<p>WheninRome,
My son is just a freshman in high school, but he is interested in filmmaking, and we are trying to prepare him for acceptance at a film school. I was looking at FSU and their program sure looks great.</p>
<p>Do you have any ideas about why you might not have been accepted? I am guessing it is quite competitive since they only have 30 slots, as I remember. What kinds of film-related experience did you have from high school?</p>
<p>hi timely,</p>
<p>my son just got accepted to FSU film school. they interview 30 freshman applicants and 30 transfer applicants a year. they accept 15 freshman and 15 transfer. this film program is unbelievable! we just got back from the interview this past weekend and we couldn't believe how magnificient the program is.</p>
<p>my son had an extensive resume. he'd been making short films since he was 11 years old. i believe all the kids interviewed had some background in filmmaking/screenwriting or broadcast/jounalism. my suggestion is as follows:</p>
<p>he needs to have an "A" average in high school. the more AP courses he has the better. the SAT score matters a great deal. my son did not get into nyu or usc because his SAT score and GPA were not wonderful (he had a 1210 SAT - only took the SAT once and never prepared - BIG MISTAKE and his GPA was 3.3 unweighted and a 4.1 weighted). my son believed he could get into any film school he wanted on talent alone. not true. if he had been accepted to usc or nyu, he still probably would have chosen FSU, especially after seeing their program and facilities this past weekend. plus, they finance all your films. none of the other film schools do this. this is a huge plus!</p>
<p>at FSU, the college needs to accept you first, then the film school will look at your film school application (which you file at the same time). they pick the 30 people they interview based on SAT, GPA, personal statement, resume, and letters of recomm. basically, what all the other film schools look at as well. the difference is, that FSU will actually interview a select few before they make their decisions! this is a big, big plus for my son, because he is very charismatic and very passionate about filmmaking. it seems they also placed ALOT of weight on his resume and personal statement, but again, grades DO count.</p>
<p>your son should start making short films! mine did it on his own. but many people go to summer programs that teach film. nyu has one and i believe usc does as well. he could also write a short screenplay and enter it in high school screenwriting competitions. having an award winning short film or screenplay would be a good thing on the resume.</p>
<p>and extracurricular activities are very important as well.</p>
<p>hope this was helpful and good luck to your son!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the great info! Was your son from out of state or from Florida? Our older son will be attending Texas A&M this fall, and we just had a discussion in the A&M section about out-of-state applicants. At A&M, they only reserve 5% of the freshman class slots for out-of-state students. That's because so many good students from in state can't get in, so it doesn't seem right to give the spots to out of state students. I can understand that, and I wonder if the situation is the same in Florida.</p>
<p>I looked at the website for Univ. of Texas, but their Radio, Television, & Film program didn't look nearly as impressive to me as FSU's program.</p>
<p>I do have a question for you. Do you think it looks better to have worked on projects independently or is it just as good to work on "semi-professional" programs where you're getting some instruction and on-the-job-training?</p>
<p>Here is one thing I just found out about:
"As for internships, we are interviewing in April for student internships for The Bracelet of Bordeaux, our upcoming feature film to begin production in late May. See our web site at:
<a href="http://www.TheBraceletOfBordeaux.com%5B/url%5D">www.TheBraceletOfBordeaux.com</a> "</p>
<p>To me, that looks like it would be a good use of his time if he is selected, but it's not the same as making a project from scratch on your own. I'd be interested to know your opinion!</p>
<p>Well I think the main factor was my scores were not up to par. I had an 1150 SAT and a 3.5 unweighted 3.6 weighted gpa on a 4.0 scale. I have some film experience which includes 4 years of media/tv production at my high school where i made at least 30 films over my years. When i got the rejection for the film school, it said that the average callback SAT score was well above a 1350....but as ginnynicksmom has stated that her son got a 1210 then his film experience is much more impressive. I regret not having the resources from the time that i was in grammar school but I hope to eventually get into the film school at Florida State. I am also going to major in Hotel/Resturant Management which is one of their top majors and anyone that graduates with this degree from FSU is almost guarenteed a job. I just wish that FSU can view my latest film because it is going up for Best Long Narrative at the TRUE EAST FILM FESTIVAL in New Jersey, and I got to say it definitely is my best work compared to my past films. I filmed it with a PD-150 which is the same camera that MTV uses on their reality shows, (know from experience because I was filmed by them for 2 days for one of their shows.)</p>
<p>Wow, that's great about your film award! I'm sure you'll get into FSU eventually. If you make excellent grades there in your other course of study, I would think that would help.</p>
<p>I know what you mean about the resumes. It's pretty sad that our son is a freshman in high school and I feel like he's already behind! We homeschool our children. That's a disadvantage in that he won't have any school courses like those that you had, but it can be an advantage in that it provides him more time to work on his own projects.</p>
<p>timely, my son is from florida, however, FSU is not like UT, Austin. FSU's filmschool does not give any preference to florida residents! they even say this on their website. they give scores to everyone that applies based on SAT, GPA, Personal Statement, Recomm. Letters and Resume. they add up the scores and invite the top 30 in for interviews. quite frankly, i was happily shocked that nick got an interview because like wheninrome, my son did not make the highest SATs or GPA. i will say that i asked some of the other kids there at the interview what their SATs were and they were all in the high 1300s and up! nick did have a great personal statement though (out of all the personal statements for all the colleges, this one was by far the best - he actually put thought into this one) and he had a recommendation letter from Fox Broadcasting, who he worked for the year before as talent. his resume, however, had to be the thing that got him the interview for sure. he has won a ton of national awards for his short films and has even sold some to hbo family channel. his resume is a hard one to beat.</p>
<p>i think any experience your son can get would be helpful. internships would be great. it shows that he can work with others and that he has the passion to spend his free time on a film set working for free! the summer film camp at nyu or usc (maybe ut, austin has one?) would be another thing to do. he will make a film there. that's another thing for the resume. UT, Austin does have a very good reputation, but FSU, in my opinion, is better.</p>
<p>wheninrome,
FSU does take 15 transfer students a year. just make great grades in your first year at college and apply again. if you go to FSU for that 1st year, make sure you take all the required courses. they told my son that the 1st year you take all req. courses - no film school till sophomore year anyway. then you start, along with the 15 transfer students! you've got a good shot at it and you'd be in the exact same place as the 15 freshman since they have to wait till sophomore year anyway! SAT would no longer apply. but you would have to get A s that first year. i bet you get in. unfortunately, they will not look at your prior film work. nick even asked if he could bring a 1 min trailer to the interview and they were adamant that this was not allowed. if you are going to FSU, you should go to the orientation for people interested in film school. i think it's 6/1-2 or 6/22-23. they will tell you exactly what you should take to better your chances of getting in the next year. the only reason i know this is because i just called today about orientation because nick couldn't go on 6/1-2 and they said they had another on 6/22. i asked why they have 2 orientations for 15 film students and she said that it's not just the 15, but anyone that is interested in film is assigned one of those dates, just in case they get in the next year. plus, going to orientation on those dates would assure you to personally meet some of the film school administrators, which is always a good thing.</p>
<p>hope this was helpful!</p>
<p>ginnynicksmom, I am already signed up for the 6/22 orientation because 6/1 is during my prom weekend. I am from new jersey and appreciate the tips on getting good grades to get into the film school. I really want to get into that film school during my college years. By the way, which dorms did your son put on his housing application? I put Gilchrist as my number one.</p>
<p>I got into the FSU film school. I have been making videos since the 7th grade for history fair and I think that the competition had a lot to do with me getting into the school. I started making films way before I wanted to make a career out of it. Over the years several history fair kids have gotten in. It's a really good creative outlet and it teaches all aspects of production. I won a bunch of awards for that as well. I also took a lot of art classes and this year I took a TV production class as a dual enrollment student at a local community college. </p>
<p>A great high school video contest that isnt really hard for someone starting out is The Vinny Awards. They dont get a lot of competition but its sponsored by NASA and it has had really good prizes in the past. I won that last year (even though my video was terrible because I made it in like four hours, but hey it won $600) and I think that helped a lot. <a href="http://vinny.pcs.cnu.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://vinny.pcs.cnu.edu/</a></p>
<p>I also did a lot of work on drama films, both my own and with my friends. </p>
<p>I had a 1300 SAT score and my high school GPA was about a 3.5 un-weighted and a 4.5 weighted. My dual enrollment college GPA was a 4.0. My grades may sound pretty good but I bombed freshman and sophomore year and I worked really hard to pull it up. I took a ton of AP and Dual Enrollment classes (I should have around 57 college credit hours when I enter FSU next year) and I started out in an IB program. I got a $1000 scholarship to go to Girls Film School in Santa Fe, but I couldnt afford the rest of the tuition, much less any other summer program like NYUs. I think FSU knows that not all students can afford to go to those places so dont worry about those things. </p>
<p>If he can, its good to work at a TV station and a strong theater and art background seems to be a good thing too. My advice would be for him to make as many films as he can and submit them to every contest that he can (look on fastweb.com; there are a several video contests for high school). Get a cheap video camera and a decent editing software (iMovie is good to start out with and Final Cut Pro is really good for high school students once they learn the basics; its actually what CNN uses; PCs seem to crash a lot). </p>
<p>Im going to the 6/22 orientation. Broward hall is my first choice for dorms and Gilchrist is my second. WheninRome, how did you get into the honors dorm with a 1150 SAT?</p>
<p>Most people that were interviewed seemed interested in big hollywood type films. Im more interested in documentaries and I have this obsession with Nuclear Fusion as an alternative energy source which they seemed to think was funny. I hope this helps you some!</p>
<p>Ginnynicksmom, I think your son may have been the interview right before mine! Im so glad to hear that he got in because you both seemed to really want it.</p>
<p>Oh, and the main thing they are looking for is story tellers. Anyone can learn the technical part after they know how to tell a good story.</p>
<p>lilyofshallot, Gilchrist may be an honors dorm but it doesn't mean only honors students are aloud to stay within it. My brother went to FSU as well and he stayed in Deviney which i believe is the other honors dorm ( i may be wrong) but he was far from honors</p>
<p>Oh cool! I didn't realize that. Deviney isn't an honors dorm. Honors is Gilchrist and Landis. Landis is closed this year so they replaced it with Dorman, which I heard isn't very good. Avoid Kellum Hall like the plague! I lived in it for a week last summer for Girls State and everyone got sick because it was full of mold.</p>
<p>my bad Dorman was the other one.....sorry bout that....but i put 1. Gilchrist, 2. Dorman, 3. Deviney, and 4. Kellum. I put the 4 that were closet to all the action on campus. According to my brother, Salley and Smith are very far away from everything esle and Kellum is in the same boat but closer then Salley and Smith. On the housing application, It only listed 6 dorms so i chose the 4 closest to the action.</p>
<p>lilyofshallot, I know EXACTLY what you mean about Kellum....i was in Boys State. In the middle of the week i got a respiratory infection and i lost my voice. It sucked becuz i had to attend another summer program at Yale with it...i could barely say, "hello."</p>
<p>Wheninrome, i asked for the same dorms...i applied to the honors programs. I heard i have a snowball's chance in hell of getting on-campus housing though.</p>
<p>beechbum114, why do you have a snowball's chance in hell of getting on-campus housing??</p>
<p>Well, Florida State isnt well known for providing anybody with on campus housing if they have a high priority number. I dont know if you've ever been to the campus, but they have apartment complexes everywhere because there isn't much room on campus. As a freshmen, your chances are slim because there are so many people that apply for housing. What most kids do is they call an apartment complex and try to book a room...and if they receive housing, they cancel their reservation. I think all of the people at my school have already gotten off campus housing. I'm the only one that is waiting for the honors program. The apartment complexes work like a residential college in a way. You may have two rooms and a bathroom and living room, or a quad with 2.5 baths and living room. It just depends on which place you call.</p>
<p>A lot of people don't live in the dorms after freshman year. The good thing for you is that honors students have first priority for Gilchrist and Dorman because they are supposed to be like learning communities. I was actually told that they dont want me to go to Broward Halls learning community because I am going to be in the honors program. </p>
<p>Im just curious... did the boys have to make up spirit cheers like we did? We were wondering how that would work out for you guys! Oh and what is considered a high priority number?</p>
<p>lol....im not sure what a spirit cheer is....i dont think thats something the RA's had in mind for us..lol...all i know is that i had a BLAST...after the first 2 days of course. </p>
<p>My priority number is 4044...i consider that high...an alum told me i should be worried...lol....but like i said....maybe the honors program will work out for me....i find out in a day or two.</p>
<p>wheninrome, nick is also going to orientation 6/22-23. 6/1 is his graduation from high school. regarding housing, he's going to be in off-campus housing because i heard how hard it was to get a decent dorm room on campus and signed him up for an off campus dorm (not run by FSU but by a private firm) just across the street from campus. it's called southgate. i wanted him to have a bathroom in his room and the chances of this happening in on campus housing, especially since his priority number was in the high 5,000s, was nil and none. we took a look at southgate and it was fantastic! call them and get a brochure. it's 2 to a room with a bathroom. not 2 rooms sharing one bathroom. each room has a bathroom. they have maid service once a week too, which nick will definitely need!!!!!!!!!! you have to get some sort of a meal plan with this place, but supposedly their food is decent. i got him the lowest meal plan (7 meals a week) so he could eat where ever he wanted and wasn't tied down to one place for all food. it is more $$s than the on campus dorms, but when you add in the meal plan, it's not horrible. </p>
<p>nick's cousin is at kellum. omg! horrible! that's the main reason i marched right over to southgate and signed nick up!! next year she will be in an apt. with her friends and she just can't wait.</p>
<p>lily, i think nick may have been in the interview right before you, yes. you are the documentary girl. congrats on getting accepted! we'll see you at the orientation. i was going to let nick fly up on his own, but nick's cousin is already at FSU and her mom told me it would be a good idea for me to attend the parent's orientation and that she was glad she did. so we'll be flying up again for that.</p>
<p>I am so excited! Our 15 y/o son was accepted to be an intern on "The Bracelet of Bordeaux" movie I told you about in an earlier post. He'll be working in camera and light & sound. They have professional heading up each "department" with interns doing all the other work. The inexperienced interns, like our son, will be just doing grunt work, but those who are older and have some experience, will be given more responsible positions. The director/producer wants to help prepare them for acceptance to film schools. </p>
<p>The film will be a theatrical release, as I understand it, but it is a lower budget family film that will likely go quickly to video. They said that our son will be able to use the film in his "demo reel" and that he'll have the opportunity to get recommendations. If he does well, he can work on next year's film and hopefully be placed in one of the more responsible positions.</p>
<p>I am just excited that he'll have the opportunity to actually learn some stuff without going to a pricey summer program. Not that it will be cheap....they are filming more than an hour from our home, so that means 4 hours of driving each day, or 2 hours and I stay over there with him for the 10-11 hour days. It should be a good way for him to find out if he really wants to pursue filmmaking. I hope it's the kind of thing that could help him get into a school like FSU eventually, too.</p>
<p>Hey, here is a filmmaking question that maybe someone here can help with. Our son wants to make short films, but he isn't that great a screenwriter. I've looked on the Internet but have been unable to find screenplays for short films. Is there anything like that available out there?</p>
<p>Timely, tell him to go to some film making forums and to make some friends there that like writing and see if they are willing to help him. Honestly, you won't get much online that doesnt have a copy write. He may not be a great screenwriter now but he still needs to practice doing it anyway because even if he isn't planing on writing he is still going to have to deal with writers and it would be better if he can see things from their perspective. Besides, writing is a good skill to have and you only get good at it if you practice. </p>
<p>I got wait listed for the Broward Hall learning community, so my new dorm choices are 1. Gilchrist 2. Jennie Murphree 3. Salley Hall 4. Dorman. My priority number is below 2000 so is that pretty good?</p>
<p>Beechbum, Girls State was fun, but at times I felt like I was at a cheer leading camp because they had this competition to see which team was the most spirited, hence the "spirit cheers." I got sick the second day and I ended up having to go to the hospital and I missed the last day at the capital because I could barely get out of bed. But the first two days were great! And I got a scholarship that I probably wont be able to use... Oh well.</p>