Hey Anomen. Before I delve into my personal opinion, just FYI, I have two friends currently enrolled for USC MFA MPT and have spoken at length with several others who've graduated. I've met and lunched with three graduated AFI students (2 directors, 1 cinematographer) during film fests and have a close friend who graduated with an MFA in Editing who is now making six figures working on features and television. So my advice comes from those limited sources
I view USC MFA as a general filmmaking course. During the orientation, they re-affirmed this as they want all their filmmakers to be well rounded and so you'll get your hands dirty doing a bit of everything. This works really well for some people, but not as well for others.
USC is also incredibly competitive and I'd say 80-90% of the students entering want to be a Director, but only 20-30% will end up directing their Thesis. The remainder need to either pivot and focus on something else (editing, sound, etc.) or ... be stuck. There are a lot of competitions at the school (i.e. screenplay competitions, pitches, etc.) and you really are fighting for talent and production funds from your fellow students. I wouldn't call it cut-throat, but I'd say you should be ready to fight your way to the top. The upside is that if you do come out on top, you can rest assured that you are damn good
.AFI is much more specialized. Directors focus on the directing track, Cinematographers on cinematography, Editors on editing. Because of that, competition isn't quite as fierce and everyone always is on course to become great at what they're passionate about. Thus, rounding up people for thesis is a bit more balanced as everyone already has their roles established. On top of that, if you're a director, you get to focus on just that, Directing. The directors and cinematographers I've met at festivals are all working in the industry, and I've heard an AFI degree carries a lot of weight in the industry.
At then end of the day, a degree from either school is highly prestigious and both will open a lot of doors for you as a filmmaker. The rest will depend on your personal drive and ambitions.
I would personally pick USC over AFI because I grew up playing sports and like the thrill of competition. But seeing as how I didn't apply to AFI and I'm most likely receiving my rejection letter in the mail from USC in an hour, I don't have the luxury of such a choice
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