The OP might be well served to place a parallel thread directly in the Penn forum. Hearing from at least one poster who has studied film at Penn would be instructive.
Thank you for the input everyone! You have all been really helpful!
I’ve made up my mind, and I decided to choose USC. As much as I love Penn, I was planning on attending USC even before I knew Penn existed. The financial aid and the Ivy League prestige, as well as the fact that I met some great people in the admitted student groups, made it really difficult for me to turn Penn down, but eventually I had to.
In terms of cost, we have discussed it with my mom, and although we’ll both have to live on a really tight budget (and I probably won’t be able to come home for the winter breaks),we are able to afford it with the help of other family members.
My chosen major at USC is very flexible, probably the most flexible one at SCA, and many people choose to double major (right now I want to double minor, but that might change), so I am 100% sure that I will not change my major. I’m also considering graduate school at this point, however it’s too early to say anything on that at the moment.
I’m afraid that at Penn, I’d be questioning my decision for all my 4 years there, whereas I don’t feel the same way when it comes to USC.
Congrats on your decision. I asked my daughter who is a USC SCA grad and she said she would definitely picked USC. Obviously biased but she is a proud alumni.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Congratulations. Now freshly read Frost’s TRNT. You should finish with a smile. Btw, the poem’s meaning, in my opinion, is often misinterpreted, mostly because the key line is not recognized.
Hello everyone!
The wonderful @MYOS1634 has asked me to update this thread, and since I’ve been meaning to do so for a long time and I’m currently in process of procrastinating for my finals, I decided to go ahead and do it.
USC is incredible and I’ve had so many opportunities here. I joined the Trojan Marching Band, (meaning I got to travel to Chicago entirely for free, perform in the UCLA halftime show, and perform with several guest artists!), I joined Thematic Option, one of USC’s honors programs, presented at a research conference, worked 200+ hours on an award-winning TV show for USC’s television station, Trojan Vision, was a regular panelist for admitted students’ events and hosted over 10 Explore USC students overnight, was selected to be an RA for the upcoming school year (and I’m REALLY looking forward to that!), declared two minors (Forensics & Criminality and Screenwriting), and on top of that managed to receive a 4.0 GPA (which I’ll hopefully keep up this semester). So far, I have enjoyed every single one of my classes, and I have learned so, so much, even in classes unrelated to my major, like the one on race in Los Angeles or my Russian class. It’s 100% true that at USC, I’ve been able to do things that I could not have done anywhere else. Also, impromptu beach trips and birthdays at Disneyland are always nice, and you totally don’t need a car for either.
That said, USC isn’t perfect, and I still have a post-it stuck on my desk with the Penn transfer deadline written on it. It’s a remnant from my first semester, when I was having a terrible time despite all the great things, and there is no way that I’d consider transferring now. However, I’m still not satisfied with one major aspect of USC: the School of Cinematic Arts. Part of the reason is that as opposed to upperclassmen, I don’t really click with the majority of the freshmen. BUT there are other things as well, such as using SCA equipment is incredibly difficult, they don’t really teach you production, just expect you to know it, and I only get to take one production class (which is not how they sold the major to me). The school is taking more and more of a Virtual Reality direction and focus less on cinema/TV and more on media. My major (Critical Studies) has been renamed Cinema and Media Studies and there’s a lot more media theory/business/VR being incorporated into what we’re studying, and I understand that that’s the future, but it’s not what a lot of people – including me – want to do. Most of what I learned that’s film-related and hands-on, I learned outside class – which, again, is a great thing about USC! People are always looking for crew members!
This was a really long post, but thank you so much for making it to the end and giving me advice and supporting me! I truly appreciate it!
Also, interestingly, one of my Explore USC students messaged me a few weeks ago, asking me to help her choose between USC and Penn, and that made me relive this whole process.
@merc81 I did smile. But, sadly, I also have too much pride to ask you which one you think is the key line.