USC Screenwriting MFA Fall 2017 (Acceptance, Rejection, Etc.)

[turburr]

Were you notified by email or did it just appear in your portal?

They notified me via email to check my portal. I just tried to log back on to look at my decision again and see if the date it was posted was before the email came, but it will no longer let me log into you.sc which is odd.

 

[Septopus7]

It's nearly April... Presumably, the applications have all been reviewed and those admitted have been notified, especially since I think they have some kind of highly recommended admitted student orientation coming up in early April. (Right?) The only wait now is to see what the admitted students decide because you don't send waitlist notifications until you have a full confirmed class. It would've been courteous of them to notify those who they have definitely rejected but that's the luxury you have when the ball is in your court. Trying to decipher their algorithm won't change the outcome so if we transfer our hope to the fact that the deadline for 2018 is only half a year away, we can only be pleasantly surprised if we are one of the extreme few who will receive an acceptance letter for this term going forward.

I agree, for the most part. I am pretty damn cynical about the whole thing, and I do truly believe that everyone who was accepted has already been notified, as you seem to as well.

That said, the response from the actual admissions department is really bugging me, for obvious reasons. They keep claiming to everyone they speak to that "acceptances are still rolling out," but I'm 95% sure they are honestly full of it. It just makes no sense to have such a long gap between the acceptances, and no line of rational thinking that I've been able to apply to that idea has panned out. There's no real reason they wouldn't tell all 32 acceptances within a small space of time, as spreading it out over a month makes little to no sense. The reason I'm trying to "decipher their algorithm" is because I'm working off of the idea that they are still sending out other acceptances, as everyone who has contacted SCA has pretty much claimed. Personally, I don't believe it, but if it's hypothetically true...why?

At the end of the day, I think it's USC's fault for giving people such false hope, for reasons I can't really understand. I don't know why they just can't say "All accepted applicants have been informed, but depending on the individual student decisions, other acceptances might be sent out at a later date." That way they could cut off the thought process of "some accepted students have yet to be informed" AND still keep things from being 100% confirmed. The way they are doing it now just seems...I don't know, disingenuous to me?

Ultimately I'm fine having to wait to get a rejection letter (because things change with the acceptances, I can understand wanting to wait), but telling everyone that acceptances are still going out on a "rolling basis" just seems wrong to me...UNLESS of course it isn't a lie, in which case I don't understand why they would send out the notifications like that.

Which takes us back to square one.

 

[Septopus7]

Hi y'all, I got my rejection letter this morning so they're definitely starting to roll out.

I'm going to try to phrase this in a way that doesn't sound completely horrible, but is it weird that I let out a little "woo!" when I read this?

I mean, it's not about you--that obviously sucks. But I'm just happy to see someone get ANYTHING at this point. I'm so ready for this Band-Aid to be pulled off. Anyways, you already confirmed your acceptance to UCLA, right? So who cares what USC thinks!

 

[WizardsBrew]

An admissions dept is always going to protect their best interests, which in this case means keeping as many possibilities available to them without having applicants withdraw their candidacy, and so waxing optimistically vague is what they're trained to do. It's our job to read between the lines. If an accepted student declines the offer and they offer one more applicant that persons place then technically acceptances are still being sent, but that shouldn't imply that there are more "rounds" or "teams" of acceptances to come. Unfortunately, universities are still businesses at the end of the day; under no obligations of transparency.

Thanks for sharing @turburr. That was cool of you.

 

[louweaver]

hey everyone - i also received a rejection from USC screenwriting last night - i'm in NY, it came around 3 am here. best of luck to everyone!

 

[Septopus7]

An admissions dept is always going to protect their best interests, which in this case means keeping as many possibilities available to them without having applicants withdraw their candidacy, and so waxing optimistically vague is what they're trained to do. It's our job to read between the lines. If an accepted student declines the offer and they offer one more applicant that persons place then technically acceptances are still being sent, but that shouldn't imply that there are more "rounds" or "teams" of acceptances to come. Unfortunately, universities are still businesses at the end of the day; under no obligations of transparency.

Thanks for sharing @turburr. That was cool of you.

I don't see why being upfront about that would cause applicants to "withdraw their candidacy." I mean, could you even do that? And, more importantly, why would you? Would it be like a "you can't fire me, I quit!" thing? And yes, obviously they have no "obligation" to be transparent...I just don't understand why they would feel like they can't be, at least to an extent.

And if being as close to the chest about things is how they want to operate, why wouldn't they just say "We have nothing to report at this time?" Honestly, that's probably how I would do it, rather than giving a response that elicits nothing but frustration and more phone calls from annoying writers.

And well I clearly don't work at the admissions department (shame, right?), I still don't think that this was the right way to do things. And, for what it's worth, this doesn't seem to be the usual pattern either -- there has (for as long as the site has been keeping track) never been as big a gap between when acceptances and rejections were sent out as there were this year. Must be a competitive year or something...

 

[WizardsBrew]

An applicant can withdraw their eligibility if they so choose for any number of reasons ranging from change of heart to disgust with the process...

That's a mere fraction of my larger point which was to encourage you and everyone else currently feeling led on by the dept to divest in what they tell you as you wait for the results because, without demonizing them, they don't traditionally prioritize your peace of mind into the equation.

 

[Septopus7]

Honestly, I still think we're on the same page here. I'm poking and prodding on what other people report in order to show that none of it lines up, and so you really should take what the department says with a grain of salt. I don't even see why anyone would even contact them, really. If the information you are getting isn't factual or helpful, why even bother?

The only time you will know anything is once you get the your acceptance/rejection letter. Bottom line.

 

[MFAman]

This thread is definitely going to freak-out next year's applicants. I'm still waiting, but expecting my rejection over the weekend. I can't believe I'm still waiting. All anyone has to do is hit send. They've had their decisions since Monday.

 

[turburr]

I'm going to try to phrase this in a way that doesn't sound completely horrible, but is it weird that I let out a little "woo!" when I read this?

I mean, it's not about you--that obviously sucks. But I'm just happy to see someone get ANYTHING at this point. I'm so ready for this Band-Aid to be pulled off. Anyways, you already confirmed your acceptance to UCLA, right? So who cares what USC thinks!

Nah, you're good! I shared because i wanted everyone else to have that information and to be aware of what was going on. The fact that I'm already committed/ came to terms with my USC rejection back when acceptances seemed to stop in february makes it a bit easier.

 

[Iuli Dia]

Nah, you're good! I shared because i wanted everyone else to have that information and to be aware of what was going on. The fact that I'm already committed/ came to terms with my USC rejection back when acceptances seemed to stop in february makes it a bit easier.

UCLA is a great school. Best of luck to you! You're in good hands.

I just checked my USC portal. Nothing yet. It's probably going to be a rejection but still, it would be nice to have some closure at this point. Hope everyone is finding some distractions by working on other projects!

 

[Heisenberg91]

Just received rejection email.

 

[Septopus7]

So did I, at what I imagine was The Great Dump of 2017. Abandon hope, all ye who enter.

Good luck to those of you who got in though, and all others who committed to other programs. Looks like I'll be taking the next year off from schooling, so that should be fun. To next year, though!

 

[shuyi]

Got my rejection.

 

[icygee]

Finally got my rejection in the middle of the night. Took them long enough. Wasn't sure how I was gonna tell them I wouldn't be going there.

 

[snoopdog]

I got my rejection letter as well.

Congrats to all those accepted into USC or any other film school!
And good luck to all the others who are, like myself, preparing for next year's applications and the long term goal of all: getting our voices heard through the art of screenwriting and filmmaking. This is only another step in your journey.

 

[BuddernScotch]

Got the rejection as well. Apparently it was sent March 22 but the portal didn't reflect it until today. I had an awful night and felt something was off - checked the portal. Rejected. Am crying which I didn't expect either. Guh. I should probably not have checked so that I could build my own reality of false hope but ...

 

[moni4liberty]

Got the rejection as well. Apparently it was sent March 22 but the portal didn't reflect it until today. I had an awful night and felt something was off - checked the portal. Rejected. Am crying which I didn't expect either. Guh. I should probably not have checked so that I could build my own reality of false hope but ...

I know I can't be of much help to make you feel better, but all I can say is that strong emotions are crucial for writers, so hopefully you can use what you're feeling. Maybe write a letter to yourself or a short story or even a scene. Emotions, even negative ones, are beautiful, and you shouldn't let any of them go to waste. Write down what you're feeling so you can come back to it later when it's relevant to something else you're writing!

Sending love!

 

[MFAman]

Got four "hang in there's" yesterday, and a rejection letter this morning. Can't believe I did my undergrad there. All I gained was a weight problem and dim prospects. Bummer.


Will be here next year guys. Don't give up. Get drunk today and cry about it. But then, keep going. I thought a lot of you seemed bright, capable, and were really funny. If that means anything.

Best,
Barb from the Upside Down World

 

[Smnths]

Can I just say that for a rejection letter, theirs was oddly inspirational?