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Columbia 2011 Application - Questions (1 Viewer)

MAlbie

Well-Known Member
Hello,
First, thank you for taking the time to read my posting.

I have been looking at film schools (screen writing MFA in particular) for some time now and narrowed down my choices to Columbia and NYU, with Columbia being the favorite. I have already written the first draft of my essay and plan to use some existing materials for the 10-page sample. My next task is to work on the 1 page treatment, which it seems is the hardest part. I have some questions that I am hoping I can get help in answering.

1: I am currently enrolled in an MBA program and heading into my 2nd year with an expected graduation date of May 2011. My hope is that I would enter film school in the Fall of 2011. My concern is my transcripts. While I currently have a 3.4 GPA in my MBA program, but undergraduate GPA is a 2.7 and most certainly I deserved it because I did not apply myself. Reading this forum I noticed a post that said GPA was not as important as other aspects of my application, but do you think the undergraduate transcript will hold me back?

2: I have seen that many schools request a portfolio or resume with samples of work. Columbia does not request this, but will they refuse to consider it?

3: I do not have a visual submission, but I can create something by pulling in past professional work and mixing it with something created just for the application. I feel that, especially with my poor GPA in undergrad, a visual submission would help. But if I create something just for Columbia, will it appear as if I am attempting to curry favor in an inappropriate manner?

4: I am over 30, so I would certainly be an older student. I have heard that this is seen as a large negative. Is this true?

Any help on these questions or advice that you can provide is appreciated.

MAlbie
 
I also did not receive an interview invitation. Part of me is pretty surprised, seeing as I did get ones from UCLA and AFI, and most of my Columbia materials were very similar to the ones I used for those. If anything, my Columbia app was more polished than UCLA since I had an extra month...

But on the other hand, Columbia is screenwriting/directing, and I have no experience with the latter so that probably hurt my chances. Not to mention that I took a huge risk with my film treatment and regretted it the moment I'd submitted my application. Or I can always hope they spoke with admissions people at one of my top choices, found out I was getting in there and figured it wasn't worth wasting a spot on me. I definitely wouldn't mind being rejected from Columbia under those circumstances :)

Oh yeah...congrats to everyone who got an interview!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Originally posted by KrisKelvin:
I took a huge risk with my film treatment and regretted it the moment I'd submitted my application.

So did I. I totally butchered mine and thought that was going to sink me. Stupid choice to summarize a complex science fiction story in one double-spaced page.
 
I didn't hear from Columbia today either. Does anyone know if more interview offers are set to go out tomorrow? I'm idealistically hoping that this wasn't the only batch.

Congratulations to all who got the call!
 
Hi everyone!

I have been eagerly following this wonderful blog and loving everyone's insight. I received my e-mail today for my interview in Creative Producing! I am beyond ecstatic :)

Best of luck to everyone, I will be sure to keep you posted on how it goes. I am hoping to interview in person when I fly home to New Jersey for spring break.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Originally posted by Koquard:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Anomen1985:
12 total

congrats!

Wait a second...

When people are saying "Make it 3," "Make it 4," "Make it 5" --- are they saying they got a call or that they're waiting? I hope it's the former...

Where did this counting start? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

The "make it" are those that did not get a call/email yesterday.

For all those that did get the nod, I wish you the best of luck. :)

For those of us still waiting, lets hope something happens today. :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Originally posted by Koquard:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by KrisKelvin:
I took a huge risk with my film treatment and regretted it the moment I'd submitted my application.

So did I. I totally butchered mine and thought that was going to sink me. Stupid choice to summarize a complex science fiction story in one double-spaced page. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ha! I feel the EXACT same way. I was happy with all of my materials except for the film synopsis, which was also a complex science fiction story that sounded kind of cheesy when compressed to a single page.

Congratulations and good luck to all those who received an invitation yesterday. Let's hope that the rest of us get some good news today.
 
Originally posted by ShieldYourEyes:
I was happy with all of my materials except for the film synopsis, which was also a complex science fiction story that sounded kind of cheesy when compressed to a single page.

Yes! I remember reading it over and thinking, "Wait a second... these 8 sentences do the story absolutely NO justice. It looks like something I came up with in two days, not two years. Oh well, too late to scrap it."

Now I'm really pulling for you to get an interview. It feels like we write on similar topics.
 
Likewise - it would be good to have someone with a similar sensibility in the same group. Good luck!

If you're curious, here's the film I included as an optional video submission. I also submitted the script as my dramatic writing sample: http://vimeo.com/17533068. I'm putting together a second cut in the next few weeks - I might need it for next year - so it's currently password protected. The password is "theseus." I know the sound is a little iffy, and some of the edits could be tighter, but I felt like it was worth including anyway. Any feedback would be welcome.
 
Originally posted by Koquard:

Yes! I remember reading it over and thinking, "Wait a second... these 8 sentences do the story absolutely NO justice.
________________________________________________

Yeah guys, I know what you mean. I wasn't too confident in my treatment either. I asked a professor how often people write one page treatments, and she balked and said she's never seen one! I really debated going over the page limit but scrapped the idea.
 
I wasn't happy with the writing on my one page, but I was even less happy with the stupid mistakes I made on it and the essay. I still cannot believe I did not put them in Courier even after looking at the instructions three times! It is eating at me now because I am wondering how much I lost for that.
 
I just tried to break it down to its basic three act structure, with one paragraph representing each act. At least we know that everyone had the same limitations, and that each treatment was really taken down to a bare-bones state.
 
Originally posted by ShieldYourEyes:
I just tried to break it down to its basic three act structure, with one paragraph representing each act. At least we know that everyone had the same limitations, and that each treatment was really taken down to a bare-bones state.

Yeah, I broke it into three act structure too--but writing in Courier 12 is more like 1/2 a page double spaced, and because this required about half that for the first act alone I fear it looked like my second act was lacking in substance (even though if I had the space, I could have summarize it in much more depth).

But my big concern was with the subject matter. Let's just say this has long been a passion project of mine, and has the sort of premise that I could see offending some people. It was love it or hate it, and I guess they had the latter reaction.

Oh well, no use speculating now. This just comes at a bad time since I'm on pins and needles about hearing from my top 3 schools...and if I don't get in any of those (which is likely), Columbia was almost definitely my next choice.
 
It would be good to know how those who have already received interview requests felt about the film synopsis.

KrisKelvin - was your portfolio sci-fi heavy as well? The only reason I ask is because your handle and location caught my eye. I actually named the two characters in the short film Harry and Kris (flipping genders) after the characters in Solaris.
 
Originally posted by ShieldYourEyes:
It would be good to know how those who have already received interview requests felt about the film synopsis.

KrisKelvin - was your portfolio sci-fi heavy as well? The only reason I ask is because your handle and location caught my eye. I actually named the two characters in the short film Harry and Kris (flipping genders) after the characters in Solaris.

No. My film synopsis was actually a dark comedy (or at least I hope that's how it came off). My writing sample was the first 10 pages of a mystery screenplay. And my film scenario (the one where you chose to build a scene off their prompt) was a drama with a twist ending--I actually really liked that one.

I don't know what the numbers are on interviews, but it's just difficult for me reconcile a less polished application getting me an interview with UCLA whereas here I apparently didn't. But nobody ever said this process was supposed to make sense...
 
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