UCLA Directing MFA Fall 2024

[vidhaini20]

Just got rejected too! Good luck all!

 

[MildBlandChiliPepper]

Just got my rejection. Kudos to those who are admitted and best of luck to those still waiting. I am honestly so disappointed. I spent so much energy and time prepping for this. I ended up getting diagnosed with dyspepsia thanks to the stress of this whole process. I worked on ass off on my application since last summer. I work in AV and do video gigs fifty hours a week, I work for a nonprofit helping children with literacy, have made local TV ads for said program, and have filmed documentaries for the homeless in San Francisco since I applied. What more could they possibly want? I do not mean to sound self-centered but I am supremely disappointed that they couldn't be bothered to waitlist me. I don't know what more I could possibly do. I thought my interview went swimmingly too. I emailed them about their super self-contradictory application documents, and they replied with generic "read instructions" responses in broken English. I had to rules-broker each part of the application meticulously. I got letters of rec from scholars in film that have their own Wikipedia pages. And then our interview invitations all went to our spam. And on their website they say this is an issue that happens with hotmail and aol users. NOBODY uses these anymore, they don't know how to write emails that don't look like phishing links. And they basically invented the internet! And then they kept us waiting for so long. And now it is done. If they don't believe I belong then I don't. Their TFT page looked like it was from 2003 up until a few weeks ago. And then they "updated" it, and yet they still had outdated info online, and we all spent time and energy preparing for a pitch that never happened. So many of us were absolutely perfect in preparing for this, and they couldn't be bothered to meet us halfway. Not even a quarter way in professionalism. I wish this program and this school held itself to the same standards it held us to. To hell with it all. Best of luck with everyone still in the running, I am genuinely rooting for you. And I hope you have a blessed, worthwhile, and meaningful stay there to those accepted. But I simply can't say that it's all ok. This process took a toll on me, and we weren't given the dignity to prepare properly, or any semblance of compassion in our rejection letters that we waited so long for. We are afterthoughts to a self-satisfied and hypocritical faculty. I hope to those of you waiting that you get good news, and to those of you who do not, unfortunately, don't lose faith. This site is full of go-getters and I wish you all the best. Kudos.

 

[iheartmfa]

me too!! congrats everyone who's headed there this fall & can't wait to see everybody at festivals / on the silver screen someday

 

[alexxiate]

yeah got rejected too. A little heartbroken but at least I’m not going to go into at least 135k in massive debt!!

 

[alexxiate]

thanks for everyone for being part of this progress w me! Like pepper said, I was going crazy bc of their lack of communication, so this chat really made me feel better. I appreciate y’all and best of luck! I’m officially logging out.

 

[vidhaini20]

Good luck in our futures, guys! It was very nice to e-meet you!

 

[observer222]

Also rejected.

 

[observer222]

Just got my rejection. Kudos to those who are admitted and best of luck to those still waiting. I am honestly so disappointed. I spent so much energy and time prepping for this. I ended up getting diagnosed with dyspepsia thanks to the stress of this whole process. I worked on ass off on my application since last summer. I work in AV and do video gigs fifty hours a week, I work for a nonprofit helping children with literacy, have made local TV ads for said program, and have filmed documentaries for the homeless in San Francisco since I applied. What more could they possibly want? I do not mean to sound self-centered but I am supremely disappointed that they couldn't be bothered to waitlist me. I don't know what more I could possibly do. I thought my interview went swimmingly too. I emailed them about their super self-contradictory application documents, and they replied with generic "read instructions" responses in broken English. I had to rules-broker each part of the application meticulously. I got letters of rec from scholars in film that have their own Wikipedia pages. And then our interview invitations all went to our spam. And on their website they say this is an issue that happens with hotmail and aol users. NOBODY uses these anymore, they don't know how to write emails that don't look like phishing links. And they basically invented the internet! And then they kept us waiting for so long. And now it is done. If they don't believe I belong then I don't. Their TFT page looked like it was from 2003 up until a few weeks ago. And then they "updated" it, and yet they still had outdated info online, and we all spent time and energy preparing for a pitch that never happened. So many of us were absolutely perfect in preparing for this, and they couldn't be bothered to meet us halfway. Not even a quarter way in professionalism. I wish this program and this school held itself to the same standards it held us to. To hell with it all. Best of luck with everyone still in the running, I am genuinely rooting for you. And I hope you have a blessed, worthwhile, and meaningful stay there to those accepted. But I simply can't say that it's all ok. This process took a toll on me, and we weren't given the dignity to prepare properly, or any semblance of compassion in our rejection letters that we waited so long for. We are afterthoughts to a self-satisfied and hypocritical faculty. I hope to those of you waiting that you get good news, and to those of you who do not, unfortunately, don't lose faith. This site is full of go-getters and I wish you all the best. Kudos.

Hope someone from UCLA faculty or admissions stumbles across this to really get a feel for how much we put into these apps and how much it means to us. Respectfully: Get your s*** together UCLA!!

Also, I'm sorry you're feeling so down and dejected by this process and this outcome. Just remember that this doesn't reflect your worth as a human being, or as a filmmaker. If you love making films with every fiber of your being, keep practicing and learning on your own just because it makes you happy. You are so much more than these silly university application results.

Lastly I would just like to say something that might comfort those who got rejected. My sister has worked in the tangential world of university admissions for almost 10 years now - she works for a company that tutors kids on college apps to get into elite schools. No, not like the college admissions scandal where they pay $500,000 to pretend you're some championship rower lol, but more like, they pay $30,000 to work with a tutor who knows the landscape of elite schools and what kind of elements will make the strongest application and then they tutor these high school kids on writing essays, getting their grades up, what extracurriculars to do, etc. These parents shell out tens of thousands of dollars so their kids can learn how to write the "best" essays, the strongest apps, etc. They apply to places to Harvard, Stanford, Brown, Columbia, UPenn, etc - you get it. My sister herself did her undergrad at Stanford and got accepted to UCSF, Yale, Stanford, and Harvard for med school, so she knows how to navigate these elite schools and exactly what they're looking for like the back of her hand (side note but let me just say - she was accepted to all those med schools and was ALSO rejected from UCLA med school lol). What has she learned from years of navigating the world higher education admissions? It's literally all arbitrary. No one knows why some people get in, and some don't. The admissions process does have some subjective elements to it, so sometimes it's literally just that the people reading your essays don't "vibe" with you lol. Ridiculous, right?! You can have the strongest application and get rejected (as we know and have seen). You can also have a not so strong application, and get into top schools. You can get rejected from lower tier schools while also getting into top schools, at the same damn time. It's craziness! It feels random at times.

What I'm trying to say is...don't let these universities determine your life path. If filmmaking is the path for you, don't give up.

 

[iheartmfa]

Not that this is an excuse or a justification by any means ... but it seems quite a few of us who ended up getting a no this time are recently out of undergrad. It could be that they see our potential, but we need some time to cook, grow as humans, even if the experience and work is there. We'll never really know the reasoning, but if that puts anyone's heart at ease, it could be a reason, season type thing. Wishing everyone great luck, and getting an interview in the first place is a MAJOR accomplishment! & would love to connect with anyone and everyone for future projects, feel free to DM me if you'd like to.

 

[vidhaini20]

Not that this is an excuse or a justification by any means ... but it seems quite a few of us who ended up getting a no this time are recently out of undergrad. It could be that they see our potential, but we need some time to cook, grow as humans, even if the experience and work is there. We'll never really know the reasoning, but if that puts anyone's heart at ease, it could be a reason, season type thing. Wishing everyone great luck, and getting an interview in the first place is a MAJOR accomplishment! & would love to connect with anyone and everyone for future projects, feel free to DM me if you'd like to.

Soo

Not that this is an excuse or a justification by any means ... but it seems quite a few of us who ended up getting a no this time are recently out of undergrad. It could be that they see our potential, but we need some time to cook, grow as humans, even if the experience and work is there. We'll never really know the reasoning, but if that puts anyone's heart at ease, it could be a reason, season type thing. Wishing everyone great luck, and getting an interview in the first place is a MAJOR accomplishment! & would love to connect with anyone and everyone for future projects, feel free to DM me if you'd like to.

Couldn't agree more! Being invited for an interview significantly boosts my confidence.

 

[Chris W]

We've added a feature similar to GroupMe where members (any members - not just Supporting Members) can create Group Threads that only members the thread starter invites can see.

https://www.filmschool.org/threads/how-to-create-a-private-group-thread-similar-to-groupme-on-filmschool-org.31344/

More features are coming soon.

 

[8ballqueen]

Just got my rejection. Kudos to those who are admitted and best of luck to those still waiting. I am honestly so disappointed. I spent so much energy and time prepping for this. I ended up getting diagnosed with dyspepsia thanks to the stress of this whole process. I worked on ass off on my application since last summer. I work in AV and do video gigs fifty hours a week, I work for a nonprofit helping children with literacy, have made local TV ads for said program, and have filmed documentaries for the homeless in San Francisco since I applied. What more could they possibly want? I do not mean to sound self-centered but I am supremely disappointed that they couldn't be bothered to waitlist me. I don't know what more I could possibly do. I thought my interview went swimmingly too. I emailed them about their super self-contradictory application documents, and they replied with generic "read instructions" responses in broken English. I had to rules-broker each part of the application meticulously. I got letters of rec from scholars in film that have their own Wikipedia pages. And then our interview invitations all went to our spam. And on their website they say this is an issue that happens with hotmail and aol users. NOBODY uses these anymore, they don't know how to write emails that don't look like phishing links. And they basically invented the internet! And then they kept us waiting for so long. And now it is done. If they don't believe I belong then I don't. Their TFT page looked like it was from 2003 up until a few weeks ago. And then they "updated" it, and yet they still had outdated info online, and we all spent time and energy preparing for a pitch that never happened. So many of us were absolutely perfect in preparing for this, and they couldn't be bothered to meet us halfway. Not even a quarter way in professionalism. I wish this program and this school held itself to the same standards it held us to. To hell with it all. Best of luck with everyone still in the running, I am genuinely rooting for you. And I hope you have a blessed, worthwhile, and meaningful stay there to those accepted. But I simply can't say that it's all ok. This process took a toll on me, and we weren't given the dignity to prepare properly, or any semblance of compassion in our rejection letters that we waited so long for. We are afterthoughts to a self-satisfied and hypocritical faculty. I hope to those of you waiting that you get good news, and to those of you who do not, unfortunately, don't lose faith. This site is full of go-getters and I wish you all the best. Kudos.

I’m so sorry to hear about the rejection. If it makes you feel ANY better, I was rejected by UCLA TFT for undergrad 3 times before I finally got in this time around for the MFA. I can’t even imagine how frustrating it is to bust so much ass only to be given the runaround on your application that you poured heart and soul into. Honestly reflectively, I really do think they should expand the program a lot more to make space for people and offer them alternative tracks in the MFA program if the first-choice spots fill up. I hope you’ll keep fighting and advocating for yourself whether it’s here or at a different school and in your career. You deserve to be acknowledged for your hard work and I promise you will. Please feel free to DM me if you have any questions about the app if you ever decide you want to re-apply, same goes to everyone in this thread. I completely agree that the way this app cycle went should have been way better and handled with respect and regard to people’s time and dedication. I hope you don’t beat yourself up because you’re very clearly doing everything you possibly can to be as successful as possible and it seems like everything is going to work out for you. I hope you’re taking care and giving yourself grace and know that your fellow applicants are proud of you

 

[8ballqueen]

Not that this is an excuse or a justification by any means ... but it seems quite a few of us who ended up getting a no this time are recently out of undergrad. It could be that they see our potential, but we need some time to cook, grow as humans, even if the experience and work is there. We'll never really know the reasoning, but if that puts anyone's heart at ease, it could be a reason, season type thing. Wishing everyone great luck, and getting an interview in the first place is a MAJOR accomplishment! & would love to connect with anyone and everyone for future projects, feel free to DM me if you'd like to.

Facts! It’s been a year and a half since I graduated and I just mainly focused that time on writing and working on different creative projects of my own. Even with my USC MFA rejection, they pretty clearly implied I should reapply when I had a more developed portfolio. I think MFAs for Film in general like to see you doing your own thing for a little. Good luck to all of you

 

[littleplanetnoah]

Not that this is an excuse or a justification by any means ... but it seems quite a few of us who ended up getting a no this time are recently out of undergrad. It could be that they see our potential, but we need some time to cook, grow as humans, even if the experience and work is there. We'll never really know the reasoning, but if that puts anyone's heart at ease, it could be a reason, season type thing. Wishing everyone great luck, and getting an interview in the first place is a MAJOR accomplishment! & would love to connect with anyone and everyone for future projects, feel free to DM me if you'd like to.

agreed! I asked my favorite professor from UCLA summer school about her suggestions on applying to grad school and she told me it's better if I work for a few years before applying. She herself worked for five years before going to grad school and clearly UCLA likes students who know what they want (I do have plans for right now but probably not clear enough for them to accept me ) and have a clear plan of the future. I was a little heartbroken too but I know a rejection letter does not mean that I am not good enough. Don't lose faith guys I believe in all of you :3

 

[nrg]

I received the same email! I did discover the email in my spam folder. In my case, I didn't submit my film treatment double-spaced so they asked me to re-submit it double-spaced. The deadline was Jan. 15 for me.

Is fgrad@tft.ucla.edu a legit email?

 

[iheartmfa]

Is fgrad@tft.ucla.edu a legit email?

Yeah that's the email they communicate to us with