<p>What does UCLA require for there film students who are applying? Also do they give financial aid? What are the chances of getting into UCLA?</p>
<p>UCLA does not accept freshmen into the film major. Students are accepted as juniors. So when you enter UCLA as a freshman, you don’t really know if you’re going to be able to major in film. If you’re looking to study film in Los Angeles, you might want to check out USC, Chapman, and Loyola. If you go to the websites of each of these schools and click on the film programs, you’ll be able to learn about entrance requirements. When you click on admissions, you’ll find the criteria for admission to the universities as a whole, the range of SAT’s, GPA’s etc. of the entering class. There will also be a section on financial aid for each school. </p>
<p>Most U.S. universities have financial aid for accepted American students whose families do not have the ability to pay for them to attend. (This includes UCLA, although if you are an out of state student, funding is not easy to come by. ) The parents provide income information and the school then calculates what is needed. However, the school’s idea of what the family should pay may not be the same as what the family can, in fact, come up with. </p>
<p>I want to strongly suggest that you make an appointment to talk with your high school college counselor about the steps you need to take for college admission and how to apply for financial aid. It’s almost November, and if you are, indeed, graduating in 2012, your questions worry me a bit.</p>
<p>Well I’m graduating a year early (it’s a long story why) so my plan is to graduate and take a gap year. After the gap year my plan was to go to a community college for one year then if I’m still interested in film (I’m still constantly changing) I want to transfer to The Art Institute in Houston for a year and then transfer to UCLA from there. I’m just asking this question for the future to see what I’m up against in the future.</p>
<p>EarlyHSGrad2012,</p>
<p>I can tell you right now that your chances of that plan working are almost zero. Graduate early + gap year? Why? </p>
<p>UCLA wants students to clear all of the required non-film classes in the first two years so kids can completely focus on film school stuff. It’s a demanding major. Your CC for one year + AI of Houston idea will be a non-starter at UCLA admissions.</p>
<p>Here’s a better plan: go to your CC for two years, call UCLA on the phone and ask for a list of approved classes for transfer. Get straight A’s. Add summer school programs for film production or creative writing (I’d guess the U of Texas has a good inexpensive program). Enter film competitions. Put together a killer portfolio. Then apply to UCLA.</p>
<p>Also, out of state kids pay about $52,000 per year and as Nester points out, financial aid isn’t great for OOS-ers. I would call their Financial Aid office to discuss this further. They might be able to give you a ballpark idea of how much aid would go your way.</p>
<p>BTW, what are you going to do with your gap year?</p>
<p>Best,
Wheaty</p>
<p>Wheaty: I was going to use my gap year to understand myself more. I’m still constantly changing my intended career choice and I have future plans for each of these career choices but with my gap year I was going to intern at a few places that work with my future career choices to see which ones work best (like I’ve considered youth ministry so my youth minister told me I can intern with him, I’ve considered teaching religion so the school ran by my church told me I can volunteer as a PREP (Preparatory Religious Education Program) teacher, I’ve considered psychology which my psychologist told me she will use her free time to teach me the different disorders I will be working with, and my cousin interns on a film set and he asked the director about me being there and he said sure) so I want to spend that year discerning what I want to do.</p>
<p>Batllo: I’ve asked my GC about having a middle college program and she said that’s only for advanced seniors which it’s too late in the year for me to do that.</p>
<p>EarlyHSGrad2012,</p>
<p>Ok, I like this part of the plan a whole lot better. That sounds like a gap year well spent.</p>
<p>Nester has a good point, talk to your HS and CC counselors about all of this stuff. Create a 3 year plan (gap+CC+summer film) on paper. Use your CC resources to add detail to your plan. Then it’s just a matter of working the plan.</p>
<p>Best of Luck,
Wheaty</p>
<p>Your gap year plus two years at cc plan sounds very solid!</p>
<p>Here’s another thought if you feel ready to be away from home and at college next year. Take a look and see if your grades and SAT or ACT scores put you in the range for admission to USC, which is private so that coming from out of state won’t hurt you in terms of financial aid. They also have quite a good film school.</p>
<p>If you would consider putting off graduating from high school, USC has a program for students who have finished junior year but want to start college. (It’s possible that graduating early, you’d still be eligible, but I’m not sure.) Go onto the USC website and take a look at the Resident Honors College or RHP. (All RHP students also receive at least a 25% tuition scholarship, so that helps a bit, and they’re still eligible for need-based financial aid on top of that, and to complete for additional merit-based scholarships.) They are also able to participate in a small, humanities honors program that would allow you to take all your gen ed requirements in small seminars.</p>
<p>You could decide whether or not you also want to apply to the film school, too. If you’re not sure, you could enter as an undeclared major and explore other areas, and maybe take some film classes. (This wouldn’t put you in any worse position in terms of transferring to a film school than you’d be with your two years of community college plan, and probably a better position if you’re interested in USC’s film school.)</p>
<p>If your grades and scores look right for USC (check out their data online, and if your high school has Naviance, take a look at that, too), and the RHP program interests you, you would have to get going. I believe that the RHP application (as well as the film school application, if you want to give that a try) is due on December 1, and you also have to meet the Dec. 1 deadline to be considered for USC merit-based scholarships, which are plentiful. So you would have to get your letters of recommendation, your requests for transcripts, and your application essays in order in the next five weeks.</p>
<p>For combining a religious interest and film, consider looking at Chapman and Loyola Marymount. Both have excellent courses in both disciplines.</p>