# i am lost



## DuncanDickerson (Aug 13, 2009)

I appologize for the length of this post, its my first one and its as small as i could make it with all the questions i have 

Before i get into my questions i'll tell you all a little bit about my self. I go to high school up in washington state, and i am going to be a senior this year. I play varsity basketball and soccer, im on the current ASB team, my acc. g.p.a freshman through junior year has been a 3.98, and so far my sat is at a 1770 and my ACT is at a 25 (i say so far because i plan on taking them again). Just recently i have won the seattle international film festivals 3 minute masterpiece competition, on a side note.  

It has been my dream to get into film school and be a director since i started making dumb little movies in 6th grade, but just these past years i have become extreamly serious about it. My only problem is that i really have gotten no advice on the subject (my parents arn't the most knowledgable in this field). 

I have visited chapman, and have gone on a tour of dodge film school and it is by far the most impressive facility i have ever seen. It is pretty much my dream school at this point, but i also visited Loyola Marymount and was impressed with what they had. I have also visited UCSC's facility and have wondered around long beach's (even though i know that is only a graduate program), but other than those i have really not seen that much interms of schools. 

But my real question is where i have a chance to get in? If there are any others i should consider, please let me know. Staying on the west coast is important to me, but im open to others. I really want to go to a school that has a great undergraduate program like chapmans (so that i can excercise my love for film imediatly rather than waiting three years), but also has that sort of college experience. My other, sort of side question is does LMU only have a graduate program? because i have been having trouble finding their application. 

any advice would be greatly appreciated. i really am having trouble with this whole thing, and it has been causing me a lot of stress and any words of wisdom would give me some relief. 

thank you
duncandickerson@gmail.com


----------



## cabinfever (Aug 13, 2009)

hey Duncan, about film schools, some of the best are USC, NYU, Chapman, UCLA, and UT Austin. There are more than that, but I'm just naming a few of the top ones.
I haven't seen Chapman, but I've read a lot of good things about them and their great facilities too. For LMU, you said you couldn't find the site for undergrads, so here it is:
http://sftv.lmu.edu/undergraduate/production.htm
I also read that it was a catholic school? I'm not sure how that would affect the film curriculum, but you've been there so let me know.
I would say your stats are great to get you into  a university, but also remember that with most film schools, you also need to send them extra material that shows your creative abilities. What they require varies from school to school.

Hope I helped in some way, I'm also looking to apply to different schools, but as a transfer student.


----------



## DuncanDickerson (Aug 13, 2009)

Thank you that was some useful information. 
Yeah, i visited LMU around spring break this year and when i got there it was a complete ghost town, and we were wondering where everyone was. To our suprise about 200 people came runing out of the church withen ten minutes of our arrival. But there were still some students working in the film school during the time church was going on, so i dont think that aspect completely controls the students. I think it is more of a personal thing that students can choose to be a part of.


----------



## cabinfever (Aug 13, 2009)

oh alright that's cool.
Another thing about UCLA is that they don't accept film students at the freshmen level, so you'd have to wait for junior year to actually start film (last time I checked, you could double-check to be sure) But if it's still the case, you'd probably prefer another option.

I would just check each school your interest in's creative requirements and start working on getting all of those together. USC for example, requests a lot of material, like written scenes, visual samples, etc.


----------



## DuncanDickerson (Aug 13, 2009)

yeah i have been brainstorming ideas for my chapman application. They seem to be stressing on the story telling capabilities of the applicant rather than the technical skill, so im trying to even that out some how. But yeah i still need to look at what other schools are asking


----------

