There are a few different USC threads out there, but I thought I would start a new one for those of us who have been accepted and are planning on attending this fall. Hopefully this will consolidate our posting and give us a better way to meet each other and make plans for the coming semester! Perhaps people looking for roommates can start here. And maybe Jayimess can answer all of our questions as they pop up

How about we all post a little about ourselves:

1. Name:
2. Age:
3. Gender:
4. Program (writing / production, stark):
5. Where you are coming from:
6. Undergrad education:
7. Anything else you want others to know:

I'll start

1. Brian
2. 27
3. M
4. MFA production (planning to concentrate on directing)
5. Austin, TX
6. Notre Dame - philosophy / literature / film
7. visit my website www.over-soul.com

Can't wait to meet everyone!

I already have a question for Jayimess:

Do you have any recommendations as far as places to live? I know most grad students don't live on campus or the immediate neighborhood. Do you have any advice on good neighborhoods that are reasonably close and priced? I plan on moving out with my fiancee in early August to give myself enough time to find a place and get moved in, but we're a little overwhelmed over where to start looking! Thanks!

I live in Hollywood, a handful of my class also lives in Hollywood. I like it, we have an amazing view, and we can walk down my (steep) hill and be in the middle of touristy LA, which the visitors like, though we can't hear it from our place on the hill. We can walk to the Arclight and the Hollywood Bowl, and we're right by the cool spots in Los Feliz.

Lots of people live in Los Feliz, which is just east of Hollywood. It's one of my favorite places to go for dinner and drinks, with plenty of places to choose from on Hillhurst and Vermont. There's Costco, Trader Joe's, Home Depot all nearby.

I know another handful who live in Silver Lake, which is just east of Los Feliz. Silver Lake is really cute, little cafes and bars, boutiques, and cool homes. As long as you stay on the western end, away from Echo Park, you should like it. Echo Park is an up and coming artsy district (read: slowly getting gentrified form the tops of the hills on down). However, there's a lot of crime, i.e. you'll hear gunshots and helicopters, then there's Dodger Stadium traffic...it was not for me...I left there after three months to move here. Another classmate got her house in EP robbed, the only crime I know of that's hit my class...she moved to Santa Monica.

Closer to campus, you basically have Koreatown. I looked at places there when I decided to leave Echo Park, but it wasn't my style. However, three or four of my classmates live there. It's cheaper than the already mentioned neighborhoods, but rather congested and less than diverse. Just make sure you get an assigned parking spot.

There are the downtown lofts, but they're very expensive. The classmates living there tend to still be dependent on their affluent parents...nothing wrong with that, just saying, with no job, it'll be hard to cover a 2200 rent each month.

Several classmates trek all the way from Santa Monica, and their quality of life is apparently worth the commute, so I'd check it out.

There are graduate students who live near campus, but very few of them are returning next year. If you stay near Adams between Figueroa and Vermont, it's pretty nice, reasonably priced. I'd stay away from Conquest, all I hear are complaints from the few people I know who live in their properties, they're very expensive, and the Daily Trojan writes an article complaining about how poorly they treat students on a very regular basis.

Hope that helps.


Price wise, Hollywood, Los Feliz, and Silver Lake are quite reasonable with a roommate, anywhere between 700-1050 a month each. Koreatown should be about 750-900. Campus could be anywhere between 800-1200. Downtown is high. Santa Monica is high.

Very helpful Jayimess. Thanks! How long is your commute from Hollywood / Los Feliz area? How long is it from Santa Monica?

My commute is anywhere from twelve minutes to an hour, depending on traffic. But rarely is it an hour. I usually give myself thirty minutes.

I have no idea what it is from Santa Monica, but I seem to recall an hour, forty five minutes on the "quick" side.

1. Name: Brad Tucker
2. Age: 22
3. Gender: Male
4. Program: MFA Production (Directing)
5. Where you are coming from: Atlanta, GA
6. Undergrad education: BS in Mechanical Engineering/Minor in Film Studies from Georgia Tech
7. Anything else you want others to know:
Formal scholarship in Film Studies, self taught in production. Extensive experience, directing a good handful of short films, 2 winning national awards. Traveling to Cannes next week to show my film at the short corner. Very visual director looking to pair up with a dark/edgy writer.

brad,

is any of your work or trailers for your work available online? i'd love to see some of your stuff.

quote:

There are graduate students who live near campus, but very few of them are returning next year.

Just to clarify: Are they graduating or does living near campus make it harder to get anything done?

Neither. They just don't want to live near campus. I think two of the six are staying.

bscofield,

yea, you can check out a few of my films at http://www.veoh.com/channels/BradTucker

I love to get feedback, so let me know what you think.

Look forward to working with you all,
Brad (Directing)

quote:

Originally posted by Jayimess:
My commute is anywhere from twelve minutes to an hour, depending on traffic. But rarely is it an hour. I usually give myself thirty minutes.

I have no idea what it is from Santa Monica, but I seem to recall an hour, forty five minutes on the "quick" side.

Hollywood to USC in 12 min? That's darn fast! The 101 freeway coming into downtown can be a real slog.

Anyway, I'm downtown and it takes about 15 min to get to Third St. in Santa Monica (via 10 fwy OFF rush hour, that is, and on a "good" day with no holiday or weekend getaway traffic). But, as with any LA freeway, expect the unexpected: disabled vehicles, accidents, jackknifed rigs, police activity, jumpers on overhead passes (yeah, seen that one, too), etc.

Yeah, the twelve minute commute only happens two or three times a week, but the hour is maybe two or three times a month.

Like I said, it's usually a half hour.

I don't comprehend the 101. It's literally different every single minute of every single day.

But still I use it.

I'm not attending USC in the fall, but I am a graduate from a couple years ago. I'm still trying to meet fellow USC-ers, so, if I may:

1. Name: James
2. Age: 26
3. Gender: Male
4. Program: Scoring for Motion Pictures & TV (ie, music)
5. Where you are coming from: Around town[/B]
6. Undergrad education: Cal State Northridge, Film Music
7. Anything else you want others to know: I love having guests on my website. I've actually won REAL awards for my music, so please consider me...

www.james-schafer.com

Guys,

I am excited to be headed to USC this fall as well.

1. Name - Tom
2. 36 (but still a kid at heart)
3. M
4. MFA, Production (writing and directing focus, but want to learn producing skills)
5. Philadelphia, PA (but have lived all over and traveled widely)
6. UPENN- Wharton (finance/business undergrad), and developmental psychology masters
7. I was a cofounder of AND 1 (www.and1.com) and a footwear design director there for 5 years. I have lived in Asia (Taiwan) for 5-6 years and traveled extensively. I have a wife (Taiwanese) and two children (ages 2 1/2 and -1 month). I am juiced to meet everyone and make some really fun, cool films. If anyone wants to talk, I am open to it.

Tom, your age gives me some hope. I am not yet mid-thirties, but will be there soon, and I'm trying to decide whether to go to USC this fall or wait another two years (another opportunity arose). Glad to know that film schools and USC are not ageist, though I don't know if they'll accept me again the second time around. . . .

quote:

Originally posted by grabbag:
Tom, your age gives me some hope. I am not yet mid-thirties, but will be there soon, and I'm trying to decide whether to go to USC this fall or wait another two years (another opportunity arose). Glad to know that film schools and USC are not ageist, though I don't know if they'll accept me again the second time around. . . .

Grabbag, think VERY carefully before giving up USC. Don't assume you know your odds on getting into the same program again. Trust me on this. I was accepted into one of the Big Three in L.A., gave up my spot, reapplied a few years later, and was REJECTED.

If you truly believe film school is where you should be, and you can get everything else in your life to fall into place (finances, family commitments, etc.), then GO TO FILM SCHOOL.

Grabbag,

The oldest PR student this year I know is 47. There are a few others in their 40s as well.

The oldest SW student this year is 36.

Don't worry about your age. Seriously.

I'm 28, and I'm smack in the middle of the age spectrum.

I do know a kid in my SW class who got in last year and turned it down for an amazing journalist assignment in Iraq. He applied again with very few changes and got in again.

It's not impossible.

I say it's better to go when you're in the right state of mind than to go just for the sake of going and not make the best of the opportunity.

Good luck, it sounds like a very difficult decision!

J, totally agree with you regarding age not being a factor. I'm fast heading for middle age and still chasing film school dreams.

However, the student who turned down USC and was accepted again seems like a rare exception. First, his Iraq experience must have really impressed the selection committee. Second, he reapplied within a year. Didn't USC give him priority consideration over new applicants?

Certainly, it's not impossible for someone to be admitted twice to USC. He/she must be an extraordinary applicant to be accepted in the first place. But, most of us don't have knockout experiences like your journalist classmate.

So much of getting accepted depends on things the applicant can't control: the applicant pool, the mood of the committee, you got a cranky interviewer, etc. It's simply a big risk not attending when you can. I guess the real question Grabbag should be asking is, what will I regret more. Not pursuing the other opportunity, or never going to USC?

quote:

Originally posted by valleeboy:

However, the student who turned down USC and was accepted again seems like a rare exception. First, his Iraq experience must have really impressed the selection committee. Second, he reapplied within a year. Didn't USC give him priority consideration over new applicants?

I guess the real question Grabbag should be asking is, what will I regret more. Not pursuing the other opportunity, or never going to USC?

As far as I know, he didn't alter his writing samples. He operated with the mentality "I got in with this stuff last time, I'll kill myself if I change it and don't get in."

As far as I know, USC doesn't hold your applications over or give "priority consideration" to any applicants...at least not in the writing division. They wouldn't even grant him a one-year deferment.

I refuse to believe that getting into USC is a lottery, so I don't think that getting in once means you can't get in again. If your talent is evident this spring, why can't it be visible forever to a committee devoted to discovering it?

USC (with the exception of the Stark program) very rarely interviews applicants for admission, so thankfully that evil variable, that is, the interviewer being cranky, is not a likely problem!

Finally, if a student is not in a place where he can jump in with both feet, the regret would be not going to USC, but going to USC and not getting the most of it because the student was not ready. That's wasted potential right there.


Just my opinions.

That's cool, Jayimess. Glad to read your positive take on the admissions process.

I may seem shrill with my "film school now!" stance, but I know all too well the heartache of the road not taken.

BTW, didn't mean to make getting into USC seem like a lottery. But, there is definitely a certain amount of Vegas-type chance when it comes to the admissions process at any school, for any program. We submit the best application we can and do the best interview we can, but after that it's out of our hands.