# usc film school



## movied (Mar 31, 2009)

hi
just how competitive is the mfa film production program at usc? How many kids are accepted? How many kids apply? Are there a lot of weak applicants that apply to the program?


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## Sonia (Mar 31, 2009)

The acceptance rate that sticks out in my head is 3-5%, but a quick search ("Find" on the toolbar) of this forum will give you some more detailed answers. Some forum posters have even tried to calculate acceptance rates.

Check USC's site for class sizes.

Weak applicants? I don't know how to estimate that. I guess you could say that since film school doesn't necessarily require a specific skill-set (as opposed to medical school, for example), they draw from a much more varied applicant pool than do other graduate programs. And the applicant pool probably changes a lot from one year to the next.

They judge you on creative potential and experience rather than grades and test scores, so the process is bound to be more subjective than a med school application process.

Since the evaluation is more subjective, and since there aren't hard-and-fast prerequisites, maybe more "unqualified" people apply. But only someone in an admissions office can really judge that.

I applied to 4 schools that are equally selective by reputation and got into one of them. Didn't make it to the interview stage at the others. Who knows why.

Don't overestimate or underestimate your chances. Apply to more than a couple of programs. Consider a backup plan. If film school is what you really want, don't give up after a year of rejections. Put as much of yourself as you can into your applications and hope for the best.


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