<p>Since I was in 6th grade I've wanted to go to NYU for film. I'm currently a junior and I know that I'm going to need to have other choices besides NYU.</p>
<p>My top 4 choices right now are NYU, Northwestern, UT Austin, Boston University. I'm also thinking about Chapman or University of Miami. </p>
<p>I think that I've looked up pretty much everything there is to know about applying and the difficulty of getting into NYU for film. My question is, how hard is it to get in for film at the other colleges? I really can't seem to find information about other colleges' film programs.</p>
<p>From my research I assume Northwestern is the most difficult to get into. However, is it easier/harder for those applying to study Film? I know that for NYU you must submit a portfolio film. Does that apply for all of the other colleges? </p>
<p>Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!</p>
<p>My son was admitted to FSU film school. I believe there are around 400-500 that apply, but not all of those get into FSU in general; maybe 1/2 to 2/3, but it can vary greatly each year. You apply in October to both FSU and separate app to the film school; no portfolio required, but a strong essay, good grades, etc. is necessary. Once you are admitted to FSU(you find out beginning of Dec), then the film school will pull your app to look at. Usually sometime in February you are notified if you have made the cut to receive an interview, which is scheduled for end of Feb/beg of March. They usually interview about 48 kids. Then a few weeks later, you find out if you are one of about 20-25 that they accept. If any of those turn it down, they could then notify the next person that would have made it. FSU is currently ranked 17th in the world; some on your list are ranked higher, but some are not on the list at all. Do some research. If you are only junior, you have an entire year to figure out where you want to apply, what is the best fit, who requires what, etc. If you can afford a school like NYU, that is great; we live in Florida, so pretty much put “all our eggs in one basket” and he was lucky enough to get it. I have heard great things about Chapman as well, and I don’t believe they are as pricey as the USC/NYU route. Best of Luck.</p>
<p>For film, NYU is a tougher admit than Northwestern. Have you looked at Emerson in Boston, The University of Central Florida or Colorado? Also great programs. The chances of admission depend upon three things: GPA, SAT scores and demonstrated creativity. The better you fare in each category the more likely acceptances you will have. Even if you don’t need a film for each program, you will need a resume. Spend a lot of time NOW creating a great resume and start on your essays. These are ways to make yourself stand out.</p>
<p>We can be of more help if you give your SAT/ACT scores and your GPA. Also have you entered any of the many high school film contests and what was the outcome? Read this thread for some information:</p>
<p>No, a portfolio film isn’t required for all colleges, and it actually isn’t required for NYU. I had some experimental filmmaking things lying around at the time of my application, but I was actually accepted to NYU Tisch’s film program without submitting any film at all. You are allowed to replace it with a short narrative that depicts your storytelling ability, and I had short stories that I knew were stronger than the limited things I had gotten to do with visuals. I think getting into any film school is definitely tangible, you just have to know what they’re looking for because schools vary on what they really want to see. However, almost all schools favor storytelling ability over technical skills or previous experience. </p>
<p>I would DEFINITELY look into USC (they’re #1 in the world and the industry connections are incredible) and LMU (Loyola Marymount University). LMU is somewhere in the 20’s in rankings but I think they are severely underrated. They have a wonderful program and an amazing environment. The professors are also excellent. </p>
<p>I also really want to stress that you don’t need to be some award-winning festival student to get into any of these schools. I got into these schools as well as Emerson and others without really any experience at all. It’s about the storytelling potential.</p>
<p>Based on what they said at our tours of Northwestern and BU, you apply to uni and then basically anyone can be a film production major. No portfolio required. Thus, you basically only need the “standard” academic stats/EC/essays etc to get accepted to NU or BU.</p>
<p>Is there a credible ranking for undergraduate film programs? If so, could someone share a link, please? And are there rankings for both film studies and film production programs?</p>
<p>If it were only that easy, film studies vs production, film vs digital, animation and other new media, start immediately as Freshman or wait until Junior year, artsy, industry, or indie? Maddenmd, how about an annual list to push your book, like Hollywood Reporter or USNews. Just kidding. I really think you need to research the schools for their strengths, it’s too complicated to simplify into a prestige ranking. USNews can give you a rough idea of the overall strength of the school, but one of the best resources we had was college confidential.</p>
<p>Back in 2011 we had a thread called Our own private ranking of film schools…where people talked about what they thought were the best film schools (production). Unfortunately there really is no one ranking (or even several rankings) that are accepted as the Gold Standard- like there are for Universities or Colleges. I tried to get a link to that thread, but can’t seem to link it here so I’ll post a reply there and people can add to the list for those who want to revive the question.</p>