Hey everybody.
I could really use your help choosing between these two, because this is shredding my mind.
LMU pros:
30k more aid worth of scholarships and grants.
BeautIful campus
LOS ANGELES.
LMU cons:
Fairly new film school.
No striking alumni.
Wesleyan pros:
Much more prestigious as an overall school
Amazing alumni.
Wesleyan cons:
It’s in Middletown, connecticut.
Please help me out as unbiased as you can.
You really need to take a look at the course catalog. The Wesleyan program is not production heavy; it’s an interdisciplinary liberal arts program with large doses of film appreciation, area studies, and paper writing. It’s an extraordinarily rich program. If you’re looking for lots of credits on the technical end, you should probably stick with LMU.
If you want a career in the entertainment industry, I would pick LMU…
I have lived in the Los Angeles area for over 30 years, so maybe my opinion is biased. My DD is going into the entertainment industry; will be graduating college this May. She had looked at LMU for college and did not look at Wesleyan, so I may be biased here as well.
I’m not sure why you think that LMU’s program has not been around for very long. I think that it is many decades old? Were you thinking that it is new because of the new building … http://newsroom.lmu.edu/2017/02/10/lmu-the-university-of-silicon-beach-announces-new-playa-vista-campus/
The number 1 factor to successfully getting into the entertainment industry is connections and networks…knowing people who are either already in the industry (from your internships or professors) and also your cohort of classmates and upperclassmen who will be going into the industry who you will be working on your college film projects with. At LMU, you will be close enough to do lots of internships which will also help you with that. Also, I am guessing (not sure, you would have to look this up) that the faculty have all worked or are currently working in the entertainment industry so that they are teaching from real world experience AND they will have connections and networks as well.
By alumni differences, were these the webpages that you were looking at?
http://sftv.lmu.edu/outcomes/notablealumni/
http://www.wesleyan.edu/filmstudies/alums/meet-the-alumni.html
http://www.wesleyan.edu/filmstudies/alums/alumni-speak.html
Isn’t the LMU list longer?
That being said, Wesleyan is an awesome school and the kiddos that I know that attended there have loved it (they were not in film studies, tho).
Also, there is a poster here (is it @jtmoney?) and both of his kiddos went to LMU who will have really good knowledge of the program.
And read this person’s post http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visual-arts-film-majors/1976104-advice-for-future-film-majors-and-future-film-school-students.html#latest
You can get into the entertainment industry from either college if you a great networker and connector, assertive, talented, and a great collaborator.
Your major is certainly a part of your overall college experience. But its just one part. These two schools are very different and not just because of geography and climate. The student bodies are almost polar opposite in many ways and the culture on campus is going to be quite distinct. So yea there are some pros and cons regarding location for internships and whatnot, but the biggest issue that would concern me if I were in your position to decide is the kind of student and general leaning of the campus. LMU is going to be more conservative, large school with frats and sports a big part of the experience. Wesleyan is not going to be that. It will be much more political and intellectual. At LMU you will take some film classes probably with a few hundred students, you will have some production classes and there will be lots of competition for everything and not just internships. Wesleyan is going to be much more laid back, granted the film program is competitive and you will have to get good grades in the intro classes to be accepted to the major, but when you are you will have mostly free-reign in designing the kind of major you want and working on a thesis project of your own design. OK, yea Wesleyan is not in LA, so you will not have the major film studies, but many Weslyan film majors end up getting internships in NYC which has a vibrant film business and a media presence probably as big if not bigger than LA. So apart from the $ difference think about the kind of person you are and what kind of people you want to be around for the next 4 years, believe me that will have much greater impact on how you enjoy your college experience than merely trying to project a job 4 years from now.
I spent time at LMU before transferring to Chapman. Personally I found the program to be far less film focused than I wanted. I knew of course that it was a B.A. program, not a B.F.A, but I was a bit shocked at how little of my film degree was focused on film. If you are really sure you want to do film, and aren’t interested in staying broad, I don’t recommend B.A. programs like LMU. I felt more like a “general LMU student” than a “SFTV student”. I wanted much more serious study in movie making, and that wasn’t LMU undergrad. – Since I knew for sure what I wanted to do, I am much happier in a program that is 100% about my interest.
I didn’t apply to Wesleyan, I can’t speak to that university.
LMU is not a huge sports college. It’s a medium sized college with maybe 6000 students. Largest class size is about 70 and I don’t know if they have a football team.
But yes, Wesleyan is definitely is higher ranked in general, and it is more intellectual in general not only because of ranking but also because of geography.
LMU is also a Jesuit college but welcomes all. My Ds friend is muslim and attends LMU and likes it. His older brother attended Wesleyan and loved it a lot, but did note that it was challenging. Neither were film prod/study majors.
Also if you prefer to stay on the east coast to work after graduation, then Wesleyan might be a better choice.
Many of the kids who went to the east coast for college ended up staying on the east coast to work. I presume it’s the same for the east coaster who go west for college.
Wesleyan has 2900 students, so even tho LMU has two times the amount of students, it’s not like huge 20k - 50k student populations
@plat0h,
Have you graduated from Chapman yet? How are you kiking it so far?
My DD and I visited LMU and we did NOT get a “large school, frats, sports” vibe AT ALL. We live near a college like that so we definitely know what t hat looks like! LLMU doesn’t even have a football team, and there are no fraternity/sorority houses, they have Greek system but not residential. Our admissions officer even told us if sports is important, that’s not really their thing.
I’ve heard good things about the film school (my DD is an actor and will be attending LMU, she’s asked around some of her LA industry contacts and LMU film has a good rep). Also, I felt that LMU had a really impressive philosophy towards career development and internships…internships seem to be a huge part of the experience, and for film production LA is where you want to be, to start building our contacts. Our tour guide was in the film school and had already had 2 internships and he was a sophomore! We could tell throughout our afternoon there with various guides and meetings that career development and internships is a foundation of the school and this is one big factor that made it the choice for my daughter.
This is my experience as an LMU visitor and now future mom of a student, sorry but I have no knowledge of Wesleyan. Finally, 30K is a factor…if you will have student loans for the rest, that’s like an entire year of your salary post college. Good luck.
Every Wesleyan film major is put into contact with someone in the industry upon graduation. My understanding is thatt the overwhelming number of contacts are on the west coast.
confirming YoHoYoHo’s characterization of LMU. Both graduated in Production, and most of their film classes were less than 20. They had some great professors, some they felt were lame, but they all had industry experience. Biggest complaint they had I think is related to how fast the industry is changing, felt they had not kept up. That’s me putting it politely, they were not as kind. What really mattered to D’s career so far is that opportunities through LMU staff connections and students they worked with on set. She has made a living as a freelance director/producer in LA for three years now.
Yes the sorority/fraternity influence exists, but it really isn’t part of the film school culture. Real film students are too busy every weekend to have a lot of time for anything else.
Also, you don’t want to finish with big debt, you won’t be able to afford starting out making very little money in the beginning.