Hi all,

I'm an international film student who applied to the MFA program of both Columbia and Tisch. I was accepted to both programs and am currently really confused.

I have read film school confidential and know the supposed difference between the two.

NYU - Better equipped/More technically competent/Nicer Campus/

Columbia - Better focus on story-telling/More scholastic?/More indie, less commercialized (heard from a friend)/really nurturing profs

But I'm still curious to know more about the two schools. What is the student population like? What is it actually like studying in the two schools - are the environments very competitive/friendly/supportive?

Anyone from Tisch or Columbia here who could help the lot of us who are in this very very difficult (yet ironically fortunate) position?

Thanks a lot.

I'm in same position, also deciding between NYU and Columbia. It seems extremely difficult to get reliable comparative advice. In college, I had the opinion that you don't really know a school until you've been there for at least a semester. Is this one of those cases? I've even thought about contacting professors -- a couple Columbia professors are NYU alumni and one professor is the former head of the NYU program.

Is anyone going to try to sit in on classes? Or speak to current students?
I'm going to a screenwriting class at Columbia tomorrow. Tisch won't let me sit in and hasn't responded to my request for a current student's info. Isn't that weird? Sort of turns me off...

I would argue that Columbia has a nicer campus (i dont really consider NYU as having a "campus"). I think NYU is known for a legacy of big name filmmakers back when film schools were the big thing for the film industry. Lately Columbia has been more successful in having successful alumni.

NYU has better facilities (from what I hear), Columbia's are disappointing (they have 2 cramped editing bays and a very small space in general). If you go to NYU you would probably get a better technical understanding of film. At Columbia its more about screenwriting/crafting developing ideas as a writer or director. Columbia puts a premium on this (thats why you can only shoot digital for the first year(s).

I saw the short doc series "Film School" which features NYU and it really disappointed me. When I saw how the faculty communicated with the students about their work they focused on their emotional reaction and were not able to discern the technical problems with students' work (problems with their story structure, characters, etc). Also, the students couldn't get their emotions in control. But hey, it was a reality show (lol...it just bothered me). BTW, you can get that series through Netflix.

Miriam May, can you please let us know how your visit to that Columbia class turns out??