<p>thanks jack1232
I've been watching the mail box, but I was extremely confused with the scholarship deadlines. I did my FAFSA, but I don't know if that automatically qualifies me for scholarships/grants, or what. I wish they'd send out rejection letters first, so you could move on with your quest in case you don't get in. Oh well. Thanks again.</p>
<p>EDYE28,</p>
<p>FAFSA is nothing to do with the scholarship. It is only used to determine the need-based aid for students in low-income families. Actually, we prepared the FAFSA after D got her scholarship invitation. As long as you sent ALL of APPLICATION materials to USC and SCA before the deadline (DEC 1 or 2?), you would be automatically considered for the scholarship. Regarding to rejection letter, I believe most schools will send it out in the last wave.</p>
<p>.....just thought you would be interested to know Kevin Bachus, the creator of X-Box has his degree from SC and majored in interactive media. Also, Co-founders of That GameCompany, Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, are alumnae with majors in interactive media.</p>
<p>GeorgiaGirl knows the absolute best facts about USC. :) So glad you post here GG.</p>
<p>thanks jack1232!
I'm glad I got the scholarship thing cleared up.</p>
<p>I think they take around about 10-15. My friend's in that program and it seems to be even smaller than the animation department which is around 15-20 ish...</p>
<p>jack1232, so I'm dying to hear! Did you and your D come to Explore? What were your impressions? Hope all went very well. Can we have a report??</p>
<p>Hi, madbean,</p>
<p>Yes, we did go to the Explore SC-First Session. We had a great time at USC. My D loves the USC, especially the SCA (the new building, the people, the posters on the wall!). Our exprience is very similar to that described by NonSenescent at the other thread. Here I only describe some things related to my D interview process.</p>
<p>My D was interviewed by two people at 10AM of Feb. 24. One is the director of Interactive Media division, Scott Fisher, and the other is an officer from the admission office of SCA. It was basically a normal conversation and my D didn't feel any pressure. In the process, the professor talked a lot about the game program at SCA and how can my D fit it. The Professor did ask my D if she applied to other colleges, and she told him she got accepted by MIT. Supprisely, the professor told her that he was graduated from the Media Lab of MIT! He then told my D what's the difference between SCA and MIT. At USC, the program emphasizes the application of technologies to the entertainment industry and hand-on experience on how to make real video games. On the other hand, the program at MIT mainly facuses on the creativity and technology itself. At USC, the job opportunity after graduation is very good because SCA has a great connection to entertainment and game industries.</p>
<p>The interview was lasted about 50 minutes. At the end, Prof. Scott gave my D a book "Game Design Workshop", which was authored by another faculty member at the Interactive Media division, Tracy Fullerton. After the interview, prof. Scott asked my D to give me a call to john them. We missed the students' presentations because we went to the LAB tour. We really want to hear students' stories, but had to miss it anyway. Then the Art Director Kurosh gave us a tour to the Game Innovation Lab (GIL), where he showed us how the video games are produced. He give us a very detail introduction to the game programming, from paper drawing, to flash, to game programming, to 3D animation, sounds,..., finally to a real video game. My D even tried to play the game "FlOw" for a while. This is our first time to see the real game production process and equipments used at GIL are just superb! We love what we have seen at SCA, especially at GIL. Thank you very much Scott and Kurosh!</p>
<p>After the tour, we were basically free and we went to the USC book store. My D bought a USC shirt there. Next day when we came back, my D weared the USC shirt to her school. - You can imagine how is she excited about the game program at USC and how does she love USC now! Two day later, Prof. Tracy Fullerton (the book author) sent an email to my daughter and expressed how she loved to read my D's application and essays. She told my D that D can contact her at anytime on any question my D might have. She is so nice. </p>
<p>BTW, at Explore USC-first Session, there are four students interviewed for the Trustee, all of them are girls! one of them is in sceenwriting, two in production, and my D in interactive media.</p>
<p>In conclusion, we had a great time in our stay at USC. My D really loves the program! We will visit MIT in April and see if D loves there too.</p>
<p>madbean, I was finally admitted to Interactive Entertainment :) Is their any way that maybe I could ask you son a couple of questions about the program and his opinions of it? I feel like the best person to answer my questions about the program would be a student currently involved in it :)</p>
<p>Jack, your D's Explore sounded great. Thanks for your report. Now we'll keep our fingers crossed that she chooses USC, although she cannot go wrong if she finds she loves the feel of MIT.</p>
<p>ranganz, big congrats! I've sent you a PM.</p>