First off, congrats to anyone who made it! I’m sure you’ve all worked hard and deserve it. I have some questions about UCLA which may be better answered by the students than random admin. Shout-out to all the Arts and Architecture people, I’ve been admitted to DesMA!
What is the UCLA marching band like? Would it be hard to get in as a trombone? What kind of environment is it there? I played in Cal Band, but don’t have much trombone experience apart from that (and don’t have much UCLA band experience apart from at the one football game, LOL).
Would it be possible to double-major in film? Is it practical to (would there be a lot of overlap in the DesMA curriculum with film anyway)? I do a decent amount of video and sound work, which is why I’m wondering.
Is it possible to negotiate financial aid with either the Department of Arts and Architecture (which I know has some merit-based art scholarships available) or with the Finaid office? My parents look really rich on paper, but they’re really not, and there are a lot of other considerations involved which aren’t covered on the FAFSA. Has anyone (outside the law school, which I know has some people who’ve done this) ever successfully bargained for more merit aid? Should I go to people directly (in-person) or inquire via email or phone?
Would also like to know about negotiating aid offer! Getting $0 in gift aid. Parents make a decent income but it’s not like they have $30k to cough up. I don’t mind taking out loans, but I know the max I can take out is $7.5k, and there’s still a matter of potentially $20k+ that has to come form out-of pocket.
Even if I don’t get any grants, I thought at least work-study would be an option? Although I know I can work anyway without work-study (in fact I have a part-time job right now), not having to be taxed would be nice haha
I’m in the same boat as far as financial aid goes. On paper my family’s income is pretty high, but I’m surprised it doesn’t take into account that I have three brothers currently in college.
As for the double major in film, I think that is pretty much impossible.
It is in a completely different school , and it is EXTREMELY competitive — the admit rate for that major is around 3%. But maybe I’m wrong and it is doable somehow. You can always contact the film school directly and see if that’s an option. Best of luck! And congrats! DesMA is pretty competitive
Hey @Bearly , omg I replied to you in another post! It looks like we are in a similar situation. I was so bummed to get that “provisional award letter” and not HAVE ANYTHING THERE. Loans =/= aid, damnit UC.
They say online in the FAQ’s that basically, you can try to negotiate and things rarely happen–not sure if “rarely” falls more along 0 or 10%, though if there is a chance I will try it because I’m so poor and my current OOS private college (with scholarships) is actually cheaper than in state UC! How ridiculous is that? I sometimes wish I had applied to Stanford or something, they now have free tuition to those whose parents make under ~200,000 or something like that.
Sorry for complaining at you, on the brighter side there is a tradition of law students trying (and succeeding) at bargaining for more merit aid; but that’s about all I could find on it. If you don’t mind me asking, what major are you going for? Good luck!
@cinemamedia : Yeah. I said “rich” but my parents literally only supercede the “middle class” cutoff that UCs have for aid by ~$1000! They also support my brother and grandmother full time, and help me with tuition, as well. Wow, all three siblings currently in college? I was told that there is usually some help for that, but maybe it’s limited to people under a certain income bracket–either way, I feel really screwed over all the time by my parents’ “upper-middle class” income bracket.
Yeah, I assumed so–as a junior anyway, I’m sure that transferring into film wouldn’t be very feasible hahaha. It seems like a cool major, though; I hope I can take some classes! Thanks for the advice! You look familiar, I wonder–did you go to the Arts open house?
@cinemamedia You still don’t get much aid despite having brothers in college?! I thought that would be factored into your EFC. Like there was a part in the FAFSA that asked for other siblings/children who were in college, and I thought your EFC would get divided, or at least cut by the appropriate amount. The reason I’m saying this is because I have a younger brother who going off to college next year, so I was under the impression that maybe my EFC would be a lot lower the next time I submit FAFSA since the # in college is me + brother.
@melonpanman yeah I remember you! And actually I’m the same as you, my family income barely passes the middle class cut off, so as such we don’t qualify for that Middle Class Scholarship (which I’m assuming is what you’re referring to). I’m a math major who’s looking to go into math/econ maybe (since neither of those are impacted I think switching will be fine, so I’m just taking math/econ pre-reqs this spring, but I’m done for math.) Also don’t worry, your complaints are warranted! Hopefully someone answers with experience/insight as to what we can do regarding FA.
@melonpanman Yeah I did go to the Open House, so you probably saw me. And I’d definitely try to take film classes as electives, they must be pretty cool
@Bearly I got $0 aid. I also thought it would be a major factor when calculating the EFC amount, so I’m surprised I didn’t even get subsidized loans or anything… Oh, and my younger brother is going to college in two years as well (I have four brothers). Basically, I’m screwed. I was expecting to take out loans, but I wonder if I should try appealing somehow?
@cinemamedia wow that’s pretty terrible considering you have that many siblings in college, not even subsidized loans?! Yeah, even though I was expecting to take out loans, I didn’t think the rest would have to come straight out of pocket. Like I said the max you can borrow is $7.5k, and if you need to borrow more, it’s pretty much co-signing with your parents…they’re gonna make it on your parents! :E
Still waiting on someone with a similar experience to reply. Or even if not, some sagely advice haha
