USC Fall 2009

[hman13]

i dont understand what youre waiting on. are you waiting on hearing if you are accepted or not? If so, call the program coordinator for your program and ask. If youre accepted, you should have an id and have no problem filling out financial aid.

this help?

 

[Ryan Serey]

I have not received a letter of acceptance/rejection. Every time I call, I am told that they "just sent the letter". They will not tell me over the phone whether or not I have been accepted. I applied to both screenwriting and directing, but no one will give me an answer either way. I am incredibly frustrated.

 

[Jayimess]

just apply for financial aid.

 

[Ryan Serey]

Thanks for the advice, I will. However, is this a regular occurrence? I feel like an exception, due to the low activity on this post and the fact that every else seems to have received their letters by now. I am fighting myself, trying not to get discouraged.

 

[Jayimess]

I haven't heard of this happening before.

Also, if you're accepted, the financial aid won't be any different if you didn't get the supplemental form in on time. You'll be granted Stafford and Plus loans. Nothing more.

 

[Astantax]

Go Trojans! I just had to say that. This post is 35% shameless thread bump, 65% me expressing how I can't WAIT for august to roll around...am I the only one who STILL can't really believe this is actually happening?

- Brian

 

[xavier039]

Do not worry my excitement has skyrocketed as well. I can not wait to get started with this new adventure!

 

[AshleyMaria]

Hey Everyone! Welcome to USC!! Studentfilms.com really helped me in my application process for USC last year and I see it's still helping other people. If anyone has any questions, please let me know! I am definitely here to help the new recruits

 

[MooreEnt24]

I was rejected from USC last year. But now I'm attending Los Angeles Valley College and am enrolled in their Transfer Alliance Program with plans to transfer to USC for Fall of next year.

Has anyone else done this or known of anyone else who did this?

I really need to work my ass off and get amazing grades, thank God they help me fulfill the requirements.

Are transfer students 'more likely' to get accepted? Especially if they are a California resident?

 

[Jayimess]

George, I think you'll be better served in the undergraduate forum.

Best of luck!

 

[Astantax]

Holy smokes! I got my acceptance letter today! I'm in!!

To say I'm elated would be an absurd understatement. Words can't express the relief. I don't even think it's truly sunk in yet!

Epilogue: 6 Years Later.

I stand before the threshold of a new beginning now, much as I did back in March 2009 when the USC acceptance letter hit my mailbox. And thinking about the twisted, gnarled path that brought me to where I am today reminded me of the guidance I'd had when I first set foot upon it, and so here I am. I have no idea if anyone I know from USC is reading this; if they are they'd agree that a lot of other people would probably be better suited to a particular kind of retrospective; I'm just a guy, and your mileage may vary...but for what it's worth, for the benefit of the those of you who are just now starting out, here are my impressions after the fact.

For one thing, it really wasn't what I thought it was going to be, but that proved to actually be a good thing.

Specifically, I imagined that the vibe of the place would be one of collaborative creativity. Once you'd made it through the gates, you were in the club; you would all learn together and it would be okay to screw up in a sort of safety zone of learning. In reality, the school felt very internally competitive in a way that I wasn't prepared for nor expecting; I was left with a distinct feeling of continually having to essentially re-apply to the school, because all of the insane competitiveness over roles on certain popular class projects.

I quickly learned a lot of things:
1. I wanted to be Steven Spielberg
2. Lots of other people wanted to be Steven Spielberg. And Ingmar Bergman. And Quentin Tarantino. And Jim Jarmusch. And...
3. I actually really hated directing, which is what I thought I'd always wanted to do.

The realization of #3 above forced me to sort of subconsciously look elsewhere from a very early point after my arrival on the program. By the second semester I'd done sound effects for most of my friend's movies; after a brief stint in production design, I joined one of the aforementioned popular class projects as one of two sound engineers, and began to follow that path in earnest.

So in a way, the biggest shock that could have been a bad thing (the unexpected competitive feel) was more or less responsible for finding what I truly feel is my calling, and therefore was a great filter. Since USC teaches you everything, you have ample opportunity to try different fields and naturally gravitate towards what you truly love...whether you think you know what that is yet or not.

And this is where USC really shines: if you find a particular skill or field you really, truly love and want to do with every fiber of your being, the faculty really responds to that, and you make amazing connections with them that are meaningful and important. I can't of course speak for all the departments; I can only offer a sample of one of them, but the sound department is nothing short of the best possible film sound education in the world. They continue to be supportive and amazing, and I consider myself very lucky to have learned from them.

USC's School of Cinematic Arts was far from the loose, fun atmosphere of creativity and support I naively imagined, but in retrospect I'm very glad it was. It forced me to really think about what I loved, and the work I did as a sound designer at the school was instrumental in helping me get an internship right after graduating, which led to several contract roles, and now, finally, a permanent position at what I consider to be my dream job.

The other important thing I didn't consider was the people I met. The people are what made the whole thing worth it...people who I initially met on this board in fact. The guy who posted, Xavier he called himself, is now one of my best friends from the program. And there were countless others because of whom I was able to continue freelancing between contracts, and have awesome people to pal around with on weekends / write, plan, and collaborate with.

Other cool things that happened:
- Casually strolled by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, and Ron Howard and was totally chill about it
- Got to find out what happens when you're trying to get exposed film from a camera to a sealed tin and the film comes off the spool while in the darkbag and the whole roll of film is unravelling in the bag and you're silently freaking out and the teacher is starting to wonder why the heck you're taking so long
- Had access to endless awesome prop houses in hollywood and wound up zooming through the universal backlot on a golfcart to go look at a pastry cabinet from 1958
- saw the HOT AIR hairdryer from SpaceBalls in a prophouse
- saw Back to the Future in Grauman's Chinese Theater
- Signed up for an amazing summer class and watched a ton of film noir films in a theater on campus
- Worked as an intern on a reality show which interviewed animal attack victims. Tried to high-five a guy with no arms.
- touched the real, actual Ecto-1 with my actual real hand.
- Was walking to a screening when whoa, a random Jonathan Frakes appears. I try to be normal, and fail; I mean, I had his action figure! He smiles and totally calls me out on being nervous.
- Got yelled at / almost chased by campus police for gazing forlornly at Trojan football practice from the bleachers of the running track.
- Bought a boogie board; went to the beach literally 3 times.

I think the point here is that even though it was difficult at times, and not really what I expected, and in spite of the loans and student debt, going to USC was unquestionably the right decision. My goal in 2009 was to stop wasting my life doing something I hated, and work toward doing something I loved; I have definitely started to get very close to completing my goal, and it never would have happened without USC.

Not sure if this made a lot of sense, but hopefully someone can find some use in it.

Edit: hopefully you don't mind the insane thread bump, but I thought it would make it more interesting..(feel free to move this, mods, if it's a problem)

 

[supertramp19]

N/A

 

[Chris W]

3. I actually really hated directing, which is what I thought I'd always wanted to do.

I came to the same conclusion and realized that I loved editing. Which is what I'm still doing.

 

[Astantax]

Hi,

I'm admitted into Peter Stark Producing Program this year. Even though we are in different programs, I sincerely appreciate that you posted this. It better prepares me for what might come next in my life. I read it word by word, twice. Thank you so so much. I hops you can fulfill your goal soon. Good luck and fight on!

You're welcome! If you have any questions feel free to ask, although we didn't really get to interface too much with the Starkies...I was Production and they kept us pretty well-sequestered.

 

[Mike_V]

If anything, this is the one rare occasions in which I am glad that you thread necro'd. It's not often to hear people come back and talk about what they are doing now after they get accepted and move on.

So if anything,
Thank you for giving a thorough follow up.

 

[Jeremy St.Romain]

I am interested to hear what specifically drove you and Chris away from Directing.