does volunteer work in resume influence a lot big school film such as USC, UCLA, NYU etc...?
(so far, i only have 4hrs of community service :-( )

I'm guessing not nearly as much as other things, like your scores and essay, and creative portfolio, but it can't hurt! Mine was all kind of borderline stuff, like working with a local theatre group, and I got in...

Titaniumdoughnut is right - its all about essays, SATs, GPA, and your portfolio. That said, community service can only help. I did about 100 hours over 2 years (in part because I had to for the academic program I was in).

You might want to look in to doing something like tutoring younger students. I did that through my local library, 2 hours a week. Most the time I just sat there and did homework. It's good, easy, and even (gasp) educational and fulfilling.

Still, if you don't have a ton of hours, don't freak out. Just get some more, but not at the cost of dropping your GPA or putting off good creative activities (in general, community service has more to do with getting in to the actual university, and not the film school).

It's a silly question, but did any of you guys take some kind of special courses to prepare all stuff for universities? I mean, did anybody (maybe some organization) help you?

quote:

Originally posted by Cine:
It's a silly question, but did any of you guys take some kind of special courses to prepare all stuff for universities? I mean, did anybody (maybe some organization) help you?

Yes. High school.

I had a mother with a Fascist like disposition to the organization of my college application process.

quote:

Originally posted by Josh:
Yes. High school.

Damn it, I knew some one will think I am an idiot