot is that they encourage such exploration. Whereas Davidson, for example, allows a huge amount of exploration but not a lot of classes that relate to my interests, BU still offers a lot of exploration while still having programs that match the things I know I would be interested in studying.
I’m not against BU. I’m simply against you can’t even remotely afford BU. it’s not $27k as you stated. The city is far more costly than you can imagine. And you are likely going to screw up your future financially.
You can get to the same place from an LAC but you continue to push this notion aside. Depauw, in fact, has a film production curriculum although most say Davidson due to pedigree.
You keep talking about career. 18 year olds barely even know what careers are out there.
I’m risk averse. The odds are stacked against you and your family at BU.
Good luck
I agree: you’ve set up an impossible situation for yourself.
What people here are trying to tell you is that graduating debt free from one of the country’s most academically admired colleges will qualify you for just about any graduate program or entry level job.
Davidson will not be high school redux, but an unparalleled opportunity to expand intellectually and socially. I can vouch personally for the power of academically rigorous LACs to help their students determine their next steps and to get them to their destination.
When I said they were cosigning on 27k additional loans, I meant on top of the 27k I’m allowed to take out. Although that math doesn’t seem to track because the real number I would owe is 57k. I agree that it’s very costly, and I am considering that. DePauw’s film studies program offers production elements, however, these classes are very general and not concentrated. They also don’t have a semester in LA film internship opportunity guaranteed to their film students. Moreover, the same problem of not having a program I’m interested in still applies to DePauw when I’m looking for a second major. As for Davidson, I don’t quite get what you mean by that, could you clarify? I will say that at my high school, everyone is very career focused and definitely knows what they want to do and are already making progress towards careers in their respective fields. I’m not the only one who is trying to think long-term and progress towards my careers of interest rather than just passively figuring it out as I go along.
Maybe. But I will bet a weeks pay that many of these who definitely know will change their minds. One of my kids was absolutely certain she wanted to be an engineer…and got her degree in that field. She will NEVER be an engineer. Liked the coursework but not the idea of working in the field. Did two years of personal reflection as a Peace Corps volunteer…and came back with a fresh idea of what she really wanted to do. It happens.
And like I said…there will be career opportunities in 2026 when you graduate that don’t even exist now.
I’ve looked into many of the classes offered at Davidson in areas that I would have thought could relate to my interests, and I really don’t seem to find anything that relates to any of my goals. Yes, a degree from Davidson with good grades could certainly qualify me for graduate programs, but that won’t be very useful if I don’t know what I’d like to study. I’m being told by many people in this thread that Davidson will help me explore and figure out what I want to do, but I fear it will be quite the opposite. My college prep school has also been extremely rigorous, and I find that I’ve had many interests or projects I’ve wanted to complete that I never had time to do because I was so worried about keeping on top of these classes I don’t particularly care as much about. I don’t want a repeat once I go to Davidson and don’t have the opportunity to take classes that actually relate to my interests. The best way to put it, I suppose, is that I’m not trying to find new interests. I have my passions and interests already. I need to be given the opportunity to explore these interests and decide which one I like the most. At any of these LACs that don’t offer such opportunities, I may be wasting another four years wondering how much happier I would be if I had time to actually pursue my goals.
Which goals? You have mentioned so many career goals, I have lost track.
Primarily film and architecture. I feel like that’s not a lot, and those are the main ones I’ve been talking about.
Once again, an academically rigorous college is NOT high school.
I would be interested to hear how you think it will play out differently. I don’t mean that in an argumentative way, it would genuinely help to hear how my concerns would not manifest at Davidson.
The first thing I would do is ask Davidson ( and possibly others) to grant you another week to make a decision. During that time try to connect to alums who have succeeded in film and/or architecture careers. Architecture will be easy because MArch programs are full of LAC grads.
On film, I have no idea.
College isn’t a trade school. Employers want evidence that you can think, can construct a coherent argument, logically analyze a situation, make critical assessments etc. You will have the most luck getting a job through networking, eg speaking to your roommate’s mom or dad, or older brother etc. You can do this from Davidson.
I just googled Boston University Film program, and found this:
Two key takeaways are 1. That only 4 film studies majors graduated in 2020, and 5 the year before. The department is tiny. Second the median salary for a BU film student with a masters is $25,000. This last point is why everyone is telling you not to take on so much debt. You will not be able to afford to take a job that pays $25,000 (presumably in NYC or LA, right? Not Arkansas or Iowa). Right there you will have shut yourself out of the film industry with that debt.
Please….don’t put off making this decision another week. Just make up your mind and go with it. If you set your mind to it, you can be successful anywhere.
And regarding film studies…didn’t you say you have no experience? No film portfolio? No real idea what’s what. Haven’t done any theater even in high school.
Open up your mind to broad thinking…not narrow thinking.
If BU’s film program is that small, I don’t think you will get the production experience that you want from it.
How about this for an idea – go to Davidson or one of the less expensive colleges where you can thrive and grow and use some of the money that you save to take summer programs in film production or architectural studies?
Have you asked BU for more financial aid?
Have you reached out to BU to see if they will sweeten their offer? If BU doesn’t come down in price significantly, I would go for one of these 3. Lake Forest actually had a number of architectural history classes in its art history department. If that ended up being your preferred choice over Davidson and DePauw I would ask them to sweeten their offer, too to make sure you come out loan free.
Take a look at the course descriptions. Personally, from what you’ve been saying, Lake Forest is DePauw might be a better fit for you. Are you sure none of these colleges work for you?
Lake Forest:
Cinema Studies courses: Course Descriptions - Cinema Studies | Lake Forest College
Theater course descriptions: Course Descriptions - Theater | Lake Forest College
Art & Art History course descriptions: Course Descriptions - Art and Art History | Lake Forest College
DePauw
Film Studies course descriptions: Courses - DePauw University
Art & Art History course descriptions: Courses - DePauw University
Communication & Theater course descriptions: Courses - DePauw University
Davidson
English course requirements (includes screenwriting, directing, and film production): Program: English - Davidson College - Acalog ACMS™
Theater course requirements: Program: Theatre - Davidson College - Acalog ACMS™
Art course requirements: Program: Theatre - Davidson College - Acalog ACMS™