<p>We're always getting requests for "What are the top film schools in the US?" And we've seen a few lists (some highly suspect, like the one who listed their advertisers as the top two schools). So I thought that with all the research the posters here on this forum have done, we can come up with our own list.</p>
<p>We don't need to rank them 1,2,3, etc, but I want to place them into three tiers:</p>
<p>A. The top, top schools (as decided by us posters).</p>
<p>B. The top schools that are almost top, top ones.</p>
<p>C. Some hidden gems that might not be well known.</p>
<p>I should have titled this as ranking UNDERGRADUATE film schools.</p>
<p>UCLA is a fantastic film school, but they do not accept undergraduate freshmen. You’ve got to first attend the school (or another school) for two years and then apply to be accepted as a junior into the program. So, for that risky reason alone, I would rank them in the Top, but not the Top, top.</p>
<p>It’s still a TOP TOP program. You may not like the fact that they don’t want inexperienced freshmen. But in the industry it is considered at the top. WAY WAY ahead of Emerson or LMU.</p>
<p>I know or know of several kids who have been through the Temple University program in the last few years. (Only one of them was local, too.) All of them have been very happy with it, and their parents have been pleasantly surprised at their success in getting work during and after the program.</p>
<p>I don’t know enough about film schools to slot it into “Good” or “Hidden Gem”, but it probably belongs on the list somewhere.</p>
Florida State (my only reservation is requires one extra summer)</p>
<h2>-UT Austin (my only reservation here is LARGE size (50,000 plus)</h2>
<p>C. Hidden Gems
-Temple
-Colorado
-American (for Documentary and political and environmental especially)</p>
<p>Worth a Second Look:
-Drexel
-University of Central Florida
-Fairleigh Dickinson
-Grand Valley State
-Purchase (esp if you live in NY)
-University of Central Florida</p>
<p>Yes, UCLA is top,top, but may as well be treated as a grad program. That’s essentially the choice for the hundreds of UCLA juniors that don’t get accepted to their own schools undergrad film program.</p>
<p>lmu is higher than chapman? i always thought it was vice versa. after looking through posts of lmu vs chapman, people said chapman was better. interesting though. usc is definitely 1st.</p>
<p>Absolutely no ranking within the categories!!! Trying to keep it simple. I’m not sure what to do about UCLA since you can’t get admitted to their film school as a freshman.</p>
<p>I would recommend to add another category for transfer admits only.
As for the no ranking issue, just put the schools in alphabetical order. That should solve it.</p>
<p>I think you should add MICA. They have graduated several film majors who have been extremely successful. Alumni connections are important considerations for students thinking about how they will actually get work once they graduate.</p>
<p>I am curious, why Emerson in the top top? What is the criteria?</p>
<p>Also forgot to mention the relatively new major offered at the University of Oregon in Eugene. Their new “Cinema Studies” major is multidisciplinary and spans the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Architecture and Allied Arts and the School of Journalism and Communication. Another hidden gem for sure.</p>
<p>I am a a fan of Emerson. Although it may not be as well known, they have an amazing program. Top notch equipment, dedicated faculty, and a very large “Emerson Mafia” of graduates working in the industry that can give new graduates a leg up. When I visited with my son I wasn’t sure what to expect, but we both came away with an incredibly favorable impression. The creativity and drive of its students is impressive. Academically it may not be a top notch university, but for film, I think it deserves a top rating.</p>
<p>And: I’d like to add CalArts to my Top List. Great art school near LA.</p>
<p>Ahhh… the complexities of a list like this. There are so many different goals for someone going to a “film school” that ranking one against the other (even just categories) reveals the bias of the list-maker. In my case, the bias is for film/digital production, not for film studies, where production might not be the top skill being learned.</p>
<p>Even within the production view, there are so many different things to look at, including filmmaking and post-production technical wizardry. And even with just the filmmaking slice, there are even narrower slices: documentary films (e.g., American University), independent filmmaking (UCLA), or industry training (USC).</p>
<p>And we also need to look at the general education (non-film) that a student would receive. Take the difference, for example, between Wesleyan and a trade school. Which one would have a better “education”…?</p>
<p>So we could organize the complexity into multiple specialty lists: film production, film studies, screenwriting, animation… Probably two categories, production and film studies, would suffice.</p>
<p>We could also deal with the for profit trade schools. An honest discussion on Full Sail, New York Film Academy, Brooks, etc. would be interesting, those school often pop up when you search lists. Are any of them relevant to getting a career in the industry, or a rip-off? Could they be ranked as a separate category.</p>
<p>Also, which Cal State public schools fit in the mix and where? Dmazza? was a CC fan, what about that? Just questions, I don’t have the answers.</p>