usc cinematic arts question

madbean
Thu, 25 Feb 2016 19:34:42 +0000

You have an interesting situation @dzdjdjango, but I’m not sure there is any real way to guess how the chips may fall. On the one hand, your D’s application was very good and is getting the support of a SCA prof on the admissions committee. It’s unclear how the process proceeds, but a guess is that after the phone interviews, the various profs on SCA’s admissions committee rank their top applicants and then final decisions are then made. In this way, she knows that she is a finalist, plus she knows the SCA prof is likely to rank her highly, so that’s great. At the very least, it should reassure her/you that her supplement and essays and film submission were considered first rate and very competitive in this massive pool of talented applicants. So that bodes well for her chances in a very similar pool at NYU, too.

Also, one can never be certain of how much pull a certain alum, donor has with admissions, even though many think they have lots of power. I don’t know about NYU, but at USC these connections rarely rarely have real influence at all, despite how involved the donor is. One woman I know who donated a building could not even get her own grandkids into USC as fall admits. It is doubly hard for a donor to get a student admitted into the most highly selective programs, like Tisch or SCA, since those programs/school’s decision-makers are not in the admissions office, and their separation gives them autonomy. And further, I’ve heard that letters of rec or calls from influential leaders and stars are not helpful at all (and sometimes even have a negative effect) if the letter writer hasn’t worked at length and directly with the young applicant and written personal stories that show the applicant is a rising star in their mutual field.

Lastly, it seems a good bet that your D will be admitted to NYU Tisch on her own merit alone, and yet she’d never really know that if that letter/call was made on her behalf. Rightly or wrongly, that recommender would share credit. From the evidence of her finalist status at USC SCA, she should be a true contender.

It’s a lot to consider, and no way to really know which way the wind will blow. This waiting period is simply crazy! I wish you all well and hope she gets into both programs!