Hi all, long time commenter/lurker and first time poster here.
I find myself in the really fortunate and unexpected position of having been admitted to both USC and AFI for Fall 2021 and I’m in the process of figuring out which one to commit to. Since I am always bowled over by the insights and knowledge floating around on this platform I thought I would throw it open to you guys.
Is anyone else considering the same conundrum?
I’ve been weighing the pros and cons of both. And, for me, I think I feel drawn to AFI as a smaller, more intimate training. I really love the discipline specific approach there as well.
Having said that I also love so much about USC - the facilities are out of this world, and there seems to be a more open remit in terms of what classes you can take. Even if you enter wanting to direct, you can still take classes in any discipline (if you so wish).
As a writer/director it is important to me to be able to take writing classes and feature film development - which both offer.
Then on the money side of things - AFI is more expensive per year. But it is an intensive full time course across two years (rather than three). So actually they work out about the same in terms of tuition. USC seems to give less financial support for the actual films you make - with only a handful of films actually getting a budget from the school. Whereas at AFI every film you make is given a small budget and each thesis gets given around $13,000.
I mean I could probably go on with various pros and cons.
But yeah - if anyone has any thoughts or opinions (or if you happen to be a student at one of these schools) I’d so love to hear from you.
All best!
Nick
I find myself in the really fortunate and unexpected position of having been admitted to both USC and AFI for Fall 2021 and I’m in the process of figuring out which one to commit to. Since I am always bowled over by the insights and knowledge floating around on this platform I thought I would throw it open to you guys.
Is anyone else considering the same conundrum?
I’ve been weighing the pros and cons of both. And, for me, I think I feel drawn to AFI as a smaller, more intimate training. I really love the discipline specific approach there as well.
Having said that I also love so much about USC - the facilities are out of this world, and there seems to be a more open remit in terms of what classes you can take. Even if you enter wanting to direct, you can still take classes in any discipline (if you so wish).
As a writer/director it is important to me to be able to take writing classes and feature film development - which both offer.
Then on the money side of things - AFI is more expensive per year. But it is an intensive full time course across two years (rather than three). So actually they work out about the same in terms of tuition. USC seems to give less financial support for the actual films you make - with only a handful of films actually getting a budget from the school. Whereas at AFI every film you make is given a small budget and each thesis gets given around $13,000.
I mean I could probably go on with various pros and cons.
But yeah - if anyone has any thoughts or opinions (or if you happen to be a student at one of these schools) I’d so love to hear from you.
All best!
Nick