Hello! I am a current high school senior who has applied to study film production at USC, UCLA, Chapman, NYU, Ryerson and ASU (already accepted). I am wondering what my chances are so I know if I need to be worried all the way out into April waiting to get my decisions back or if I can maybe be more realistic with my options.
I am a female who lives in Arizona, but I am originally from Canada so I am a dual US-Canadian citizen.
Academics:
GPA: 4.50 W/3.95 UW
Rank: 34/647
SAT: 1270 (only took once & submitted to 2 schools since others wouldn’t accept it this year)
6 APs (currently taking 4)
APUSH: 5
Lang & Comp: 4
EC’s:
Secretary of my school’s Media Productions club for 2 years (disbanded this year due to COVID)
Competed on my school’s SKILLSUSA Broadcast News team twice, won regionals and advanced to state in 2020 but competition was canceled
Daily news anchor on my school’s morning announcements, reported the weather and worked with the tricaster editing segments behind the scenes
Won 2nd place school award for final project in Media Productions, asked personally to film and edit sample teaching tape for teacher who was trying to get a job out of state (she was hired!)
Volunteered with the National Charity League for 6 years, won award for most hours volunteered in entire chapter 2 years in a row, received congressional award for efforts from local congresswoman
Portfolio:
I have an editing YouTube channel with over 530,000 subscribers and 270,000,000 views. I talked a lot about this in my essays because it has been my job since grade 9 and I’ve put all of my work into it. I’ve done brand deals with large companies like Boxlunch and I run my own merchandise store. I edit almost daily and am skilled with Final Cut Pro and After Effects.
I felt confident with most of my portfolio pieces, including short films. Only lackluster part was my letter of recs, I had one from my media productions teacher, one from a board member of my volunteer organization and one from my counselor. I don’t think they said anything too specific, just generally that I was a good student/member. Definitely should have been more diligent with those.
I do not know how admission for film production compares with general admission. There probably are not many people familiar with film production which might impact how many replies you get.
Other than this, your chances at Ryerson should be very good. We had some experience as a dual citizen applying to Canadian universities from a US high school that a few universities missed our Canadian citizenship when sending acceptances. If you get a letter explaining costs for a US citizen and how to apply for a visa, you only need to contact them and point out that you are a Canadian citizen. You might need to send them a fax or scan or photo of your Canadian passport at some point.
I think that you are competitive at all of the schools that you applied to, particularly in a year where test scores are either optional or not considered.
I would be very cautious about taking on debt for a degree in film, or for most other majors for that matter.
I would guess that your chances would be as good as they could be for highly competitive programs with low admission rates. Your profile is similar to the profile of admitted students.
Basically, you did your best, and your best was pretty damn good. However, since some of these are the best film schools in the country, they attract the best applicants. While you are one of those best applicants, there are still too many applicants of your caliber than they can admit, so some will not be accepted.
Realistically, you have a good chance, meaning that your chances are likely better than the <10% admission rates to most of the film production programs. However, even 3X 10% is only 30%, so, while the chances of your getting accepted to at least one of your schools is pretty good, there is a chance that you may not get accepted. So it’s good that you have an acceptance already.
Don’t worry too much about your letters of rec. It doesn’t sound like they said anything negative, and you picked people who actually know you personally and can give concrete examples of your work/character. Since you’ve been making your creative work a priority for several years, you presumably have a lot of polished pieces to choose from for your portfolio and have had an opportunity to develop a distinctive voice. Insofar as it’s possible to chance somebody on the basis of stats, it sounds like your chances are good as anyone’s. You might also want to consider LMU if for some reason you’re not happy with any of the results you get this year and choose to reapply. From what I recall their department was substantial and they’d have relatively big crews. Good luck!
Came across your profile. Looks like you got into Chapman! That’s great. Congrats!
I am also looking to get into a film production program. I’m from India and kinda came to the whole college process a little blind. I did not apply to Chapman. But I have gotten into CSULB, UCI, UCSC, FSU, among others.
