<p>JMaslin,
In fact I did see a lengthy explanation of how the transfer process works from other schools into UCLA re: theater or film majors. Best is to go onto their site, look up their theater or performing arts dept, and read for this closely.
I found it so complicated. It seemed to me you can’t declare yourself a theater major when you apply as a freshman if you ever want to go into film later (my S’s goal). S phoned there for advice and was told to list himself as an Undecided Major, or English, or anything, just to preserve his option to become a film major as a junior. This all made NO SENSE to him, and gradually he became sour about UCLA because there were so many unanswered questions, as if the department is in flux and trying to communicate its philosophy through all these rules. </p>
<p>We live nowhere near there, but if he had more time (rushed because skipped llth grade), I’d have urged him to go and talk to people in the department to find out what’s really going on there.</p>
<p>To repeat our understanding from the website and phone questioning: They don’t want anyone who’s been a declared Theater major since Freshman year to apply for or enter their Film Major as a Junior. You can’t begin to major in Film until junior year.</p>
<p>So, how would anyone on the admissions team know or care about your long-term direction wtihin that school as a lowly freshman applicant dreaming of majoring in film someday? His app as a freshman made no sense and was unfocused, to follow their rules. He did his best with the essays to express his goal, however. </p>
<p>It became discouraging before he even began. Still, he submitted an App and didn’t get in. No loss. He got into another California college for film that thrills him (Screenwriting major at Chapman U. in Orange). Chapman determined from freshman year by competitive portfolio review that this would be his major right from the start. So S’s just fine. And for $40K (which we’d have paid from OOS), it made sense to send him to a private not public university in California, or so we feel. Others see that all quite differently, I know. He was given need-based and merit-based aid from Chapman, and who knows how he’d have fared with finaid at UCLA from OOS.</p>
<p>But I would still like to understand the “real deal” at UCLA. I know they graduate excellent actors (Rob Reiner spoke of this recently, and how exclusive it was to be an Acting undergrad major fro UCLA as he was). But from the POV of incoming freshmen, my area of concern, it was confusing. </p>
<p>I think being so far out-of-state increased our discomfort with UCLA. I’m not giving it a fair shake here, so if interested, please pursue but with real conversations with faculty!</p>