Loyola Marymount University - School of Film and Television

Overall, my time at LMU was a genuinely good experience. One of the biggest draws of the program is the atmosphere. Unlike the hyper-competitive environment you might find at a place like USC, LMU fosters a friendly, highly collaborative culture. The small class sizes make it easy to build a tight-knit network; I’m still in close contact with some of my peers, and we actively collaborate on producing short films to this day.

I specialized in editing. There were only five editors in my cohort of forty-something people, and I found that I vibed the best with the editing professors compared to the other disciplines. The editing faculty is genuinely invested in our success and teaches practical, industry-standard workflows that directly translate to the real world. I felt thoroughly prepared for post-grad work, and one of my professors actually referred me for my first job. Today, I'm working as an Assistant Editor and Additional Editor on documentary projects, and I credit a lot of that foundation to LMU.

The experience for directors, however, is a different story. Over half of my cohort were directors, and navigating that track really comes down to the luck of the draw regarding who you get assigned to as a professor. While some are incredibly nice, supportive, and knowledgeable, others display blatant favoritism and aren't actively making their own films anymore, leaving them out of touch with the current industry. Because of this inconsistency, I found that my director peers were generally not as well-prepared for entering the industry and did not receive the same level of career support that we experienced in post-production. Additionally, the curriculum really pushed directors to write their own scripts; while they started encouraging more collaboration with screenwriters later on, I think this is an area where the program still has a lot of room for improvement.

If you want to focus on post-production and build a collaborative network, LMU is a fantastic choice. If you are applying as a director, be prepared for a larger track where the quality of mentorship, curriculum structure, and industry preparation varies wildly.

I had an amazing time at LMU- it is truly a special school. The film program is competitive partially because it is so small- but since it is small everyone knows each other, you have opportunity to build a great network, and the classes are very hands-on. The program is very collaborative and encourages you to all work together, which is different than a lot of the other film programs in LA. The professors are knowledgable and encourage free and creative expression. Beautiful campus and wonderful facilities- I don't have a lot to complain about, but if I had to, I would say I wished we had more lessons/lectures about crowdfunding, funding films in general, and then distribution. Those were real life situations I faced after I graduated where I had little to no knowledge.

LMU's Film and Television Production MFA program is a great choice for students who want a well-rounded film education. You are able to make both fiction/non-fiction films and can choose electives that suit your interests and goals. There are also quite a few teaching assistantships and campus jobs available to students. The Westchester and Playa Vista campuses are both beautiful and we have access to all Hollywood has to offer as far as talent, locations, props, equipment, internships, gigs, etc. Going to school at LMU and living in LA is expensive and you must be prepared to navigate a city that is nonstop and quite hectic a lot of the time, but I've found that the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

I applied UCLA, CalArts, Chapman and LMU for the 2016 fall and as a result I got rejected from UCLA and Chapman, waitlisted from CalArts and admitted from LMU. Honestly I don't remember much details about the apply process, but these school it is not hard to apply, they don't require too much documents or work sample and have clear instruction.

I believed LMU's requirements(portfolio, PS, etc.) are quite focus on "get to know you personally". They require a 5-page personal statement and a self-interview-telling-true-story and books and movies you like. I think it may because they have a small program. My GPA is quite low 80/100 and it may fall down under 3.0 under different calculation way so technically I need GRE score. But GRE actually submitted my score after they gave me the admission email, it can tell something I think. The school officer were very helpful, questions were replied efficiently with patient.

Anyway, application to LMU is quite "friendly" I think.
PS, Forgive my messy words, English is not my first language and now it is not my soberest moment. Good luck to everyone want to apply to film school!