Question on film major at schools?

<p>My son is a senior this year and we are applying to colleges for Film (wants to do film production) These are the schools on our list:
Marist
Suny Buffalo
Suny Binghamton
Suny Purchase
Penn State
Fitchburg
Keene
Montclair
Emerson
RIT
University of Rhode Island
Fairleigh Dickinson</p>

<p>These are the schools that are more afforable to us. Other schools are just not afforable. My son is a B+ student when he tries. GPA is unweighted 91 and weighted 98. SAT only about 1610 but he is taking it again. He is not a good test taker. I know most of the schools you do not actually go into the program until the 2nd year. You can get accepted into the school (lets say for Communications or Art) but not actually into the major until the 2nd year. My questions are:
1) Is anyone familiar with the film program at any one of these schools? Would love to hear good and bad comments.
2)Does anyone know if any of these schools is more hands on than others as far as working with the equipment?
3) Do any of these schools put you right into the program?</p>

<p>I have another son in his senior year at University of Buffalo for Urban Planning/Environmental Design. We have an appointment there in October to see the film department. I know they are not as known for their film major as their architecture majors.</p>

<p>Any replies would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Debbie</p>

<p>Hi Pha516,
The only program I’m familiar with is Emerson, which has a very well known program (number 8 of the top 25 film programs. (Check out the full list: [Best</a> Film Schools: The Hollywood Reporter Unveils the Top 25 Programs of 2013](<a href=“http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/best-film-schools-hollywood-reporter-595712]Best”>The Hollywood Reporter – Movie news, TV news, awards news, lifestyle news, business news and more from The Hollywood Reporter.)). </p>

<p>With Emerson, you do go directly into the program as a freshman. I would note that even when you do go directly into a program, there is usually a year or 1.5 years of GE requirements to cover first.</p>

<p>In terms of being “hands on”, what you are looking for is “Film Production” verses “Film Studies”. You’ll have to check the requirements of each school to determine how hands on it is. If the major is called Film Studies, they’ll probably just have a few production classes.</p>

<p>Just FYI, a lot of film schools look more at the portfolio than the grades. His grades are good (but he should bring up his SAT or try the ACT). So, don’t assume he can’t get into places (or worse, assume he can) because of his grades. Film production is very competitive.</p>

<p>You may want to include at least one NYC school, considering his major. My D was offered a lot of scholarship money from SVA. She ended up at NYU but she really was impressed with the facilities and what SVA had to offer.</p>