Basically everyone was invited to apply for the Alumni scholarship, so that is no indication of anything. Not trying to be harsh, just realistic.
That is far from ideal. I assume you will want to buy a house or a car with credit, how is that going to work with a 30 year student loan (and many student loans are only 10 year terms)? Does this financial advisor know anything about student or parent plus loans? Are your parents going to get $90K in loans elsewhere, e.g., a home equity line of credit?
Beyond the money thing you have to figure this out by doing research on various film schools. Gumbymom posted the procedure for an interschool transfer to film and television at UCLA. What that page doesn’t say is how hard that is to make happen. UCLA accepts only 15-20 students each year as freshman into the film and television school, plus a handful (max) of transfers (including those coming from other colleges). It is highly unlikely you would be able to transfer into film at UCLA.
Chapman Dodge film production major has around a 7% acceptance rate…it’s unlikely you can transfer there either. You need to figure out what schools where you could conceivably transfer AND afford, if you don’t choose one of your very good current options.
As others have said you don’t have to be in LA to work in film, it’s a difficult industry to break into, and that film will likely result in a relatively low paying job, if you do find work.
What about the other suggestions that people have made on this thread or the other schools you have been accepted to? Are any of those of interest? Why not DePauw for example?
3 Likes
I hadn’t seen this post before I replied to the previous one. I am sorry to hear about your mental health issues, but you are not a failure by any stretch of the imagination. You have fantastic college choices as well as a bright future. You can and will find the right place for you and posters here are more than willing to help. Hugs to you.
3 Likes
[response withdrawn because it was already answered]
I take out the maximum amount of required student loans, my parents contribute an additional 25k per year, and I pay what’s left each year in additional cosigned loans.
If you pay $600 a month for 30 years…you will be paying a lot of money back for a LONG time.
Davidson is a terrific school and sounds like it will cost you a LOT less.
And anyway…who is going to co-sign your remaining loans.
1 Like
Davidson is most definitely a great school, but I’m worried it won’t bring me any closer to my goals. I’m not particularly interested in the programs offered by most LACs because none of them are specific enough to my passions. Film overall, VFX, Stunt work/Parkour, Music (not as my primary career, but gigs in my spare time). There are maybe a few classes on one or two of these subjects at LACs, but I haven’t been able to find solid programs.
I feel for you. You are not a failure. You got into UCLA for CS and Davidson. My goodness. Everyone dreams of being you.
But you are a teenager who is getting what I feel, what others feel is beyond poor guidance.
Btw it’s not you paying the $600. It’s your folks. Their loan. You may agree to pay them but if or when you can’t (and there’s a lot of down time in that industry), it’s their name. Not yours. When they try and get a job and can’t due to bad credit it’s on them. Not you.
Lots of places to get film experience. Your list Depauw, Davidson has kids interning and working in industry. You are of the opinion that UCLA is the holy grail. It’s not.
Why not try one of the others …I’m not a fan of transferring but go and see if you can make it work and save $$. If it doesn’t then you can look to move later.
Filming is done in lots of cities. Hence these Charleston kids are working on Outer Banks, whatever that is…a Netflix show. Ga, La both have lots of filming. You can find your place.
Check out the bios of your favorite directors and producers. You’ll find schools of all types, drop outs and never attended.
Your only mistake here was falling in love and applying to a school you could never afford.
Look at your acceptances. You are an academic superstar. But it’s time for that first adult situation and for your family to protect itself.
Btw $600 a month for 30 years is $230,400. I’ll run the #s later but parent plus loans start to accrue interest on day one and I believe are often variable rate. On $115,000 and with rates headed up, that seems like a gross underestimation. But I don’t know…will run the #s later unless someone else verifies them first.
4 Likes
So I just did a simple $115K at 6.28% (current rate) and it’s $712 over 30 years over $256K.
It’s a bit simple because in theory you are borrowing $29K this year, then next - but I just took 30 years at that amount.
They are fixed - I thought variable. You can get private loans that start lower but go variable.
The other kick in the pants - they have a 4.28% origination fee - so as you borrow $29K that first year, you are paying $1241 just to secure the loan.
Make sure you verify everything your advisor tells you…lots of tools on the web.
1 Like
You can still contact Davidson.
In terms of finding work, NC, SC, and GA have A LOT of productions. And a small college where professors know you personally because there are only 16 of you in the class, not 600, can help you get into gigs that lead to a resume that leads to an internship. Including in LA. If your parents have money, they can save it to help you pay for that internship if Davidson doesn’t subsidize you already.
BTW a great program for film is at UIUC.
4 Likes
A few things to think about:
What will you do if you borrow all of this money to go to UCLA but aren’t admitted to the film program? From what an above poster said, it sounds like it is extremely unlikely you will be admitted to that program. Wouldn’t it be better to at least take some gen eds elsewhere the first two years and then look at transfer options for your final two so you can at least guarantee you will be able to study what you want?
600 or 700 a month payments will hold you back from so many things. That’s potentially not being able to buy a car to get yourself to work, or not being able to afford rent in the city where you want to work. That will also cut into vacation budgets, long-term savings, and can mean you have to make life decisions you wouldn’t otherwise have made due to finances.
Have you thought about the ways this type of loan repayment can impact your future career? You may not be able to take that unpaid internship that could be your big break into a full-time job because you need to work when your loan repayments kick in instead. You may not be able to take that first job in the industry that is low-paying because you can’t afford rent in LA and a loan repayment.
Imagine instead that you go to one of your other options and graduate debt free. You have money to spend summers doing internships and gaining hands-on experience. You can take that low-paying first job out in LA and not have to worry about how you will pay rent.
Don’t discount connections and experience you can make at Davidson, either. NC has a very active film industry and has for quite some time. Back when I was in school in NC, lots of friends found plenty of internships and work on shows and movies being filmed throughout the state (i’m aging myself, but Dawson’s Creek regularly employed college students back then). They all did internships in LA over the summers and were able to land work and move there directly after graduation (which was only possible because they did not have any debt to repay). Google NC Film Office to see current and past productions. Davidson can get you access to the experience you are looking for, and anything else you might need can be done over summers or post-graduation out in LA.
I truly empathize with you, as I turned down a dream school that would have required taking out loans and was heartbroken at the time. I chose to stay in-state and attend UNC instead and graduated without debt. I am so grateful my parents talked me out of taking out loans and going to the dream school. Not having loans to repay meant that I could immediately go to graduate school, I was able to spend a summer in Dublin doing a dream internship in my field, I was able to travel with my friends throughout Europe several summers in a row, I could afford to move to Boston after grad school to accept a job I really wanted. I would have never been able to do these things if I had loans, and would have never met my husband in Boston, we would have never been able to move abroad when he got a postdoc opportunity at one of the best universities in the world, we would have not had a budget to travel when we were young, we would have delayed having children, delayed buying a house, delayed taking family vacations, delayed saving for our own children’s future, and delayed LIVING.
I had no idea what was in store back when I was 18 and wanted to go to the dream school. Oddly enough, I work with someone now who did go to that dream school a few years after I would have started. She is approaching 40 and still paying off student loans. She can’t afford to buy a house in the city where we live so she commutes nearly an hour to work each way because all she can afford is a small fixer-upper way out in the middle of nowhere. She’s too tired from the commute to go out after work with friends, and her friends say it’s too far to drive out to where she is, so she hardly sees them anymore. She has not had children because she doesn’t know how she would afford daycare on top of her mortgage and loan repayments. We work in the same field and have the same graduate degree. Where we went to undergrad made no difference in where we ended up in our careers, but it sure made a difference in our quality of life.
8 Likes
what I said 2 days ago 
1 Like
My brother in law studied film at Mizzou and it had a small film industry. He was a gaffer and held a variety of assistant type roles. He decided to get married and wanted a family so he works in marketing now—he just got a dream job and moved to Seattle. Another friend has a masters in film from Columbia and he worked on his own films for a while and now he too works in marketing. Another friend studied biology and music at Occidental and he is working in the industry. He’s a music editor for TV shows, with a well-paid wife and a trust fund.
It’s a tough industry. It’s possible to make it but many find that they’d like a family or more stability and then they turn to other fields that are still creative and interesting but offer a steady pay check and insurance. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. It does mean you shouldn’t add hundreds of dollars of loan payments to your monthly tab when you will probably be worried about how you are going to eat while sleeping on friend’s couch.
A lot of what you want to do can seemingly be done without a degree. But you want that degree because you have a more than 50 percent chance of needing to find another industry. Go to Davidson. Learn to think critically. Explore other things. Major in something you discover and love. Hone your parkour skills, find other film lovers, take online VFX classes, grow up a little. In a few years you won’t need a dozen parents telling you your plan is capital-T terrible. I’m sorry. You’re going to be great when you get to LA. It will wait for you.
5 Likes
I feel like this is clearly an unfair evaluation of what’s happening here. Perhaps if I was insistent on going to UCLA and nothing else, then sure, but if I truly didn’t intend to consider the advice of anyone here, then I wouldn’t have posted nor taken the time to remain active in this thread, would I have? I really appreciate the help from everyone, but it wouldn’t be wise of me not to push back on people’s opinions to entertain all sides of this decision. If everyone here was telling me “go to UCLA and figure it out” then I would be debating that as well, as evidenced by the discussions I’ve been having with my parents who want me to go. I’ve had 4 stress/anxiety nosebleeds this weekend already from this, and being faced with hostility from all sides when trying to make this decision is counterintuitive. I don’t mean for this to be targeted, but a few people have made ad hominem statements against me in this thread and I want to avoid that in future responses because it only stresses me out. Again, thank you.
1 Like
Since the OP has a new thread, I am closing this one. Feel free to comment there.
1 Like