Chance Me for FILM? :)

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
1

<p>I applied and I'm waiting to hear. I have a good ACT score of 27, 1760 out of 2400 on the SATs, so my scores are fine but not amazing. My weighted GPA is 3.87, unweighted 3.47. (Exciting stuff, huh?)</p>

<p>My essay is very well-written, artistic and personal. I'm not in any school clubs but I participate in music, writing, babysitting, photography and amateur filmmaking outside of school.</p>

<p>I'm personally very proud of my portfolio. My resumee includes 2 newspaper publications from when I was young, a song I composed, literary magazine and some personal pieces. My two writing samples are, I must say, beautifully written and very creative. </p>

<p>My first choice major is production, but since I'm new to film-making I did not include any film work, just written work. I thought it would be a more accurate portrait of my current abilities. My second choice is screenwriting, for a safety measure.</p>

<p>I interviewed with the film representative and she remembered me from the high school visit. I (hopefully!) aced my interview and felt very confident about it afterwards.</p>

<p>What worries me is my lack of test score/amazing grade/extracurriculars. I told my interviewer that I was tired of high school and excited to participate in college.</p>

<p>How do you think they might view me?</p>

2

<p>peppermint, I'm no expert, but I don't think it looks too good. Your SAT scores are in the bottom 25% of accepted applicants, and the average unweighted GPA of accepted students is 3.8 - quite a bit higher than yours.</p>

<p>You would need to be accepted to the university before the film school would even consider you, so I think that might be your biggest hurdle. If your writing is as good as you say, that will certainly be a plus on your film application.</p>

<p>The great film programs are just amazingly competitive. My S has a 3.56 unweighted GPA, 2160 SAT, and he interned one summer on an independent feature and got a great recommendation from the director. I think his writing is great, but maybe I'm biased. He has won several awards for his short films, including 2 awards at an international film festival.....and he didn't even get an interview at FSU for film production. </p>

<p>I am not at all optimistic about USC. I think his GPA will likely keep him from even being accepted to the school, much less the film program. Also, he submitted SAT subject test scores which were not great.</p>

<p>Have you applied to other film schools?</p>

3

<p>After attending USC's open house, I got the impression that the film school valued your portfolio above all else. Some of the people I've heard of got into the film school with GPA's closer to 3.0 than 3.5.</p>

4

<p>While USC does seem to put a lot of weight on portfolios, a list of all the projects you claim to have done doesn't really tell them much, since there's no way to judge the quality of or effort put into these works.</p>

<p>I'm thinking they're mostly looking at the personal statement and two writing samples, assuming you meet the basic qualifications of the general university.</p>

5

<p>Your son's accomplishments are very impressive, but honestly, do they really expect every student to win a Nobel prize and be ready to retire at the ripe old age of 18? I'm a normal person, and I want to achieve those kinds of things IN AND AFTER COLLEGE. I hate the admissions process with a passion for this reason.</p>

<p>Remember that FSU only accepts about 25 students into their film school...I didn't apply because I didn't like the university itself.</p>

<p>Yes I applied to BU's COM School for Film, Northwestern, Wash U's film studies program, Loyola Marymount as a backup, Chapman's film program, and a handful of safeties with a film major.</p>

<p>At this point I'm riding on my interview, portfolio, statements and essay. Which I honestly think is way more important than some pretentious test score.</p>

6

<p>peppermint23, can I caution you not to suggest that anyone with a test score higher than your's is pretentious? High test scores are a result of anything from years of hard work, excellent preparation, a natural skill for test-taking, or just a really good bit of luck. "Prententiousness" does not, in my opinion, play a role. By suggesting otherwise, you run the risk of personally offending many cc-ers.
You sound like a good student with lots of potential and a good helping of confidence. The difficulty is that you are applying to one of the most sought-after film programs in the world that attracts thousands of very qualified applicants. I would think your grades and test scores will at least get you a look from the film department, but be aware that there WILL be many students in that pool who have amazing accomplishments - including full-length films of Nobel Prize quality - that you will be competing against. Good luck.</p>

7

<p>So you need to be (fully?) admitted to USC itself before the School of Cinematic Arts will read your application?</p>

<p>Does that mean if your application gets to the Film School reading stage that you're in USC without the film major if you get rejected form the SCA?</p>

<p>It's kind of confusing...any insight?</p>

8

<p>Peppermint:</p>

<p>While I admire your ambition, I think you have to come to terms with the fact that USC Film will be a reach given your test scores and GPA.</p>

<p>USC gets applications from many brilliantly creative and artistic individuals such as yourself, yet a number of these applicants have the high test scores and GPA to go along with their wonderful portfolio's.</p>

<p>Good luck nonetheless, I may be proven wrong.</p>

9

<p>At Roski School (fine arts) they said they identify people they definitely want and they are in communication with the general admission, so they may influence acceptances. The same may be true for SCA.</p>

10

<p>Also, my understanding is that you can still be admitted to USC even if you are not accepted to SCA. I am assuming they'd admit you as a liberal studies major or something like that.</p>

11

<p>To clarify, I called the TESTS pretentious, not the test-takers. If you recieve a high test score, that's great. I'm not trying to offend anyone.I'm simply expressing reasonable frusteration that a lot of people feel and could possibly relate to.</p>

<p>ACT/SAT are unfair assessments of student capabilities. They are not intelligent, competency, or logic tests for that matter. Feel free to disagree; but I've seen many bright kids get low scores and average students get amazing scores. They don't say much, and they're highly overrated.</p>

<p>That aside, I guess it depends on what USC is looking for this year. Colleges are tricky like that; two very alike students may recieve very different admission responses. Of course it's cut-throat competition; I'm just curious as to what the Film school usually tends to place as important when choosing an applicant.</p>

<p>I think my GPA is great. It's not perfect, could be better, but considering my personal experiences I am proud of it.</p>

<p>All of us applicants are just human, not perfect robots designed to impress college admissions commitees. I think we all need to give ourselves more credit, not bash ourselves for recieving "low" scores.</p>

12

<p>Peppermint, you asked for honest opinions about your chances, and you're getting them. They might not be what you want to hear, but that's what you have to take when you post a chances thread.</p>

<p>From what I understand, the general USCollege (Arts & Sciences) must admit you before your application is sent to a specific school. You essentially have to pass through a filter. They don't want an average student with a good portfolio. They want a brilliant student with a good portfolio. In fact, I have a friend who was recently notified of his acceptance to USC, but his letter told him that the Film School was still reviewing his portfolio. By the way, his SAT score was 2350 and he has a 4.4 GPA, to give you an idea who you are up against.</p>

<p>I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think you'll pass through the initial filter of USCollege. Go ahead an call the ACT/SAT an unfair assessment. I agree it is, but it's what is used and there is no way of getting around that. Your SAT score and GPA are simply too low. The incoming class in 06 had an average UNWEIGHTED GPA of 3.8 and SAT score of 2050. You are in the bottom quartile for scores, and your weighted GPA is just a hair above their normal unweighted. In the stats category, you are below average.</p>

<p>You are not in any clubs, and therefore cannot have any recognized leadership positions. Hobbies won't get you far enough for USC; you are expected to DO something with them...start a photo club, join the school band/choir/orch, start a literary magazine, start a film/video club...and so on. In the EC/volunteer work (you didn't describe any), you are below average.</p>

<p>You admit to being new to film. USC is undoubtedly one of the best in the country, second only to maybe NYU. They don't want someone inexperienced, no matter what "potential" they might have. They want someone who can come in on Day 1 and know exactly what they are doing, not someone who couldn't even put together a portfolio showing filmwork. So in the film experience category, you are below average.</p>

<p>USC is an incredibly rigorous and demanding school. They want to get up to the level of Duke and are raising standards every year. There is NOTHING wrong with having a reach school as long as you realize that it is a reach. I'm sure you will be accepted at another film school that better fits you.</p>

<p>NOTE: The entirety of the above can be ignored if you are URM.</p>

13

<p>I'm still confused about the initial "filter."</p>

<p>If you do get your application to the film department does that mean you're 100% into the university itself?</p>

<p>Or is it a "ok, this applicant passes our standards, we'll send it to the film department and if they reject him we'll decide if we should let him into USC from there."</p>

<p>?</p>

14

<p>I think it is the latter, although I can't find anyplace that's written down. A guy in the admissions office told me that the first choice major finishes reviewing an application, and it goes to the second choice major only if the first one rejects the applicant. The website says that an applicant rejected by first and second (or first, if only one is specified) automatically is considered for admission as "undecided." </p>

<p>Given the way the application is submitted - part to main admissions and part to CSA - my guess is that the main admissions office screens for a basic "yes, admissible, but not yet admitted" or "no, definitely not admissible," and then would send a list of potentially admissible ones to the CSA. Since it's a very labor-intensive process, there's no point in CSA reviewing apps from people who are not otherwise going to satisfy USC standards. CSA already has a copy of the application, and they take it from there. I could be wrong about this, but it makes sense, given the available information.</p>

15

<p>I think rainmama's information sounds right. A candidate needs to meet grade/test score requirements of the university (which doesn't automatically mean he or she is accepted, since the school would also need to read the entire application before making that sort of decision) before he or she can go on to be considered by the School of Cinematic Arts. And as has been mentioned, the SCA program is crazy selective (It has a 6% admit rate--I just heard this number quoted today, but it was for SCA as a whole and not broken down by majors) so while they may take a student with slightly lower stats (yet within the university's range) in some situations, with the large number of applicants, they are most likely looking for strength in all areas.</p>

<p>In fact, in a side conversation, I was told by a very knowledgeable source that when CSA reviews each supplement package, they give heavy weight to the essays. In contrast, I was surprised to learn that there is actually no expectation that an applicant has ever picked up a camera. It was explained that not all high school students could be expected to own equipment or have school programs. Although I can only imagine it is most impressive when a student has taken the initiative and won honors in this area. And of course, they look closely for other creative works and experiences. I was told they are looking for students whose essays convey their extreme creativity, passion, motivation, and--for lack of a better word--vision. </p>

<p>Of course, as we all know, many wonderful creative students may have less than perfect stats. I think a handful of these kids do get in. At least I hope they do! But to be realistic, it's a very tough department. Spielberg was not accepted--after applying twice! And he seems to have done just fine. </p>

<p>Hope this info was more helpful than depressing. Best of luck to everyone.</p>

16

<p>I'm a film production major, and I know many people in the program who entered with lots of writing/visual arts experience, but no film.</p>

<p>If amateur filmmaking is something you do, I'd have suggested putting it on the app, or at least mentioning it in the personal statement. It shows that you are trying to get started in film.</p>

<p>I wish you luck. There's always transferring as a junior if you don't get it the first time around and get a good GPA in college -- the first 3 semesters at 'SC are mostly GenEds anyway.</p>

17

<p>Just to reconfirm what some other people said, and it's something I learned post-rejection last year, the general USC admissions absolutely has to admit you before USC Cinema can. SCA might review your portfolio, but their decision becomes irrelevant if USC won't admit you. SCA itself seems to care less about your grades, and if you ask about your classes or making schedule changes, they will tell you it is not an issue for them and to check with the general admissions about how it will affect your decision.</p>

18

<p>Ya I completely agree with Wing, I was on these boards last year around this time and basically I would have to say to be safe in getting admitted to USC first, unless you have some incredibly compelling story about how you were paralyzed for three years and overcame that struggle etc. I would highly recommend having no less than a 3.7 UNWEIGHTED GPA and higher than 4.0 WEIGHTED GPA. I cannot tell you how many kids at my old high school, about 25 of them, applied to USC because it was their safety school. They all had above a 4.0 and only 3 ended up actually going. Ironic isn't it? I wish USC considered essays and extra curriculars more etc. but the bottom line is they want their stats to go up. I have also noticed that out of state kids have an easier time getting in with lower stats then in state kids, just an observation.</p>

19

<p>Scarlet--USC likes kids from outside California. The further away the better. My son, a May graduate of the critical studies major in the film school was from Virginia, just outside of DC when he applied. </p>

<p>We were told that the production program actually doesn't like their students to have too much experience; they want to teach them their way to do it. He was initially disappointed that he didn't get into production, but now he says he wouldn't have it any other way. He thinks the production program is academically easier than the crit studies program because the former don't have nearly as much writing as the latter.</p>

<p>And btw see this; <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/406916-winner-beware-unconscionable-bragging-follow.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/406916-winner-beware-unconscionable-bragging-follow.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>