Film School Chances with these stats

Parents Forum
1

<p>My D is in a tough position regarding lowish gpa and high scores. She is applying to these film schools: </p>

<p>USC SCA, Chapman Dodge and NYU Tisch but also to Emerson, BU, UT Austin and Drexel. Her ultimate goal is tv sitcom production, with a side interest in business. </p>

<p>Anyone get in to any of these with similar stats?</p>

<p>Her stats:</p>

<p>*3.4 UW gpa (I recalculated this as a weighted gpa of *3.66, core classes only, cumulative)
*school does not rank or weight grades
34 ACT, one sitting
2170 SAT, one sitting
APs: Calc AB, Stat, Spanish, Bio
Honors classes: Physics, Spanish, All Math (plus one year ahead)
PSAT was 211 so will be National Merit Commended
Spanish Awards, 2 gold and 1 silver in outside experience
white female, no hooks, not requesting financial aid</p>

<p>EC's are years of video production class, school musical, 8 hours college credit at summer program at USC (made A-), various school clubs and volunteer work. Senior Capstone project is writing, producing a sitcom pilot.</p>

<p>She attends a highly competitive private school in Texas. 22 have matriculated to USC over the last four years, this not to include all accepted but only those attending. Naviance School Stats are 49% acceptance rate for her USC at her school.</p>

<p>The senior class size is approx 115. While I know that her 3.4 gpa would have put her right in the middle of her class last year.. again, that is with no one's grades weighted. She has never made a C but steady B's with some A's. Same steady but unremarkable grades throughout high school.</p>

<p>It is impossible for me to tell if colleges will see her as a 3.4 or a 3.66. Anyone have an opinion on this? My confusion is with comparing her gpa with the published stats on incoming freshmen.</p>

<p>Any other constructive input/opinion would be helpful. I realize her portfolio/supplement is at least half the battle here.</p>

<p>Another question: Is it standard or unusual for USC to accept students into another program, say their second choice or just one they determine will fit, when they are not accepted into School of Cinematic Arts? Obviously, so few are accepted into SCA.</p>

<p>Thanks for your time and input and good luck to everyone!!</p>

2

<p>I think she stands a shot at all the schools you mention. Majors like film production give you some room with stats. And in your D’s case she has done outside things demonstrating her passion for TV production. I would make sure her essay’s reflect that desire and passion. </p>

<p>You might want to post on the film major thread and see what people over there think as well as some suggestions of colleges down a tier just for a safe bet.</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

3

<p>I don’t know about UT Austin, and my information is a little out of date (i.e., all these kids have graduated in the past few years), but I know kids who attended Emerson, BU, and Drexel with no better stats than your daughter. I think you are being significantly over-pessimistic about her school performance.</p>

<p>I doubt her stats will keep her out of USC, Chapman, or NYU, either. I know kids who have been at Tisch in the past few years whose stats were not as good as your daughter’s. But those schools – I’m not so certain about Chapman, I am certain about NYU and USC – are brutally competitive for admission based on talent, not grades. Her sitcom pilot will mean a lot more than her numbers.</p>

4

<p>Thanks so much, I appreciate your input and I will also post some questions in the film major thread.</p>

5

<p>Thanks so much for the reply. I think you are correct about my being a bit overly pessimistic. Seeing her stats all together like that on paper, I realize they are pretty awesome. True, the supplemental ‘talent’ part of the application will be crucial. As we heard from the various admission offices, they must show a unique ability to tell a story.</p>

6

<p>Stat’s are only a portion of gaining admission to these particular schools in this particular major.
What’s going to matter at USC, Chapman-Dodge, Tisch is how well she does on the supplemental portion of her application. They will want to see evidence of future success in her sample submissions. This also gives them a clearer picture as to what level of background she brings to the party.</p>

<p>Many kids who apply have lesser stats, but come from a performing arts school and have had hours per day during the school year to develop and refine their reel or screenplay.</p>

<p>Consider the supplements as equal to a music, dance or theater major doing a competitive audition. Often the GPA is the tipping point, rather than the main attraction. I do know that for USC, a student needs to get accepted into the school, as well as get accepted into the program.</p>

7

<p>Thanks hop. I just found out that Chapman and Dodge have a separate application process for her television studio major that is separate from film, so no need to upload her artisitc work. They want a resume instead. </p>

<p>She will need to apply as a film major to NYU and USC though. Thanks for your advice. I am now having her AVP teacher at her school help her select what to put into her supplement!</p>

8

<p>You might want to have a look at Loyola Marymount in L.A. It has a fine film/television program and is not bad for business either. They have lots of internships in the industry as well.</p>

9

<p>I’ll just second JHS’s post #3, which sounds right on all schools mentioned. It is certainly right regarding USC. Your D’s grades would be within range for students selected by SCA based on talent/supplement. (I have 2 in that program and have seen a rather forgiving range of HS gpas among their peers. Of course, one can imagine the lower the incoming gpa, the more impressive were their young filmmaking accomplishments.)</p>

<p>We hear that the film production major withing the School of Cinematic Arts is the most selective so I would recommend she look at the Critical Studies major as well, which takes more incoming freshmen and has a very similar curriculum. She can apply to both (more work, more supplements!) But it broadens her chances of getting one of the spots in SCA. </p>

<p>But with 4-6% admission for the School, some extremely talented students do not make it. (example: Steven Spielberg, and he ended up doing okay.) In those cases, USC adcom does have a chance to admit the student to the university. Their review puts the emphasis back on the student’s stats, LoRs, essays, ECs, etc. This year’s freshman admits had an average UW gpa 3.8, midrange 25%-75% SAT: 2030-2250, ACT: 30-33. <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1213/USCFreshmanProfile2012.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/private/1213/USCFreshmanProfile2012.pdf&lt;/a&gt; They know your D’s rigorous HS, so that could also help. I’m sure her GC would be able to give you more info on that. </p>

<p>To answer your other question, if she attends USC, she can select film as a minor (intro level classes are the same as for the major) and then reapply internally as a film production major. I know several determined talented students who are quite successful at entering film production once at USC.</p>

10

<p>I think you are putting too much “weight” on the “weighted” grades. Every single college we have talked to, and many other’s here have the same experience, removes any weighting from high schools so she is applying apples to apples with other kids that really have a 3.4 too, even though their weighted grade is a 4.0 or whatever. </p>

<p>Obviously USC likes your high school and she has a good chance of getting in there (but not sure which school you are talking about since I can think of 3 with those letters:D). Her test scores combined with the reputation of her high school will help her in the admissions process and like I told our son, you never know if you don’t apply.</p>