<p>I pretty much have narrowed my choices down to three which all have benefits and drawbacks. I am absolutely terrified of making this decision and need all the advice I can get.</p>
<p>The big issue is that I love filmmaking and applied to film school, but I am extremely uncertain about pursuing filmmaking as a career. I might want to do it, but maybe not. And its making things difficult. So here are the three:</p>
<p>USC School of Cinematic Arts--I was honestly surprised I got in, they only accept 50 students into production. The school is only alright in my opinion. I didn't love the kids or the campus, but the film program is amazing, they are offering a lot of scholarship money and financial aid. Still, if I decide not to do film, I may have passed up these other schools.</p>
<p>Northwestern School of Communication--Really great school, pretty good Film Program (but no where near USC SCA), Cost should be comparable to USC but haven't gotten final word yet. But its in Chicago, which I honestly don't know much about (I am going to visit in the next few weeks).</p>
<p>Berkeley--Another surprise because I am out of state, Berkeley has no film program but if I went there and afterwards I still wanted to do filmmaking I could go to a graduate school if needed. But Berkeley is in the best place being in Northern California. LA is too pretentious and Chicago is too cold. On top of that, I like the atmosphere of Berkeley and I might just be perfectly content going there and not studying filmmaking for now.</p>
<p>Also, I have yet to hear from Harvard which is in Boston, one of my favorite cities ever. And on the 1% chance I actually get in to Harvard, I'm definitely going to be seriously considering it.</p>
<p>Northwestern is probably your best option even if Harvard comes through unless your heart bleeds Crimson. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>At Northwestern you’d get one of the best academic film programs in the country with an option to co-op a term in LA and great connections in the industry. Couple this with great “back-up” programs academically across the board. Harvard and Berkeley can’t come close to offering NU’s film strength. </p></li>
<li><p>Boston is not significantly different weather-wise than Chicago (which is another great city for students). </p></li>
<li><p>Berkeley offers a great location (my personal favorite of the three), but with no real film program, California budget cuts, the prospect of possibly 5 years to graduate, I’d hesitate to head there from out of state especially when that means assuming out of state costs. </p></li>
<li><p>USC has a stellar film program that I think is legitimately the best in the country. I wouldn’t dismiss their academics outside of film though - pretty strong across all departments, even if somewhat weaker than your other 3 options.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Not sure I would bother with Berkeley, since it’s so expensive out of state. I am tending to agree with the person who suggested Northwestern–seems to have the whole package for you.</p>
<p>if you want to be a filmmaker, seems like USC is the way to go- a once in a lifetime opportunity. if you’re not into filmaking, then why choose the middle of the road choice, northwestern? go with berkeley if you dont want to do filmmaking and go to USC if you do. and go to harvard either way if you get in.</p>
<p>I think the fact that USC is shelling out money to you(hopefully a significant amount), makes it a better option for you in being able to explore your Film interest. Even if you don’t pursue it as a career, you would have not sacrificed that much money for that school. I would think that if you wanted to study something non-film related, you could always double major or minor. If you were left unsatisfied with your education at USC, you could then go ahead an pursue a Master’s in whatever you would have if you had pursued UCB or Northwestern.</p>
<p>I believe Northwestern is the better choice for the OP if his heart isn’t set on filmmaking. It has a top-ranked film department, is more well-rounded and is easy for students to pursue double majors.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for all the quick responses,</p>
<p>Current developments:
-USC is offering a scholarship of half-tuition
-I was accepted into USC’s thematic option program, which is their general education honors programs</p>
<p>I should hear from Harvard tomorrow, but like I said, not expecting much</p>
<p>I’ve got some concerns about each of the schools and I was hoping someone might be able to address the validity of my concerns:</p>
<p>Berkeley:
-Huge class sizes
-Often difficult to get into the classes you want to get into
-California going bankrupt</p>
<p>Northwestern:
-Loads of work depletes your social life
-People are more often competitive than collaborative
-Also, how difficult is it to adjust to the climate. I am from Virginia and am really not a fan of cold weather.
-How suburban is Evanston? I’ve lived in the suburbs of DC my whole life, and I am rather sick of suburbs =/</p>
<p>USC
-“University of Spoiled Children”–how pretentious are we talking?
-Cinematic production has little flexibility and its difficult to pursue double majors or even minors
-Quality of public transportation in LA, I absolutely despise LA freeways and could never drive in LA traffic. Now I am hearing that public transport is also rather terrible.</p>
<p>USC: Fewer spoiled children here than on most campuses. Has a very high rate of students receiving aid, very diverse population wealth and race wise. Still will have no trouble when walking around campus recognizing you’re in SoCal (lots of very pretty people around). You’re right about highways and public transit - both still are god aweful in LA LA land.</p>
<p>Northwestern: More co-operative, less competitive student body than at comparable east coast schools. Evanston is more a city than suburb and adjoins the northern tip of Chicago. Can get to a Cubs game by El in around 20 minutes. About 80,000 people. Over 150 restaurants. Cold 1/3 of school year (winter trimester) but millions of great well heated indoor destinations to warm you up - clubs, bars, theaters, museums.</p>
<p>I think USC or Northwestern is your best options here. Since you’re from Virginia, you have to ask yourself do you want to live in California or live closer to home.</p>
<p>^You must have a slow car because Evanston borders Chicago. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>OP,
Evanston is pretty urban; it got about 80 restaurants in the downtown area (right next to the campus), Borders, and an 18-screen movie theater…etc. It’s 12 miles north of <em>downtown</em> Chicago. You can think of Chicago as a 24-mile long rectangle with downtown in the middle; most of the affluent/vibrant areas of Chicago are in the northern half and Evanston borders the end of it. You can go to one of those areas for city life; you don’t have to go to downtown for it. The train station is 5-10 min walk from campus. </p>
<p>USC is near south central and downtown of LA. But it’s not walking distance to downtown; there are shuttles/buses that take you there from USC campus. LA covers a very large area and is very spread-out; even the downtown area isn’t that compact. Some people think of it as a giant cluster of suburbs. You’d definitely need a car/ride to get to places and pockets of more urban areas such as Santa Monica (15 miles away) or Pasedena (technically not part of LA). Now I think of it, Evanston is a lot like Pasadena.</p>
<p>Sorry if I’ve gotten my facts wrong. When I visited Northwestern, I was told it took about 40 minutes on the shuttle to get from the Evanston campus to the one in Chicago.</p>
<p>Northwestern
School of Communication Major in RTVF
Communication Century Scholar
Cost is a little bit iffy–the efc the originally offered was $48k
which is impossible for my family to afford,
we appealed and they typically respond well to financial aid appeals, we just haven’t hear back yet. If it doesn’t change, Northwestern really can’t be an option.</p>
<p>Are those how much you have to pay a year for each school? If so, in this situation I’d choose USC. I don’t think NU is worth twice as much as USC, and it’s USC film. Even if you decide not to be a filmmaker, USC is pretty strong in other areas, too.</p>