One way I can describe the school environment is if film school were politics, then Midwest colleges would be democrat and Chapman would be republican.
Kansas, where i'm from, has tons of school resources (aka pro big government like the democrats). Every class has PLAs, the use of Canvas, official hours where students can get help from the teachers, multiple ways to learn in the class, and if you accidentally miss the class then no problem, because the teacher will likely either post a summary or YouTube tutorial online.
In contrast, Chapman is the Republican of schools. There's less involvement and less policies from the school which means the teachers get more freedom in how they wish to teach. BUT the tradeoff is that there's less structure, less resources, and less inclusion for students who either learn differently or need extra support.
For example, a typical film class at Kansas has a teacher along with a PLA or two who's job is to help the students with their homework if they request help. Every class has Canvas where teachers post homework assignments, and you can see your grades in the class. Some teachers also post guides, tutorials, and videos on how to complete various assignments.
Chapman on the other hand is very different. Canvas is completely optional and many teachers don't use Canvas, and they teach their class the "old fashioned way". It's hard to explain but it's a lot more barebones, fewer guardrails for students, etc...
I'm going to be completely honest. There's nothing about Chapman, in terms of classes that makes it superior to The Midwest. The only advantage of going to Chapman is it's location and it's network, that's it. You don't go to Chapman for the classes, you go because of the connections. You're basically spending 200k to make future film friends.
