Film School 2016

[IndecisiveElle]

LMU also had an awesome virtual tour too. http://admission.lmu.edu/visit/virtualtour/

My former professor suggested I ask about Skyping with department members because I don't think I'll be able to make the visits until/if I get to an interview round. Has anyone done that sort of thing before? I know LMU had a Skype-type open house but I wasn't able to participate in that because of work. I've reached out to LMU already about Skyping with someone but I haven't gotten a response yet - I'm assuming because they are so busy with the holidays.

 

[googoomuck]

Thanks for that link IndecisiveElle, LMU really is a gorgeous campus.

Has anyone else gotten an email from USC saying they haven't received your transcripts They told me they received 1 out of 3 of mine...I ordered all 3 on November 10, and one of them (e-transcript) even sent me a notification that it had been successfully downloaded by the recipient. I don't want to buy more copies if they're gonna go down the same black hole...gaaaahhhh! I contacted them about it but obviously they are swamped, hopefully I hear back soon...

 

[Paul J.]

Thanks for the virtual tour links! Not as cool as getting a tour from a T-800 but I guess they will have to suffice. As stated, they are very general and little is said specifically on film departments (in the Columbia tour for example). But you do get a feel of the campus itself which is way better than just googling pics

And Kevin, your insight is highly appreciated! Would be cool if you could go by a typical day/week in NYU? What kind of projects does it seem you will be shooting the first year? And what would you say the ratio is on theory vs. practice. -tough questions, I know. But I'll allow a +- 3% error margin

Googoo, I had some difficulties with transcripts on my USC application but I blame myself. I shot them to the school before actually turning in my application so that made it a bit hard to pinpoint them. Also, the SCA admissions tossed the ball to the general admissions guys and back. I would rest easy, though. They clearly are reviewing your application and want your transcripts. It's not as if they are just tossing the whole application into the shredder due to them not yet having your transcripts. I bet they have a ton of apps on their table right now so it might just take some time to get back to you. I kinda wish they would disregard my transcripts since my undergrad GPA wasn't up there. Hopefully, they check the rest of my application none the less and are convinced by my portfolio. - Or the measly 5 mins they allowed material to be shown

 

[Chris W]

Thanks for the virtual tour links! Not as cool as getting a tour from a T-800 but I guess they will have to suffice.

And Kevin, your insight is highly appreciated! Would be cool if you could go by a typical day/week in NYU?

Googoo, I had some difficulties with transcripts on my USC application but I blame myself. I shot them to the

BTW - general forum tip... if you want to make sure people get the notification when you mention them in a post make sure you use the "@" symbol when you type in their name... like @Kevin Wilson and @googoomuck .

That way they'll get notified that you replied. (replying or quoting to their post also does that) E-mail only go out once for a thread until you visit that page again. So in a thread you have replied to... you only get notified for the 1st of 10 replies if you haven't visited the site. If you visit the thread again you'll get another notification the next time there is a reply.

I'm pretty sure that you always get a notification when someone replies to a thread that you wrote though. (and not just a post in a thread). I hope that all makes sense. It's how XenForo (the forum software) works so you don't get e-mail blasted every time there is a new post... that could get annoying depending on how active the threads are. Of course if you visit the thread after every new post... you'll get notified for every new post.

 

[googoomuck]

I shot them to the school before actually turning in my application so that made it a bit hard to pinpoint them.

I also ordered mine before submitting my application (but less than a week before the submission deadline--which could be another issue). I was told (yesterday) there is a "hard deadline" for transcripts and letters of recommendation on December 5. I think you're probably right, and they will work with me on this...after all, it did cost me well over a hundred clams to apply...and of course I have my receipts. Really, I feel a lot better just after talking about it!

I'm sure they like it if you are a good student, but I don't think GPA is the most important thing to consider. A 4.5 doesn't mean anything if your work is awful! If your grades were really terrible, you probably wouldn't have graduated. Transcripts are an official record that yes, you really did go to school and yes, you really did graduate...cuz anybody can SAY they did

 

[Paul J.]

Thanks @Chris Wright for the tips! Makes sense!

@googoomuck I am certain you will be fine - and they are already working with you to get it cleared up.

I don't have a god awful gpa but where I come from the mentality is more of "saving that top grade for something extraordinary I haven't seen yet". So safe to say it was a rare commodity to get top grades. Also, we have many courses that were just fail or pass so don't know how they calculate those. But yeah - I've been working after school so I hope that counts for something. Just worried that what if the application goes through general admissions ppl who could care less about portfolio or creative materials first and then passed on to the people who might care. Maybe I am overthinking but these instances are part of bigger universities after all... And who knows how bureaucracy goes.

 

[katavi08]

@Paul J. My undergrad institution also worked on a pass/fail system. While I passed all my classes, it makes me nervous not having an actual GPA. :/

 

[Chris W]

@Paul J. My undergrad institution also worked on a pass/fail system. While I passed all my classes, it makes me nervous not having an actual GPA. :/

I want to preface this by saying that I have no special insight about the Admission's department policies of any school... but it's my hunch that GPAs don't mean too much unless they're downright awful.

My bet is that it more comes down to your essay and application as you can tell a lot about a person from how and what you write. (and the interview as well obviously) A number on a piece of paper doesn't tell you that much about someone.

Of course you can always ask the admissions department about how much GPAs come into play in the admissions process at your school.

If you're afraid of calling or emailing and asking admissions departments to ask questions thinking it'll look bad on you, don't be afraid. In my opinion it will just seem like you are very interested in attending their school and want to put forth the best application that you can and that can only have you come off looking good.

Always remember that the admission's staff is paid to answer questions from prospective students and that they want you to attend their school as well.

Of course as always, please share any answers you get from schools here!

 

[katavi08]

Taking the plunge today, and submitting all my applications. I really don't want to, but there's no sense in waiting until the last minute to send them out. I feel I've polished all my materials the best I could, and generally I feel pretty good about everything. It just feels so weird to be done with them after all this time! I'm also not looking forward to the wait afterwards!

 

[Paul J.]

Which schlools did you apply to? I'll probably do the same tomorrow. (NYU & Columbia) But will probably be here daily until the very end - and beyond. so let us all wait in agony together! Hopefully some of us end up as classmates!

 

[katavi08]

OK, done! I submitted my applications to Columbia, NYU, Chapman, and University of Miami. Now it's all in the hands of the admissions people. I'm trying not to freak out about that. It feels good to have everything done, but I'm a little sad. I don't know what I'm going to do to occupy my time now.

 

[Chris W]

I don't know what I'm going to do to occupy my time now.

Spending time posting on this site, obviously. Good luck! When does the next step happen? Interviews?

 

[katavi08]

It seems the next step is interviews! Judging by past posts on this site, it doesn't look like that will happen until Mid-February.

 

[Paul J.]

Congrats! A long wait ahead - so as Chris said, keep yourself busy posting here Don't know if it's just me, but it feel likes there is way less applicants finding their way into to forums this year around... I'll take it as an indicator that the overall application amount is significantly lower

Will try to get my app in today or tomorrow as well. Only thing I see changing is the personal statement. Still hard to get a grasp on that one...

 

[Paul J.]

Stopped beating around the bushes and threw in my application to Columbia. NYU's web page is down for me at least so will have to try again tomorrow with that one!

 

[Paul J.]

The page started to work - application is in. Out of my hands now!

 

[katavi08]

@Paul J. Yay!! Congrats!!

Yes, it does seem that the board is a little slow this time around. Maybe that'll pick up once it's time for interview and acceptance announcements to go out. Can't wait to see what happens!!

 

[Chris W]

@Paul J. Yay!! Congrats!!

Yes, it does seem that the board is a little slow this time around. Maybe that'll pick up once it's time for interview and acceptance announcements to go out. Can't wait to see what happens!!

If past is prologue - the forums don't really go nuts until between January and May.

I think that it may be possible that changing the organization hurt temporarily the Google ranking a little bit for new users finding the site but I haven't seen too much evidence of that. However I think the new Forum organization makes more sense in the long run and I hope you guys like it too.

The new Film School review system should start bringing in more new users as soon as it starts percolating into the Googleverse. Speaking of which, if you guys could write reviews for all the schools that you applied to that would be awesome. (you can review anonymously.... if that worries you.)

 

[Paul J.]

@katavi08 thanks! Now I guess it's time to breathe a little. And open an ice cold beer to pat myself on the back.

Next stop, I guess would be to start figuring out different grants and funds to make it through school if one would be so lucky to get in. I wonder do you automatically qualify for school based aid or do you have to throw in essays or such? During the application phase there was only a simple yes no question on "will you be requesting aid". Any insight? My piggy bank is about 150k shy.

 

[Paul J.]

@Chris Wright cool data! Would be great to meet more applicants prior decisions!