UC Irvine - Department of Film and Media Studies Reviews & Admissions Statistics

Overall, my experience at UCI for my Film and Media Studies BA was a positive one. The FMS department is considered part of the school of humanities, and UCI very clearly gives more funding priority to the STEM programs but the professors and students I was able to connect with really made the experience worthwhile. The offered courses are very engaging, though I know personally some folks didn't agree on some core required FMS classes. There's a major emphasis on theory and studying media and its history rather than actual production (I was there for two years and only took two classes related to actual production), but I think this is what set me up for success in my graduate applications as I feel other film production focused programs can lose that connection to the academia of film. I learned a lot, had a lot of fun, met a lot of great people, and came out with a solid foundation for film and with a much better grasp on how history (within film and otherwise) informs the industry and world today.