<p>I will be applying for NYU Tisch for film and television production in January. NYU is my dream school, and I would do basically anything to get in. However, I know Tisch's acceptance rate is low, and their admissions criteria is subjective. Here are a couple questions about the application process that I hope someone who either attends the school, or someone who is very knowledgable about the goings-on at Tisch, can help answer. </p>
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<li><p>How much weight does your GPA, SAT scores, AP scores, etc. hold? I have taken three APs, and scored fives on each. I plan on taking two more next year, as well as two SAT subject tests (French and US history). My SAT score is currently a 1980 (720 reading, 690 writing, 520 math), but I will be taking it again in October to increase my math score. Luckily, NYU superscores, so I am not too worried about my SAT. MY GPA rests at a 3.87 weighted, and a 3.6 unweighted. The student who led my tour when I visited the school told me that they consider both weighted and unweighted in their decision making. How competitive is my academic standing? I realize academics play only a small role- however, if you have a good academic profile, does it positively impact your chances? Or is their acceptance decision based solely on the artistic portfolio?</p></li>
<li><p>Within the portfolio, how important is your short film? If they are not blown away with your essays or your personal story, but are impressed by your short film, do you stand a chance, and vice versa?</p></li>
<li><p>What are your suggestions for the essays and the short film? I hear that NYU looks mostly for great storytelling. I have compared my work to those online, and I consider mine better than some accepted work, and worse than others. What is the happy medium?</p></li>
<li><p>How important of a role does experience play? I have worked at a movie theater for two years, and have ran a YouTube account since then as well. However, I don't have any film festivals or 'official' short films behind me yet. </p></li>
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<p>Thank you so much. I realize many of these questions have probably been asked- several- times before, but this school is so important to me, and I want to exhaust all options possible so I can be prepared once January 1st rolls around. </p>
<p>I got into Tisch film as a transfer, so it may be different, but here’s my impression.</p>
<p>First off, academics are an important factor in admission. If you have an amazing portfolio, you might be able to get in with slightly lower academic credentials than other schools at NYU, but that doesn’t mean you can do terribly in school. The opposite is true as well: If you do amazing in school, you might be able to have a less than amazing portfolio, although it still has to be decent.</p>
<p>As far as the short film and the essays for that matter, they’re really just looking to see if you have important stories to tell and if you can tell them effectively. They feel they can teach you how to make your ideas into films, but they can’t teach you to have great ideas. Prior filmmaking experience isn’t necessary, although it definitely helps.</p>
<p>I remember one of my professors, who was on the admissions board, talking about reading the dramatic essays. He said he was literally going insane from how trivial some of these experiences were that applicants considered the most dramatic situation in their lives.</p>
<p>Basically, if you have something that shows that you’re more than just an over-privileged bourgeois kid from the suburbs, you’ll definitely stand out, since over-privileged bourgeois kids from the suburbs make up a large percentage of the people that are in a position to spend a quarter of a million dollars on film school.</p>
<p>My d is a current student in this program and I agree with everything in the above posts. The only thing I would add is that we were told that the admission decision for Tisch is made in conjunction with the general admission people, so you need really good academics, as well as an interesting creative portfolio. There is no magic number for SAT scores or GPAs. As mentioned above, storytelling is emphasized in the curriculum. Don’t waste your time looking for examples of other people’s work on the internet, whether films or essays. Dig deep and write about something that really touched and changed YOU. Start writing your essays and dramatic story NOW and give yourself lots of time to re-write, edit, etc. Deadlines will be here before you know it and I’m sure you’ll be applying to more than one school. You will also need to be concentrating on those senior year subjects to keep your academics up. Good luck!</p>
<p>Academics is 50% of your admissions. Your portfolio is the other 50%. Basically NYU admissions will be determining if you are qualified to attend in terms of stats, EC’s, letters of recommendations, etc. at the same time your talent portfolio is being reviewed. There is a little leeway in terms of scores/ grades for talented kids in Tisch and Steinhardt, but not that much. Admissions needs to agree to your qualifications even if you are enormously talented.</p>