USC Screenwriting MFA Fall 2017 (Acceptance, Rejection, Etc.)

Thanks for making a USC specific thread! I am glad that I am not the only one that analyzed the document so thoroughly. Hopefully we will be hearing good things this week or next week

 

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say... yay... exclamation point! I'm ready to hear from USC. I don't really share the anxiety that many of our cohorts on this site do; perhaps because I came into myself as a screenwriter from the acting world and so now my neurons won't let me fixate on unchangeable things, maybe it's my Brooklyn pragmatism... either way, I'm just ready to know the results so I can start preparing my next angle of attack should I require one. I don't know if you've experienced this, but whenever I tell a non-artistic type that I even applied to a grad program for screenwriting they usually like fall over in awe that we are able to do what we do at all. I've been trying to remember that in the days leading up to the results- that just applying to a program as prestigious as USC was something of a baby feat in itself. I so love the prospect of being enveloped by the USC community and having access to their resources but a rejection letter is not stopping this train... or yours. Good luck USC hopefuls. GO TROJANS!

 

I feel the same way. Of course I would like to be accepted, but I am more interested in just knowing so I can figure out my next move (both literally and figuratively!). There is a lot of self selection that goes on when applying to a top program like USC, so just applying is a feat, as you said.

This may be stupid to ask, but what do you mean by "Go Travelers"? Us as in, traveling through life? Or perhaps it was an autocorrect fail and you meant "Go Trojans"? Just wondering

 

Hahahaha! No I didn't even know what the mascot was. I just googled it and "Traveler" came up. That's the name of the horse the Trojan rides on apparently. It sounded weird but I committed. I don't really know anything about that. lol.

 

Seeing that this thread existed scared the shit out of me, I thought letters started going out.

 

Well put and painfully accurate, Septopus7. I am definitely the same way; hopping from goal to goal and dream to dream as if they were lily pads. I think- and I want to be careful to put this in a way that doesn't condescend, because again I do agree with you- but I've been trying to rehabilitate myself somewhat away from those tendencies because I find that, for me, when I enlist in emotional rollercoasters, especially those in which I am not at the helm, it tends to really distract from my tangible production. Which is to say, for example, if I had really allowed myself to get swept away in the hopes and mysteries of this application cycle, and I really let myself subscribe to visions of me at school this fall, I wouldn't have had the focus or wherewithal to finish my most recent script that I just completed for this current competition season... which is even more toward my actual professional goals than getting my MFA, if that resonates. That may be totally unique to me because I really used to let myself get wrapped up in the dream, and you're probably capable of more balance in that way, but yeah... I too am ready to cement some plans. Done dreaming. Ready to get woke.

 

Does anyone know if its on a rolling basis? From what I've seen it looks like rejections go out first but I could be wrong.

 

Actually, unless I'm reading it incorrectly, judging by the 2016 results, it looks like those admitted and who accepted the offer were either notified or confirmed their decision about a week before people were notified about their rejection- which I think would make more sense if you make your first offers, see which ones accept and then resort to the applicants you've put on your waitlist. Although I suppose there are a good amount of applicants who are just flat out rejected regardless of their first choices. I dunno. I was on Northwesterns waitlist last year and trying to decipher their timeline/matrix was something of a challenge. :/

 

Thanks for that matrix analysis. My wish for you is that your work on that somehow manifests energetically towards your acceptance. ha!

At the risk of sounding less than bright, and assuming a few of you partook of the option to submit the writing requirements for the scholarships, does anyone know how that works exactly? Are the scholarship essays totally moot unless/until you've been selected for the program or does it all factor into your overall application soup perhaps even before a decisions been made?

 

Got an offer today...crazy early.

 

Via email?

 

Yep email link to portal update.

 

Could not agree more with this. It's tough when you've done your part and now it's out of your control. All you can do is wait. I'm also working on a script for the competition season. Finished the first draft but it still needs work. Which screenwriting competitions are you looking at?

 

Congrats! That is awesome

Good luck, everyone!

 

Thanks, still waiting on other schools so it's hard to even think about USC til then. Also wasn't entirely sure on it compared to UCLA. Very different beasts.

Hope they all speed up for everyone! Good luck!