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Hi! I'm asking about a friend of mine who would like to major in film in school. She's not a bad student, but not great. I'd imagine her average is around an 80 in school, probably an 1150 or so SAT (only taken PSAT). Also, her parents make a very very low income, so please recommend schools that are not that difficult to get into, have high quality film programs, and are decent as far as financial aid is concerned. Thanks so much!

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 04:55 pm: Edit

The "best" film schools are probably USD and NYU but both are expensive and difficult to get into - her stats would probably be iffy unless she has a wonderful film portfolio.

Chapman University and Loyola Marymount University - both in So. Calif. might be good possibilities. Both have excellent career-oriented film schools, are generous with financial aid, and her stats would be in their ballpark.

Other possibilities to investigate: Ithaca College \(NY), Emerson (MA), Cal State Monterey, Cal State Long Beach, Denison in Ohio, Florida State, the college of Santa Fe (NM), SUNY Purchase, Purdue, Rochester Institute of Technology, Southern Methodist U (TX), Syracuse, Clark (MA). With the exception of the first 4, I don't know much about the film programs at these schools but they are all fairly good with financial aid and probably within her reach in terms of admissions.

By Kinshasa (Kinshasa) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 05:33 pm: Edit

If she's a California resident, she should consider San Francisco State. With her stats she'll definitely be accepted. The CSUs are getting overcrowded, and JANUARY 16th is the SFSU application deadline for first-time freshmen.

By Collegeparent (Collegeparent) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 05:43 pm: Edit

Ditto Carolyn, but I think she meant USC; also UCLA; Cal Arts in Valencia, CA; Art Institute in Pasadena, CA and SUNY Purchase in NY.

By Tsdad (Tsdad) on Friday, January 09, 2004 - 07:53 pm: Edit

Don't forget Northwestern and Texas which are just below USC, UCLA, and NYU. UCLA's program begins when you're in your third year at the school. Also there's an outstanding program at the North Carolina School of the Arts. SF State, Northridge, and SDSU has good programs at the CSUs.

Her SATs are too low for USC, NYU, and Northwestern. They might be ok for FSU.

I don't know about NYU, but USC, FSU, and NCSA film schools do not accept portfolios. My son applied to USC and FSU last year so we know about those. He attended the summer program at NCSA and they were adament that they did not want portfolios. These schools only want you to list what you have done, not supply it.