I applied to Cal State Northridge for film and I’m starting as a freshman in the fall, but I’m really not happy with this school and I’d like to transfer to Columbia U, Brown U, Boston U, NYU, or UCLA to get a more serious education in film. Is it possible for me to transfer and get accepted after freshman year? Or should I wait until I have finished up my first 2 years at my Cal State?
I don’t know if this will help raise my chances of acceptance, but I am also a serious track athlete.
Are you recruitable for track? For UCLA, you need to be a Junior level transfer (60 semester units) with all required pre-req classes completed by Spring prior to transferring. If you have significant number of AP units, it might be possible in a year if you start this summer taking classes.
If you already have plans to transfer out of CSUN, then I would start at a community college instead since they have articulation agreements with the UC’s and it is much easier to match courses than between the CSU’s.
Regarding the other schools, I cannot say but if you are not at Junior level standing for transfer, your HS record will be taken into consideration which could impact your chances at these schools.
Beyond being recruitable, you have to check into each film program, their number of students, and whether they even accept transfers. UCLA accepts around 20 students per year in the film program, so not much room at all for transfers.