Chance Me: CO resident, Rising Senior, Black Female, 3.85UW / 4.52W, NHS President for Film school

Chance Me / Match Me!
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(Demographics)

Gender: Female

Race/ethnicity: Black, Indigenous & Hispanic

State: Colorado

Type of school: Top rated public school- Magnet / Arts school where I major in Video Cinema.

Hooks: First Gen in a family of 7; Underrepresented Minority

Intended Major(s): Arts, Entertainment, and Business Media Management.

  1. Cinematography and Film/Video Production.

  2. Business Administration, Management and Marketing

SAT: Test Optional

UW/W GPA: 3.853 U/W, 4.522 W
(Peak of 4.94W in my HS Junior year term)

Coursework: Ive taken 7 concurrent enrollment courses, 4 honors, and 2 APs.
AP Human Geo: 4
AP Spanish: TBD, but aiming for 4.

Awards:

-National History Day State Competition: Made it State finals for a documentary I made about the Black Panther Party and their legacy. (8th Grade)

-Two-time STAR Girls Business Competition winner: I went up against ten peers in a competition for the best business proposal/idea. The winner gets $500 in seed money to launch their business. (7th-8th Grade)

-Scholastic Silver Key: I won a Scholastic Silver Key for a short film I made. It covered the topic of colorism in the Black community and acted as a narrative for a PSA. (9th Grade)

-Best Screenwriter of the Year Award: I major in Video Cinema, and one year had won best Screenwriter of the Year out of the entire department. (10th Grade)

-1st Film Festival winner in my District: At my districts first ever film festival, I was the first director to win the award for Best Mockumentary. (11th Grade)

-Quarter Finalist in International Student Film Festival: I made the quarterfinals for a short dark comedy film I made that was submitted to the Student World International Film Fest. (11th Grade)

Extracurriculars:

  1. Student Bill of Rights member: I was a part of a local group that focused on creating and presenting a Student Bill Of Rights to the district and US Department of Education. (9th Grade)

  2. Student Council Representative: Won the election and fulfilled my position as StuCo representative for my freshman class. (9th Grade)

  3. Student Council / School Publicist: Won the advancing election and fulfilled my duties as the publicist for the schools StuCo and personal affairs, such as designing posters/graphics, tending to Social Media, and maintaining the website. (10th Grade)

  4. Aspen Film Fest Judge: Based on academic and creative merit, I was given the opportunity to be a judge for the Aspen Film Fest. Its an Oscar Qualifying, International festival. (10th Grade)

  5. YT Content Business: With the seed money I won from the business competition mentioned above, I started my own media creation business. I would film, produce, edit, and distribute videos for clients from 8th-10th grade.

  6. Video Cinema Arts Leadership Council: I was a member of the leadership committee for the film department, in which we oversaw events, planning, and promotions for the major. (11th Grade)

  7. TV Pilot Academy SeriesFest Director and Writer: I was given a scholarship to attend a summer film program that simulated the real world/industry and the process of creating an idea from pitching to filming and editing. I was voted the Lead Writer and Director of one of two projects created that summer. (11th Grade)

  8. Power of One Creative Media Content Creator: Lead Youth Director of all Creative Media and content for a non-profit organization dedicated to combating Youth Violence. (9th-11th Grade)

  9. PBS Internship: Internship with PBS in which I got to work and assist on a real live film set. (12th Grade)

  10. Part Time job: Employed at the zoo, on the Guest Services and Communications team. (11th-12th Grade)

  11. National Honors Society President: After joining NHS in 11th grade, I ran for president and won based on academic merit and a majority of the votes.

-Around 60+ hours of volunteering as of now.

Essays/LORs: Essays should be pretty strong, along with LORs. I am getting my letters from my school social worker who can account for my personality and work ethic, my screenwriting teacher who attest to my strong writing ability, grit / creative skills, and my film production teacher who can attest to my technical ability, my nature as an overachieving student, etc. Each of these people have known me since 6th grade and had me as a student every year since then.

Schools:

  1. NYU ~ applying ED for a slightly higher chance.
  2. USC ~ hopefully EA.
  3. Savannah College of Art and Design ~ RD
  4. Chapman University ~ RD
  5. Howard University ~ RD

Im very grateful to this anyone able to help me out!! And please be honest. Thank you :grin:

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Cost constraints and have you and your parents used the net price calculator for each college?

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It’s tough to chance you for admission to film BFA programs, since the program’s assessment of your portfolio will be such a significant factor. What we can say, I think, is that your academic profile could work for any of these schools, if your portfolio puts you in the running for film. These top film programs are quite competitive, though, so there’s nothing even close to a safety here. Howard has the best odds, since you’re well-qualified academically and the film program doesn’t have a major-specific competitive admissions process as far as I can see.

A big question here is budget. “First Gen in a family of 7” doesn’t imply that your family can pay a lot, and SCAD, for example, is notoriously expensive and does not meet need. Have you run the Net Price Calculators for all of these schools, to assess whether you’d get enough financial aid?

Are you planning to apply to any in-state public U’s? Both CU Boulder and CU Denver have programs worth considering.

Since you’re considering at least one HBCU and at least one school in Georgia, how about Spelman? They have a Documentary Filmmaking major, and they also have a domestic exchange program that lets you spend a semester at one of an impressive list of elite schools. Domestic Exchange | Spelman College

In Massachusetts, look at both Emerson, in Boston, and Clark, in Worcester. Clark could be a good safety, as you don’t have to apply specifically to the Screen Studies major, but it still has a strong production component and great internship opportunities. The various tracks of the Management major would cover your business interests too.

I’m sure folks here can make more suggestions, but a little info about the financial parameters would help to clarify what will work financially and what won’t.

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If NYU is affordable for your family, then go for it. Aquapt has also made some good suggestions.

As a CO resident, you’re eligible for the Boettcher Scholarship which is a merit-based, full tuition scholarship to any in-state university. The application opens Sept 1. If you attend the high school I think you do, your GC should be able to help you complete the application.

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7-8th grade wouldn’t be included in your application, but you can reference it in an essay if it is important to your journey.

Did you see USC’s Business of Cinematic Arts degree? USC also offers major/minors combos between schools.

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Yes I recognize that cost could be an issue. I have looked into the net price calculator for most of them (my top choices) to have a good idea. I definitely will need scholarships to fund my education which I’m looking into as well

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Thank you for the scholarship suggestion!! I’ll definitely look into it. While NYU is pricey, I have looked into the net price calculator to get a better idea of what the tuition would be like for my family. The EFC / calculator was much more manageable and affordable for us. I am definitely needing scholarships as well!! So thanks again for the recommendation.

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Hey aquapt! Thanks so much for taking the time to respond to me. First, it’s good to know where I stand academically. While my academics aren’t rare it’s good to know that they won’t count against me if it came down to it. As for the portfolio aspect, you make a really good point!! I recognize that that is a strong factor to the application. I was just nervous to give extra info out if it wasn’t needed. But I will actually add a link to a draft of my application film for anyone who’d like to check it out! It’s around 8 minutes and I’m in the process of slimming it down.

Howard is a good school as well.
My thought process is Film is my passion. This is a degree I could get for much cheaper at my local community college or at some trade schools offered as well. Also, majoring in film is not really needed. Nowadays you need experience to land into the film industry, as anyone could get a degree. Not to mention a film major is going to make less compared to that of a stem major. If I’m going to major in film, I’d like to go big or go (stay) home. I’d love to use my academics to help land me in a top film school. I want to either go to a top film school that’ll help me garner stronger connections when it comes time to land jobs (but might be costly investment); Or go to a local trade school for cheap that leaves more money to actually fund my career and other resources.

You are right, budget is a big question. It adds anxiety into the equation. My parents are not paying 7 college tuitions, and have made it clear I will need scholarships to fund my education. I am applying for many of them now and hoping that my grades can help me land some of them. I’ve looked into NYU net price calculator and plugged in my family’s info. It seemed like a way more manageable and affordable price of around ~$20k a year. This is including housing and all other costs.

Lastly, thanks for the university suggestions. I’m not too interested in my local state schools as it makes more sense for my family to just do community college instead. Spelman is a perfect school for me yet they are strictly a documentary major and I’m interested in all aspects of the medium. Also I toured the campus, and it was beautiful, but the film department was eh. Which was really disappointing since I fell in love with the school itself. I’ll definitely look more into the other colleges you mentioned!!

Thank you so much again for your response! I really value your input.

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Have you considered applying to an Ivy, little Ivy (google this term: Amherst, Williams, Tufts, Wesleyan et al) or other “top colleges” that might offer you substantial financial aid? I understand you want to really focus on film but you might not need a “film school.” It seems from your posts that financial concerns should come first. NYU is not known for generosity.

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NYU’s NPC is unfortunately not so reliable, because it requires very little detailed financial info as inputs. You might ask them to do a financial aid pre-read, but without that, applying ED is risky (yes, you can back out of the ED agreement if you are accepted and the school’s not affordable, but that would be emotionally difficult).

As for external scholarships, they are difficult to get because they are so competitive…especially scholarships that are significant money that pay out each year for 4 years. (Caveat, we don’t know how much you need to close the gap)

Most private schools will require you turn over any external scholarships to them, and then they adjust your financial aid package. Most will apply the external scholarship first to self help items like student loans and work-study.

But if the external scholarship is more than those items (say $7K or so), they will reduce the grant aid they give you. Here’s NYU’s policy: https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/neareaststudies/admissions/scholarships-and-funding/external-grants-and-fellowships.html

Make sure you talk about a budget with your parents. Is that $20K NYU cost affordable for them? You don’t have to tell us these details, but make sure you have a handle on it.

Lastly, NPCs aren’t updated yet for 2024-25 COA, or the many fafsa changes coming this year. NPCs may also not be accurate if your parents are divorced, own a business, or own real estate beyond a primary home…are any of those the case for you?

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Have you looked at Georgia State University in downtown Atlanta? Georgia has a very large film industry and the program at GSU is growing. I know a student who was looking at USC, SCAD, etc. and decided to attend GSU after they offered her a full-ride scholarship. She is a GA resident, so they may have an impact.

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In general film is an extremely competitive admission at any of the top programs. In addition, if you have financial need it’s hard to say how that will play out. Some schools are need aware, some don’t meet full need, some have merit that caps out at 20 or 30K, some are great about having no loans for high need students others max out on loans and work study amounts before giving college FA based grants. So this is to say to cast a wide net.

I would suggest looking into the following top 20 programs as well:

  • Emerson in MA
  • Loyola Marymount (LMU) in CA
  • University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA)
  • Wesleyan University in CT
  • Syracuse University in NY

I included LMU, Syracuse and Wesleyan because in addition to having a top 20 film program they are relatively racially diverse, there is a significant arts/communications cohort (maybe 13-20% major in that area) while stilling giving you the option to study business or collaborate with people studying other things, and they have a strong alumni base. I included UNCSA since tuition is 25K for OOS and I believe they have merit for OOS students.

Here is the list I used 25 Best American Film Schools Ranked 2022 – The Hollywood Reporter

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If you are looking for film connections in California, I second the suggestion to look at Loyola Marymount

You should follow up with the school, but it doesn’t look like SCA at USC participates in EA.

https://cinema.usc.edu/admissions/freshman.cfm

The School of Cinematic Arts is not participating in early action. In order to apply to one of our six divisions you must first select your Preferred admission plan on the Common Application to Regular Decision.

Application Deadline: December 1st
Admission Notification Date: By April 1st

However, if you are applying into BCA (Business of Cinematic Arts), they do. Students who want to be considered for a merit scholarship need to apply before the Nov 1 deadline.

@CADREAMIN do you know how merit scholarships are awarded to SCA students vs BCA students?

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Seconding the suggestion to apply for the Boettcher scholarship, and if you do, look into CU Boulder, DU, and Colorado College, all of which strong film production/studies programs. If you get the Boettcher, you get a full ride at any in-state institution (but it doesn’t have to be public). You should look into CU Boulder, anyway, as an in-state safety, and DU provides pretty generous financial aid (I don’t know about CC – it might, as well).

EDIT TO ADD: I actually think CC offers tuition discounts for in-state students, even though it’s a private school. But my kid didn’t end up applying there, so I didn’t look into it further – definitely worth considering, though, if this is true.

This started as a pilot program. Is it still in effect? Colorado Pledge - Colorado College

Out of state, you’ve gotten a lot of good suggestions already, but you might also look into Occidental College. Strong film/media program, great location in LA (and connections to local media/film industry – important because Oxy placs a strong emphasis on finding internships and applied learning experiences for students), and likely to meet need. Oxy should be a match for you.

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In addition to these, I’d suggest running the NPC for Boston University as well - they have a strong film program and an LA Semester program that includes internships, and they meet need. I don’t know whether they’d be any more generous than NYU, but it’s worth checking.

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Another option is DePaul and they offer generous merit
BA and BFA option

Another option but would require test scores SAT/ACT
FSU does offer a OOS tuition waiver based on test scores

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Are you eligible for Questbridge? Someone more knowledgable will need to give the details…and deadlines. And potential schools.

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Be aware that Wesleyan University, along with most of the reach-y LACs, does not have a business major, but offers Economics instead. According to the department website, students have found it to be “excellent preparation for careers in academics, business, consulting, law, or government.” About the Major, Economics - Wesleyan University

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You may want to read this post from a different thread that talks about the size of different programs and has a list of various schools sorted by selectivity. Two other schools on the list that tend to be pretty generous with need-based aid are Vassar and Tufts. Definitely reaches, but not out-of-reach.

If you let us know your thoughts about your preferences regarding the size of the department (as discussed in the linked post), that would be helpful, too.

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Did you mean need-based aid? Don’t know about Tufts, but Vassar does not give merit.