GRAD SCHOOL (i know nothing...help?)

Graduate School
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<p>as my title says, i know nothing of how things are done for/in grad schools. i’m gonna be a soph in college, so i haven’t really researched or anything. all i know is i’m pretty sure i want to go to film school or do film studies. so…it’s never too early to ask - especially the fine people of CC.
here are some of my questions. please excuse me if they sound stupid.</p>

<p>1) what is a competative GPA for grad programs at schools like yale, ucla, berkeley, stanford, and northwestern (let’s say the college of arts and sciences/film studies/film school)? i’ve heard essays/recs/the classes you’ve taken carry more weight than GPA. a friend at yale also told me a 3.5 gpa was pretty solid for their film studies program (which is in the college of arts and sciences). most of the other schools i listed above also have a gpa of 3.0 set as their minimum. </p>

<p>2) how difficult is the GRE, compared to the SAT. what are competative scores for the GRE and out of how many points? how much weight does the GRE carry for programs like the ones i listed above?</p>

<p>3) how do scholarships and financial aid work for grad students, as compared to undergrads. i.e. receiving a full ride or more than half of tuition? this is most unsettling, because i’m also interested in columbia and nyu, but i’d never be able to afford their tuition + the costs of living in NYC. so do stellar college students get the same perks as stellar high school students?</p>

<p>that is all. thank you. :-)</p>

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<p>I can answer this one. The GRE is very similar to the SAT, down to the types of questions asked (analogies, antonyms, fill-in-the-blank on verbal, quantitative comparison in math). Personally, I’ve found the hardest part about preparing for the GRE has been remembering high school math, since I haven’t taken a math class that covers GRE-type material since sophomore year of high school.</p>

<p>Verbal and quantitative are each out of 800 points, but a “competitive” score seems to be lower than the equivalent “competitive” SAT score. Consider that you’re not just taking the test against everybody who intends to go to college, like the SAT, but everybody who intends to go to grad school – presumably a much brighter population which is better at taking tests.</p>

<p>Generally speaking, GRE doesn’t carry a huge amount of weight in any field – presumably for a film student, the film-type materials you would submit would be far more important. I have a friend who got into USC this year for film who bombed his GREs. :)</p>

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<p>thank you :-)</p>

<p>hah, i was looking at columbia’s req. for grad film students and they specifically say they don’t want the GRE.</p>