<p>This new ranking reportedly focuses on outcomes like graduation rate, starting pay, etc. It lists the top 5 as:
USC
NYU
UCLA
Chapman
LMU</p>
<p>"College Factual’s ranking is heavily weighted by outcomes like graduate rates, student loan default rates, and average starting salary. View the whole ranking here, and learn more about the methodology in this article. Many of these top schools are located in the Los Angeles area, allowing students maximum access to a major center of motion picture production."</p>
<p><a href="http://college.usatoday.com/2014/10/29/americas-best-colleges-for-a-major-in-film/">http://college.usatoday.com/2014/10/29/americas-best-colleges-for-a-major-in-film/</a></p>
<p>I was going to say it’s almost the same as The Hollywood Reporter rankings, but then I spotted UC Berkeley & Santa Cruz on the list.</p>
<p>If you dig into their methodology, you’ll see that starting salary is one of the highest ranking factors. But “jobs” in the film industry are generally not like other careers. For example, if you are an electrical engineer, you interview, get an offer, and have a “starting salary.” Not so true for a film major. You typically have short-term gigs, and every film is another “job.”</p>
<p>So what does "“starting salary” even mean in this major? I dug deeper. College Factual uses data from PayScale.com. And how does PayScale get its data? It’s self-reported from people who visit the site and report their income.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine a poor, struggling film-school graduate thinking, “Oh gee. I’d better go find a website where I can report that I’m making close to zero.”</p>