<p>I've been accepted to the film programs at Florida State, NYU, and Emerson. </p>
<p>Despite the generally higher recognition of NYU over the other schools I've mentioned, I really do like Florida State. It's way more affordable, has amazing facilities, and overall it's a fantastic program. Emerson is in the mix, however FSU and NYU appear to be the best choices. </p>
<p>I'm having a tough time reaching a final verdict and was wondering if anyone could offer some valuable insight. </p>
<p>My son is currently in FSU film school, class of 2015(Dec). He really likes it. For us, NYU wasn’t really an option due to costs, so didn’t apply there, and we are from Florida, so with prepaid, etc., couldn’t beat the price. I have heard good things about Emerson and I believe it may even be higher on the top 25 list than FSU, but not sure. I’m sure you will end up where you are supposed to. Kudos getting into FSU as I know they dropped the acceptance down to about 10 freshman, with 5 transfers later for a total class of only 15. My son’s class was the last to have double that for a total of 30. They are working on documentaries this semester, so very busy:)</p>
<p>My son graduated from NYU in 2011 and he really enjoyed the program. It is true, NYU is not cheap. Living in NYC can be very expensive especially on top of tuition costs. I know a little about Emerson. He liked the program and the ability to do a semester in LA. Emerson has some great facilities as well. I don’t know much about FSU as we did not look into that program 7 years ago.</p>
<p>When we visited FSU a couple of years ago, we were told that film majors had to stay at school during each summer and that the first year at FSU was all General studies courses with no film courses till at least sophomore year. This could have changed.
Re Emerson, you might want to look at the Emerson vs NYU thread on this site. The big plus for FSU is the lower tuition which you have to weigh in your decision. NYU was the right choice for my daughter and she has found the breath and depth of her teachers, the courses offered, the opportunity to study abroad, the diversity and excitement of NYC and her fellow students to be inspiring. </p>
<p>FSU freshman year is just your general studies, and then the only summer you can be home or doing something else. Beginning with fall semester of sophmore year, it is straight film school for 7 semesters(2 of which are summer), thus ending in December of what would be your senior year instead of in spring. During those 7 semesters, you only take film classes and no others so if you need to finish up your general studies, you would stay spring of senior year to do that, or you could have started in summer after high school and/or taken classes the summer between freshman and sopmore years if you don’t want to stay after finishing in December. The first summer is mostly working on the sets of those students in the class above you who are working on their thesis films and the second summer is working on your own thesis film, with a class or 2 as well.</p>