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Hey. I'm wondering what you think my chances at the Tisch film program is. I think my academic resume is pretty good. The problem is that my artisitic resume sucks. Let's start with the academics.

1400 SAT (720V 650M)
3.9 unweighted HS GPA
4.0 unweighted my junior year in all G/T classes (the hardest) including AP Government.

ECs include: Interning for a US Congressman in his Capitol HIll office, Mock Trial, French Club, Oranizer of the foreign language festival at our school, philosophy club, volunteering at the library, and other little things.

Also, I'm a white male and live in Columbia, MD.

Now for the artistic resume. Yikes!

Well, I'm an amateur photographer so I'll be submitting some of my best photos. Also, I've played guitar for 5 years. Recently I've been playing with a garage band and intend on playing in the jazz band at our school next year. I am a good writer so I think I can do well on the dramatic essay. I've never really won any "awards" before though. My artistic life has always been kind of personal. I think I have a pretty decent knowledge of filmmaking for someone in my position because I've always loved film and have researched it and read about it for years. The thing is that I've never even made a short film.

If you have any estimates as to my chances or recommendations on how to better them by doing things this summer or in general please let me know. Thanks.

By Akr031 (Akr031) on Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 02:19 am: Edit

Billsfan929-
Your academic record is strong so good job on that. I am attending tisch as an acting student. and i can tell you that they are going to want to know why you are interested in a film major. i am even wondering that bc your ec's have nothing to do with film. they want to see and know that the people they offer slots to are not going to change their minds or get overwhelmed. loving it isnt always going to be enough, you need to have passion and they can spot that-especially if you do an interview or artistic review. when are you applying? you should have time to start something.maybe that short film that you said you havent even done. its kind of a no brainer that they are going to want to see your love for this in an actual project.

By Billsfan929 (Billsfan929) on Thursday, July 17, 2003 - 09:00 pm: Edit

I'm applying this winter. And I have plenty of passion. I think my photography should be enough for the artistic review though. I guess I've just never really known where to start when it comes to making a short film or something on my own. That's why I want to major in film. If it was grad school I would expect to have to submit previous film work, but shouldn't undergrad be different? I mean I have plenty of experience with photography and have a good base knowledge of film so its not like I'm going in completely blind.

Also, I might end up double majoring if possible. Anything else would be in addition to my film major though.

What do you think my chances are?

By Jfb (Jfb) on Saturday, July 26, 2003 - 05:39 am: Edit

Billsfan929,

If you're still looking for more information on your chances at Tisch, I'll share my story...

Remember that the creative review at Tisch is a major, major component of the admission decision. Tisch is a school of the arts, and test scores and grades default to artistic promise.

I'll be attending Tisch next year as a freshman in the film production program. Initially, I was wait-listed. I had a 1380 SAT, and a 4.0 weighted GPA, but didn't get in until admitted off the wait-list. Presumably the creative review was what eventually tilted things in my favor and made me stand out, and what might have kept me from getting in initially.

When I first applied, I had worked on about seven San Francisco-area film productions, ranging from no-budget to $100,000-size, in a capacity ranging from production assistant to production manager. I'd also fully produced a student short film, too. Additionally, I had a strong background in journalism and writing, and had served as an editor of an international entertainment magazine with 320,000 subscribers, had written numerous film reviews for a daily metropolitan newspaper (and even got a response back from director Joel Coen when I negatively reviewed one of his films), and was and continue to be an active freelance journalist for newspapers, web sites, and magazines.

But between when I first applied and when I was eventually admitted to NYU, I had gone on to produce a $40,000 profesional feature film, and I made NYU aware of it. As Producer, I raised the money (not my own, fortunately), developed the script, assembled and hired the crew, and lead the production. I think this finally tipped the scale in my favor. Honestly, though most of my earlier work showed a lot of passion and dedication, it wasn't particularly artistically enlightening, as it had mostly been on other people's projects, and my role had almost always been that of a minor, supporting filmmaker.

If you're interested, I was admitted at Northwestern and had chosen to go there until NYU admitted me.

Hope this helps, and feel free to post if there's anything else I can do.

By Ama (Ama) on Saturday, August 09, 2003 - 07:40 pm: Edit

Yes -Tisch's artistic review is far more important than SAT/academic scores ....People having SAT'S at or below 1000 have gotten into Tisch.