Hello, I am a junior in High School. My passion is filmmaking, of course...I'm sure your's is too. Anyways, I'm wondering what exactly i should be working on now in order to get accepted into the top schools ( USC, NYU,....)?And grades are not a problem.

Also, are things like :

Being a finalist in The Star Wars Film Festival worth mentioning?

or what about Success in high school speech/forensics ( competetive acting among high schools)?

thanks a million.

-Matt