<p>I am concerned, yes, and it has affected my application decisions. However, I think in Singapore the problem is not as bad as it could be (simply on the strength of the number of students who go abroad for undergrad studies).</p>
<p>Since I’m applying, specifically, to film schools that also have a strong arts and sciences programs, the list of colleges was cut down drastically from the beginning, but name recognition was a factor in my not considering FSU and Chapman University. For some reason, I was very gratified when I met a Singaporean who was studying film at Chapman. And ironically, the reason I heard of FSU’s film school in the first place was that a Singaporean filmmaker went there. But it’s true - if I told my parents, “I’ve been accepted to do film at Chapman/FSU!” they’d tell me I might as well go to a local university. If I come back with a film degree from NYU or USC or Texas, it’s something to celebrate, but if I come back with one from FSU I’m going to find myself with a lot of explaining to do whenever someone asks me what I did in university.</p>