BU (film) vs. Davidson vs. DePauw vs. KU (architecture) vs. Webster (full tuition) vs. UCLA (OOS debt)

College Search & Selection
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Did you know that Davidson has a film and media studies minor?

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Is the loan amount your parents need to take something that is financially risky for them?

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This program’s internship page says you can even do internships during the regular academic year. Davidson also has funding opportunities students can apply to if your internship is unpaid or low-paying to help with your costs. You could do an internship every summer and during a regular semester if you wanted, plus graduate without any debt.

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I didn’t say I have no experience, I just have no film portfolio. I’ve done episodic screenwriting for over six years and have a fair amount of VFX practice and content, just nothing that I think would fit a reel or portfolio format. As for theater, I wouldn’t really group that in with film in terms of film experience. I’m not really looking for very general and broad classes. I’d like to learn directly marketable skills and be able to specialize to a degree relatively quickly given the competitiveness of the industry.

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Not risky. They’re going to be contributing the same amount of money to my education no matter where I go to school. It’s obviously an inconvenience, but that’s not a factor that will be changing based on my decision.

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I did appeal, yes. They haven’t gotten back to me yet, which is somewhat concerning. I was going to call tomorrow and see what they can tell me.

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I hear very good things about their film program, and it’s ranked as a T50 for film so it must be doing something right. Your idea for summer programs is interesting. However, couldn’t that get in the way of potential jobs or internships? I would also be missing out on a guaranteed semester internship in an LA film studio. Additionally, if I did that, why would I be going to Davidson also (or any college for that matter)? What would I major in, and what would be the point other than getting a degree from a “prestigious” school? It seems like that would just be me throwing 100k of my parents money towards 4 years of courses I don’t care about.

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I did know this. Like DePauw and each of the other LACs I’ve been accepted to, this program is more of a film “studies” program than a film production program. Looking into the course options for film at Davidson, you find that the only production related courses are “Filmmaking” and “Screenwriting” which are way too general and broad to do me any good versus a well established film school like that of BU.

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Because a four-year college education is valuable in and of itself. It teaches you to think critically and write well. It will expose you to knowledge that you can draw upon for creative ideas and for personal growth.

Also, the film industry is extremely competitive and many who dream of success don’t find it . A bachelor’s degree in any subject will open doors for you for jobs that you will be excluded from if you don’t have the degree.

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What area of film production are you interested in?

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Ideally, I would spend my first year taking a few intro classes in different areas of film to get a feel of different aspects and then quickly decide which area I’d like to specialize in for subsequent years, but if I had to choose right now, something in post-production. Initially (for the last handful of years) I’ve wanted to be VFX artist. I’ll be honest and say that my ADHD has made it very difficult to self-teach VFX, but I have some degree of proficiency in Adobe After Effects now. I really should learn how to use Nuke and stuff like that, but having structured programs is very significant in my learning process.
Either way, now I’m interested in other areas of film as well. One particular other area I’m really interested in is stunt work since my sport is parkour and freerunning. Having a film network would be very necessary for that, and after my very extensive research in the last handful of years, I’ve found that it’s hard to build a network in other areas of film as a VFX artist. Generally you’re in a VFX house separate from the action.

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A bachelor’s degree in any subject will open doors for you for jobs that you will be excluded from if you don’t have the degree.

This is why my intention was to double major at BU if I went. There’s no situation in which I would study film or music or anything like that without double majoring or at least minoring (marketing, architectural studies, etc.). I’m not contemplating going 57k into debt to learn film with no backup plan if that’s the impression I’ve given off.

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You’re not giving that impression - but college is going to cost you more than you anticipate.

I’ve been scouring their website. And that College Factual article, if true, was scary…four people, $25K in jobs

I’d be calling with questions - the internship programs - what kind of roles? They seem to be at a talent agency, for example but I don’t see any listed that are film related. Will you get exposed to the areas you want? I’d also check on costs. Does your financial aid cover that semester? The semester has an estimated bill of over $42K for the semester and it says scholarships may be available but nothing says that your regular financial aid covers it - these are questions I would be asking. You don’t want to walk in blind and find out you erred in your estimation and owe many thousands more.

I’d also be asking about access to equipment. At Syracuse, we had a practicum class - and you got to use the equipment and make a tape one time…yep, once in four years.

I’ve looked at a lot of rankings - I haven’t seen BU in any, not a single one in regards to film or production. When I search for Boston, I see Emerson but not BU.

I just worry you are making a huge mistake. I’m not suggesting you don’t do film - but you can’t beat debt free. You read countless stories of people who got great jobs and yet they couldn’t get out of debt - each and every day - and that’s where you’re headed my friend.

Don’t forget, when you borrow - you don’t just pay back the loan but you also pay interest and on top of that fees to get the loans which will add thousands more.

I hope your parents realize all of this.

You’re believing you can’t get to your goal from other schools - you continue to say this - and that’s so far from the truth - and that’s the concern.

Good luck.

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I’m relatively certain that the College Factual article is inaccurate. I’ve been watching videos from students in the program and I’ve only heard good things, fortunately. From what one of these Film and Television students said, a classmate in their program chose to intern at Dreamworks for their LA internship. It seems like you can choose where to go (if you get accepted). As for the question of rankings, College Factual themselves ranks BU at the #49 film school, but I would also be benefitting from one of their more academic programs as well. I’ll call tomorrow and ask about access to equipment and cost for the LA semester as well as telling them if they match Davidson’s offer I will attend. I actually looked into Emerson and decided that 1) I don’t have a portfolio to submit yet and 2) They’re way too expensive based on the NPC.
As for the last part of your comment, I’m about to post another comment that addresses that in the form of a question.

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I said this in a reply to someone, but I’ll post it again because I feel these points need to be addressed:

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 interesting to me. 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 in depth and decide which one I like the most. That’s difficult when the most concentrated film-related course at Davidson is “filmmaking” or “screenwriting.” DePauw’s situation isn’t much more ideal in this regard. I’m not looking for four years of general and broad classes that never explore each topic in-depth. I want to try specific things out and be able to concentrate quickly should I decide to. I want to have the time to create actual passion projects. 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.

This is the way I see it. I want to want a LAC because I, too, don’t want myself to go into deep debt, but currently it doesn’t seem like a wise investment of my time because it could very likely be a repeat of my biggest complaint with the last four years of my life. It feels like everyone’s avoiding this, so please, someone, address these specific concerns.

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Your position seems to have morphed from having an interest in film plus several other disciplines to film first and foremost. That’s okay as it’s better to learn what you really want sooner rather than later. It is, however, astounding that you researched and applied to 40 colleges and ended up with NONE that you both would like to attend and can afford! Were there no advisers at your high school?

Asking your parents to take on an additional $60K in debt for you on top of the $100K they already committed to could be workable for them . . . or disastrous. Without knowing details of your family’s finances it’s impossible to judge. That you intend to repay them is really irrelevant. It’s still their debt.

I hope BU comes through for you.

Just out of curiosity did you apply to Wesleyan (Connecticut) or WUSTL?

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I’d say my situation is the same in that my primary interests are film and architecture, but I don’t want to sacrifice the quality of my education in film still. Others are right that if I choose to go the route of architecture, I can attend graduate school. BU offers both film and architectural studies, whereas the LACs offer a very broad and vague program for film and almost nothing to do with architecture. The college counselors at my high school were not very helpful. In junior year, they even said something along the lines of “my job is to get you accepted into at least one college. Once that’s done, I’m done.” On top of that, colleges tend to give awful aid now. DePaul and Loyola are 60k and 40k per year respectively. I can’t even access my financial aid package at Purdue and I’ve been trying to reach out to them but they won’t respond to me. Too late to consider that as an option now at this point, anyway. I’ve neglected to consider IU Bloomington because I’ve been focusing on my other options, but again, it’s too late for that as well. I applied to WashU ED, but I was rejected.

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I agree the LACs on your short list are not destinations for film or architecture, however there are others that are. Film isn’t my area of expertise but my understanding is that Wesleyan has a comprehensive program. For architecture, Middlebury and Conn College for example.

I realize that this kind of information does no good unless you decide to take a gap year. It’s just a shame that you didn’t get better — or any— advice when it could have made a difference.

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Ok, posting the links to the universities’ different course descriptions didn’t work for you. Here are some of the course titles at Lake Forest, DePauw, and Davidson. Are you sure that none of these three will work for you?

Lake Forest

  • CINE 130: American Stage Design
  • CINE 140: Costumes and Identity
  • CINE 155: Stop Motion Animation
  • CINE 200: Film Editing
  • CINE 201: Narrative Filmmaking
  • CINE 202: Documentary Filmmaking
  • CINE 243: Video, Sound, and Electronic Art
  • CINE 260: Design: Stage and Screen
  • CINE 320: Acting for the Camera
  • CINE 343: Adv, Video, Sound & Electronic Art
  • CINE 371: Music Video Production
  • THTR 120: Acting I: Being on Stage
  • THTR 160: Stagecraft for Stage and Screen
  • THTR 200: Production Practicum
  • THTR 204: Theater Boot Camp
  • THTR 250: Exploring Chicago Stages
  • THTR 285: Creative Arts Entrepreneurship
  • THTR 370: Playwriting
  • THTR 375: Directing
  • THTR 390: Internship
  • THTR 480: Sr Sem: Business of Show Business
  • THTR 492: Creative Project
  • THTR 494: Senior Thesis
  • ART 142: Digital Design Foundations
  • ART 239: Applied 3D Design and Fabrication
  • ART 240: Digital Photography
  • ART 245: Digital Art
  • ART 253: Graphic and Digital Design
  • ART 340: Advanced Digital Photography
  • ART 345: Advanced Digital Art
  • ARTH 220: History of Architecture
  • ARTH 221: Modern Architecture
  • ARTH 280: Architecture in East Asia

DePauw

Davidson

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Don’t worry, I saw your links from the previous reply. I’m currently in the process of running through all of them still. Thank you for providing all those resources.

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