<p>Hey, it's Lencias, I'm a Class of 2014 Interactive major with double minors in Music Industry and Music Recording. I just wanted to see who here at CC was accepted into SCA! Drop a reply with your major and any questions you might have :)</p>
<p>I got in for Critical Studies and I’m so excited! I’m still not 100% sure I’ll be choosing USC, as there’s another school I got accepted to with some good scholarship money, but it’s very likely. I’ve heard it’s fairly easy for a critical studies student to double major, is that true? I am thinking of double majoring in Public Relations. Also, do you know if Crit Studies students can take a foley/sound class or other production classes not required by the major? Thanks for offering up some help :)</p>
<p>Now, as you read this, keep in mind that I’m not an academic advisor or anything, I’m working off the exact same info available to you online (but considering I think I’ve managed to work out a way to fit in two minors and a PDP Masters, I’d like to think I’m good at this kind of thing):</p>
<p>The typical student (full 18 credit load every semester, 8 semesters) has room for a total of 144 credits. </p>
<p>The Crit Studies major at SCA has a total of 54 major specific units - toss in GEs (4 units x8 classes) and foreign language requirements (4 units x 3 classes) and you arrive at a total of 98 required units (assuming you roll in your diversity requirement with one of your GEs, which is HIGHLY recommended). I would strongly suggest that you try to test out of or place as high as you can in foreign language to reduce this number to 94, 90, or 86. </p>
<p>The PR major at Annenberg has 62 major specific units. So in THEORY, if you can place out of foreign language and overload to 20 credits for two semesters (or take one 4 unit summer semester), you have just enough room. But no room for anything else. When you heard that it’s easy to double major with Crit, whoever said it probably meant with a Dornsife (new name for the College/CLAS) major, which tend to have lower numbers of major specific units (e.g. Philosophy major has 32 major specific units). </p>
<p>To be honest, taking 20 credits a semester probably won’t be a big deal. I’ve taken 18 units my first two semesters here and found both to be relatively easy. I wish I’d taken 20 units to give myself more room… I am starting to take 20 units every semester starting next semester though. </p>
<p>Funny thing that you ask about sound, I just petitioned really hard to get myself clearance to take CTPR242: Fundamentals of Cinematic Sound (I kept getting shut down because it’s normally been Production majors only), and if I heard the people at student affairs correctly, they’re now gonna allow any non-production major to take it. 
It’s can be taken concurrently with CTPR241 and 290, which are requirements for Crit Studies majors. But if sound really is your thing (and if it is, we can be besties! =P), you should consider minoring in Music Recording at Thornton, the faculty there are wonderful. </p>
<p>And on the money note, write into USC asking for more, especially if another school offered you more. In my humble opinion, money should NEVER be a factor when choosing college.</p>
<p>Got accepted for screenwriting! Like avesnicole I’m not sure if I’m going as another school has offered me a lot of scholarship money. But I was wondering if you can explain the GEs/foreign language requirements (is it the same for my major?) and if it is possible in my major to minor in something else. Thanks.</p>
<p>The Screenwriting major is a BFA, therefore has more major specific credits than a BA does - 86-90 to be precise (the Catalogue and the Cinema site are showing different figures…). Toss in GEs (same for everyone) and this gets inflated to 118-122. I’m pretty sure the Writing BFA doesn’t have any foreign language requirements. This leaves you 24-20 credits of elective space for a minor if you go by the standard 18 credits for 8 semesters schedule. That’s enough to fit in most minors.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for the help! I’m especially happy to hear about being able to take the sounds class! I’ve always been fascinated by foley. So far, USC has offered me absolutely no money when it comes to financial aid. However, it isn’t a problem and is not a deciding factor when it comes to where I will be going to college. Again, thanks for the insight!</p>
<p>hey guys, I’m in a similar situation as avesnicole…I received a small scholarship for USC (I’m going for screenwriting as well), yet a very nice one from another California school as well. And although I do not want my decision to be money based…it is a lot of money haha.</p>
<p>Can you offer any words of wisdom on the Screenwriting program? I hear it is amazing, yet I do not exactly know why it’s better than some others out there</p>
<p>It is better because of… well, hard to say anything specifically since I can’t think of any other screenwriting programs, but, consider these factors.</p>
<p>1) Location: Pretty much all the instructors at SCA are either adjuncts who are currently working in the field they teach or professors who have significant experience working in the field they teach. You literally are learning from the best. And the best will push you to your limits to turn out quality material.</p>
<p>And speaking as a composer and a hobbyist writer… my acquaintance Chris, composer for Civ IV, told me that if I want to write music, I have to practice a lot and write a lot of music to get all the bad music out of my system so that I can write good music. I feel like the same applies for writing and any other creative endeavor - I’m not saying all the stuff you put out for the first few years will be bad, I’m saying that it takes lots of work, guidance, and thought to get better at creating wholly new works. And there’s no place better than USC for that, where you’ll be living and breathing screenplays for much of your four years here. </p>
<p>2) Location: In terms of career and networking opportunities for working in the entertainment industry, no other school could possibly parallel USC. We have industry and career events on a near daily basis, and the SCA (and departmental) mailing list keeps students posted on all the goings on, career events and job/internship openings.</p>
<p>3) Did I mention location? Nah, jk - Your Peers: At no other institution will you be surrounded by so many people who you can work with. As a member of the SCA family (we’re truly a family within the Trojan Family), you will be surrounded by those who make movies and video games on a near daily basis. The sheer amount of creative energy and drive afforded by this environment is unbelievable. There are so many projects to work on at a given time, the possibilities of building your portfolio, sharpening your skills, and honing your craft are simply endless at USC’s School of Cinematic Arts. And networking is important at a peer level, too - who knows, one of your friends who you work on movies write screenplays for might become a hotshot director and get you your first industry gig.</p>
<p>I was accepted to Interactive, but I’m still visiting some other schools before I make my decision. I really love USC, but financially it’s not my best choice.
Do you like the Interactive Media program? Do you feel restricted in what you can do?</p>
<p>Thanks!
Miranda</p>
<p>Miranda! I’m just gonna flat out say, we’re at a severe shortage of girls in the Interactive program (for obvious reasons), so COME =P </p>
<p>Jokes aside (… half joke), the Interactive program at USC is wonderful, and I can’t imagine any other school in the world has anything like it. We have labs in the main SCA complex as well as pretty much space dedicated to us at RZC (the Zemeckis Center). </p>
<p>The Interactive program is very open as to what you can do. Other than the required core cinema/design/development classes, you’re free to “specialize” in whatever you want. Programming type? Take CSCI101 and 102. Love Animation? Take CTAN452 and 443. Wanna do sound? Take CTIN406. Et cetera, et cetera. And I feel like the department chair is pretty open about allowing substitutions for major credit if it seems related and you can provide a good justification - for example, I received permission to take CTPR242: Fundamentals of Cinematic Sound for major credit because I love film/video game music and sound. </p>
<p>The faculty will work with you to make your visions become reality. Really, I’d say the only thing out of reach here is making like a triple A level, Halo 4 style epic, but that’s only because of time constraints and scope… if you got together a team and decided to tackle it outside of class, hell, I bet that’s not completely out of range! </p>
<p>If you decide to visit USC (assuming you haven’t already done so), shoot me a message.</p>