My D plans to major in film production. She has been offered full tuition scholarships and Honors at Temple and Hofstra. She has been accepted at Loyola Marymount but she would have to take out loans to go there. She loves the program at LMU and the idea of being in LA. I’m sure it would also help to have alum contacts and internship opportunities so close in LA. But she would end up with $30,000 in student loans to go to LMU.
Are the film programs at Hofstra and Temple comparable? Could she still make good connections in the industry at those schools? Which one would provide more opportunities to work on actual films? Any information would be appreciated.
Our S also received a scholarship at Hofstra and Ithaca for film and was deferred at LMU. Hofstra’s presence is primarily known on the East Coast. If your D would be happy working in NYC then Hofstra is a great choice. They do have an LA program, but it is only for a week or two and only a dozen students get to attend. We live in Philly so Temple is close by and economical for us, but I am not comfortable with the crime rates in the area, despite beautiful renovations to the campus. Good luck and congrats on the scholarships!
@csggirl Thanks! My D is also accepted at Ithaca. We visited last spring and she loved the Park School and the town of Ithaca. For us, it’s the same situation as LMU. The scholarship at Ithaca isn’t enough to not have to take out loans. After talking with someone recently who works in the film industry, my D became a little concerned about the remoteness of Ithaca. This person told her to go to a school where there will be film shoots nearby so that she can work on crews and get some experience beyond just student films. I’m not sure if there is much opportunity to work on film crews in that area.
My D attends Temple but she’s at Tyler (visual arts) so I’m not sure how the film program compares. But Philly has a burgeoning art scene which I’m sure includes film making as well.
And yes, the area surrounding Temple is quite sketchy but amazingly the campus itself is very safe. My D (who is a typical suburban teen) feels very comfortable on campus and knows to take precautions when she goes into center city. Temple has an Uber-type ride service and police escorts if students want to travel late at night.
The Hofstra one sounds like the best of all worlds. There’s a commuter train stop right near campus, directly into the City. NYC has lots of film shoots. Film production work is one of the larger contributors to the City’s economy. So there are opportunities there for work. She would be able potentially to make connections in the industry as an undergrad. She would also have chances to meet people at NYU film school and Columbia film school, both excellent. May people in the film industry have their feet in both NYC and in LA. She would graduate with no debt, you said. It’s safe. (NYC is among the top-10 safest cities in the world currently).
I’d say Hofstra for the win.
Getting good advice, don’t go into big debt, do try to get experience on film sets beyond student films, build on connections with alumni from your school. LA and NYC are easily the two biggest markets. My two children both graduated from LMU, daughter three years ago with minimal debt ($10000), son just last month with significantly more ($30000). She has had little trouble supporting herself in LA, still struggling freelance work. We will see how it goes for son. Daughter has done work both in LA and NY, ironically she probably made more in NY than anywhere else last year. She thinks there is a glut of people in LA, gets work in NY because there a re fewer competent people available.
2manypets, Perhaps your daughter could take a few summer core classes/electives over the summer sessions, and graduate a semester early. That would knock off a big chunk. My son is considering doing that.
@Hereinca That’s a good idea. Do you know if LMU is pretty good about taking credits from junior colleges? From looking at their AP chart, it looks like my D will only be able to use 2 of her courses towards required classes. It seems like some schools try to stack the deck so that very few outside credits will actually count towards the degree.
I called admissions and asked about AP credit. Some of them transfer as elective credit, and others toward core requirements. AP Lang is only transferred as an elective. The chart might not show everything. For example, AP govt (not comparative, just regular AP govt US) transfers as a poly sci core requirement. You’d need to discuss with admissions. That said, even if some of the classes are transferred as elective only, it still goes to grad requirements, and they need a certain number of electives to graduate. Hope that helps a bit. We are in a similar situation.