Hello, I was wondering if some of you could help me figure out if I will get into film school. I would like to apply to NYU’s, USC’s, and UCLA’s undergraduate film program.

Here is a quick resume:

Grades:
·3.35 GPA
·1250 on the SAT (Math and Reading only)
·***I’m not in the Top 10% of my class
·Will have taken 6 AP classes

Extracurricular (There are a lot):
· Sophomore Class President
· Been on the Debate team for 3 years
·Went to multiple debate tournaments (Competed in: CX Debate, Extemp Speaking, Student Congress)
·4 Years of Piano
·Black Belt
·Made an awesome website for my school (by myself)
·Many summer Debate and Leadership workshops
·I have had some sort of “professional” job since I was about 10 (part time of course)
·Film Film Film!!!

*Also, I am Hispanic (small trump card)

Portfolio:
·I am going to send in a 10 min. film. I think the film is a good film with a strong story.


Considering I have an extremely large amount of extracurricular activities to help balance out my lower grades, what else do I need to do to get a “lock” into some of the above schools? Do I have a lock already (which schools)? Am I close? What do I need to improve on? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

First of all, are those the only three schools you're applying to? If so, you really need some backups. These are three of the toughest schools in the country to get into.

For NYU, I'd say it would come down to writing a really good essay and a wonderful submission, because the grades are a little low. USC won't look at any creative submission, they just want essays and creative writing pieces (check out the website for details), and UCLA is a longshot, mostly because you're in texas and you're not in the top 10%. UCLA is very, very numbers based, and they're most concerned with getting all the California students they can.

I certainly wouldn't rule out any, especially not having read your essays/seen your film/etc. This is just my understanding of what admissions at these places is like. There's also no telling how much the hispanic background will help you, but it certainly couldn't hurt!

Check out some of these places, they're all good for film and not quite so grade-heavy.

Emerson
Chapman
Syracuse
SUNY Purchase
UC Santa Cruz
Florida State
UT-Austin (I have no idea what admissions is like here, but being from Texas couldn't hurt.)

Good Luck!

I concur with Palm Tree.

Well, Take the SAT again, and do your darndest to get at least a 1300. Also, see if you can't take up a leadership position, or create one (that's what I did) in your area of interest (film).

True, not knowing your essays and submission is a big factor we need to know, but nevertheless, as of now those schools are a reach for you, and it is because of your grades.

Like I said though, practice your heart out on SAT practice tests, maybe even get a 1350 or 1400, and that will compensate for your GPA, or at least take the damper off of it.

You still have time to make up for your shortfalls.

Good luck!

Tyler

the truth is that you can never really "lock" on to one of these film schools.

From my experience:

NYU - will largely focus on your creative submission. (but remember! aside from the film school reviewing your app, the general admissions of NYU will also review it. i don't know the details of how it works, BUT it may be one of those systems where the general admissions reviews your app and then passes it to the film school...)

USC - will largely focus on your essays and GPA. Spend a lot of time on these essays. note: numbers-wise, USC CNTV accepts less students then NYU Tisch UGFTV. (ANOTHER NOTE: you must be accepted FIRST into the College of Arts and Sciences at USC in order to be accepted into the film school! yep, it's like applying to two colleges at once.)

UCLA - you can't apply to film for freshmen year. you have to first get into ucla and then while you are there, apply to film school during your sophomore year. risky.

if you want info on NYU tisch film, let me know. i'm a freshmen there right now.

good luck!

Hi, thanks for all the replies. Any extra information can help (about any of the universities). I learned a lot (I didn't know about UCLA and having to apply Sophomore year).

*My GPA is weird. My high school just recently changed the way they calculate our GPAs, and if I calculate it the old way, my GPA should be about a 3.65. Does that raise my chances a lot or just a little?

*Also, every time I took the PSAT (2 times), I scored about a 750 on the math, and 650 on the reading. And I just took the SAT for the first time back in October. I am going to retake the SAT this Saturday, and I am just hoping that I had a bad testing day back in Oct.

So, if my GPA were calculated as a 3.65 and my SAT scores were only about a 1300 for the math and reading sections only (I trying to be conservative), what are my chances of getting in to NYU, USC, or UCLA?

Also, like I said before, any extra information about admissions or about what each particular school likes from students would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.


***Also, off hand, do you know how many freshmen are accepted into each of the three schools? Thanks

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lapp,

I want info!!! How do you know they place a lot of emphasis on the creative submission?

My stats are...

GPA is 4.8
SAT (old scale) is 1340 (670 CR, 670 M)
President of film club (founder, also)
couple other clubs (like National Honor Society, Beta, etc.)
Ranked 7 of 348

I like my short movie I sent in and I like my essays... I did though, after submitting, found that I had a typo on one of my short answers... Eh.

What do you think? How's Tisch? Any info would be awesome!

Tyler

Does anybody have any other information? Can anybody reevaluate my profile so I can better understand my standing for admissions? Thanks

NYU (2006) - Accepted 250 students into UGFTV (my parents were told during a tisch acceptance reception)

USC - On their website it says that they accept only 50 students into the production program of the film school.

UCLA - I heard from someone that they accept ~40 into their film program.

I'm at Tisch and its really great. I'll go into more specifics if you email me.