Help me decide: local Beijing Film Academy or nyu/usc/ucla?

[TNanima]

Hi, guys, I'm a undergrad student from china, and for graduate school I want to learn filmmaking, I have two choices: first is the Beijing Film Academy, it's a great school and is very cheap and convenient for me, the other choice is applying for an American school, I have many relatives in America, but the thing is it would cost likely all of my family's savings, to work in Hollywood has always been a dream of mine, but judging from what I've read so far most foreign students return to their country after finishing school, this is very unacceptable for me, I don't want to spend 100K+ at school and end up coming home, so my question: how good are the chances for a foreign graduate to land a job in America? is it worth spending 100K$ at American schools when there's a local Film academy in my own country?

 

[Chris W]

@alcudish @Shuly @Yuqi @Nofilmschool @yisiling and @Dean are from China and are attending American schools such as Chapman and NYU this fall and will hopefully be able to help you decide this. @Shuly even went to Beijing Film Academy as an undergrad according to the application tracker.

Are you saying that going to school in the US will use up your entire family's savings? That would make me hesitant for sure as even job prospects are not a sure thing even for American students. I never advise financial hardship for film school because it's not like engineering schools where well paying jobs are recruiting graduates.

Chances on getting a job after going to film school are really up to the individual and how much drive and hustle they have in my opinion. Connections provided by the school are good but I've also found that the best connections are your peers and usually people bring their peers up the ladder with them and they rise up together.

There are a TON of jobs in this town below the line though.

Hopefully some others can chime in as well.

 

[alcudish]

The reason for most foreign students returning to home countries after film school in the US, is solely US immigration policy.

Due to the “freelancer” nature of most film making jobs, it’s very hard for an employer to apply a working visa for a foreign graduate, therefore you can’t legally work in the US unless you have green card.

There are exceptions. You can be hired by a company who will apply working visa for you if your area is usually done by a professional organization rather than individuals, such as visual effects, sound, sales & marketing, etc.

So just check if you can get a green card if your dream is to be a director, screenwriter, or cinematographer in Hollywood.

If your long term career plan is associated with Chinese film industry, there’s no good reason to attend US film schools.

 

[TNanima]

@alcudish @Shuly @Yuqi @Nofilmschool @yisiling and @Dean are from China and are attending American schools such as Chapman and NYU this fall and will hopefully be able to help you decide this. @Shuly even went to Beijing Film Academy as an undergrad according to the application tracker.

Are you saying that going to school in the US will use up your entire family's savings? That would make me hesitant for sure as even job prospects are not a sure thing even for American students. I never advise financial hardship for film school because it's not like engineering schools where well paying jobs are recruiting graduates.

Chances on getting a job after going to film school are really up to the individual and how much drive and hustle they have in my opinion. Connections provided by the school are good but I've also found that the best connections are your peers and usually people bring their peers up the ladder with them and they rise up together.

There are a TON of jobs in this town below the line though.

Hopefully some others can chime in as well.

Thanks so much for the advice, I think the 1st year alone would empty our family's savings, so it's pretty dire, my parents are talking about selling one of the houses and I'm not really sure I can live with that pressure. Let alone the chances of me actually landing a job in the US.
Thanks again, I'll try to contact the other Chinese students and consult them about it!

 

[Chris W]

I've added the Beijing Film Academy as one of the pulldown school choices in the Application Tracker.

 

[yisiling]

Hi TNanima,

Sorry I just saw this thread. I hope it is still helpful. I am an international student from China as well, I am about to start Chapman. I think if your life long dream is to work in Hollywood, it is definitely worth to try to Grad school in America. You can apply for scholarship if it will be a financial burden to your family. And if you have family here in the US, you probably can save money on rent too. After graduation, you can apply for one year OPT, and after that you can apply O-1 visa. It is hard and competitive, but if you have movies that have gone to film festivals and win awards, it will help a lot. You can look into O-1 visa. It's hard, but there're ways to stay if that's what you are looking for. On a different note, filmmaking is unique, it is probably one of a few career path that education doesn't matter that much. If you are interested in filmmaking and don't want to spend 100K for grad school. Find a production, learn from the scratch and perfect your skill.