He did virtual but it was 2022, on the very tail end of Covid. They explicitly said on the website that it made no difference and we took them at their word. I would email MTD admissions and/or the head of the studio and ask if a virtual audition will affect decision making.
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When a school says they do not track demonstrated interest (and that’s what Brown says), it’s safe to believe them.
And this triggers a memory—which I may well have mentioned before on this thread—of the time my C17 toured Penn, and one kid’s mother (to the visible horror of the kid, I will note) got loudly incensed that there was no signin sheet for those taking tours so that her child could show demonstrated interest (which Penn does not use for admission decisions). Eventually she left in a huff before the tour started, taking her rather stunned kid with her.
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Hadn’t popped in here yet.. I have a freshman right now at Virginia Tech, and now prepping for S25.
This one has some different challenges. My oldest was all STEM, which I understand. S25 is interested in Film and Korean studies. So, that’s a completely different ball game. Also S25 has some mental health challenges (high anxiety that he’s mostly got under control now, but it was a rough couple of years), so that is still a concern.
We’re going to tour UCLA over spring break, but that’s mostly for fun. It’s too expensive and too unlikely, so probably won’t apply. Right now first choice is George Mason - it has a film program and has a campus in Korea that you can easily transfer credits between. We’ll need a couple more schools to apply to, especially since the Film school is more restrictive than the general University. He’s pretty much guaranteed admission to Mason, but not necessarily the film school.
So, we’ll see how it goes.
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Not that you asked, but some schools that offer both Korean/Korean Studies majors as well as majors for filmmaking include:
- Binghamton (NY)
- Ohio State
- Penn State
- Rutgers (NJ)
- U. of Hawaii
There are only 14 colleges in the U.S. that offer a major in Korean Studies or Korean Language and Literature. (Arcadia & GW don’t offer filmmaking programs when I looked at their websites.) There are 92 colleges in the U.S. that offer majors in East Asian Languages & Literatures or East Asian Studies (or their variants). Your son would obviously need to check into each of the programs to see which offer Korean as an option, and whether at a high enough level for him.
Good luck to your S25!
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Mason alum from a million years ago. I loved my time at GMU (as we called it back in the day) and all of my classmates have gone on to amazing careers. I was an international studies major and focused on Japanese.
Go Patriots! 
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My D is doing a summer program at George Mason
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FWIW - I had a work colleague (have since changed jobs) whose daughter graduated last May from Mason. I think she majored in Korean, but I know she studied abroad in Korea and had an amazing time. It really seemed like the program was fantastic and she really liked the school and program.
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Thanks! I really, really appreciate all the research you do to help everyone out here. It was so freaking helpful for S23, and looks like it will be for S25 as well… 
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That’s awesome… we’re really lucky that we have good schools in Virginia that makes this easier for us. Mason checks off all the boxes, and we have some connections to some local film studios that he can continue working for… so it’s nearly ideal.
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Cool! Which program, and are y’all in Virginia?
My son does a Korean immersion program in the summer up in Minnesota…
That’s pretty cool.. the Korean campus looks great, and I’ve heard great things about their program.
Obviously not decided, but for our particular situation it’s a great option for us.
I don’t know which program, but I’m happy to ask. And yep, we’re in Virginia - we live about 30-45 minutes from Mason (depending on traffic of course)
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For parents whose children are interested in foreign language learning, this program might be of interest. Too late for students graduating in 2025, but you may have younger children as well.
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Totally.. I maybe wrote unclearly..I meant if I were them I might go to Clark to play demonstrated interest game and not go to Brown..
I agree I don’t think schools are lying about if they track, or not…that said we are visiting schools that don’t track as there is value in seeing them IMO.
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Washington Youth Summit on the Environment. Nope, we are in Missouri.
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Maybe take a look at UGA (Georgia). They have an undergrad film studies program and all manner of Korean studies including studying abroad.
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Oh, thanks! That would make my parents happy - they live in Georgia and my mom is an alumni…
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Haha sounds like a layup! And Athens is great
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This is a super example of why it’s important to look at all those East Asian Languages & Studies majors, because if they’re not listed out as separate degree areas, they won’t show up on College Navigator (source). Great find, Droid!
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And in the other direction, just because something is listed in College Navigator, or even as a major on a college’s list of majors, doesn’t mean it’s really the major you’re looking for.
My field is linguistics, and it’s not very widely offered—but even in some places where it appears to be offered at a surface level, when you look at the course requirements it’s actually a language major, usually English. (Seriously, if half the required classes are literary analysis, that’s not a linguistics major.) And on the other hand, some (f’rex) anthropology programs allow a solid enough focus on the language side of the house that I would happily call it a linguistics major in spirit, no matter the name.
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