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<p>I think this is the relevant part. If this is the portfolio you are referring to, then it should just be a list, and you “DO NOT send the material itself.” I may be misunderstanding something here, and if I am, I apologize, but from what I read there I don’t understand how you can submit 50 pages in a separate portfolio when all they do is ask you for a list.</p>
<p>Foil’s absolutely correct. It’s a portfolio LIST, not an extra opportunity to throw in other works. Granted, if your list is 50 pages long, then you’re probably working in Hollywood already.</p>
<p>Edit to add, I’m applying to CNTV as a current student at USC. I know the deadline to find out whether we were accepted is April 1st (undergrad), but do students typically find out prior to the date?</p>
<p>hey since your a current USC student… question, what are the chances of getting into the film school your second year? Cause if I get accepted to USC but not the film school my parents think i should just go to chapman incase i don’t get into the film school my second year, do you know what percentage of current students they let in? and what did you do to add to your portfolio list etc.?</p>
<p>Yes, Kudos, he was correct, I called the admissions office this morning. They told me that they would simply disregard the fluff and review only the Autobiographical essay, the creative challenges, writing samples and the descriptions of what I included in the portfolio. MAJOR misinterpretation of that “portfolio list” thing, although I do hope the many pages of screenplay work will help out.</p>
<p>good question my friend. I also want to know this.</p>
<p>i just got my acceptance into the USC SCA’s BA Film and Television Production major program; i received my general acceptance to USC as an incoming fall 2007 freshman a while ago. i have also gotten into University of Texas at Austin’s radio-television-film program and i am still waiting to hear from UCLA and Tisch-NYU, so it’s all up in the air, i’m not definitely going to USC yet, but i probably will. demographically speaking i am a typical white suburban guy, so don’t worry if you’re not a minority or a woman. =P </p>
<p>anyway, my portfolio list was pretty unexciting… just a few very minor video projects i have worked on, most of them for high school class projects or just for fun. i obeyed the one-page limit so i didn’t have room for talking about all the writing i’ve done… i think i was accepted because they liked my writing samples.</p>
<p>oh, and i also applied for the Critical Studies department but i haven’t heard from them…</p>
<p>what are your stats if you don’t mind me asking? :]</p>
<p>Sorry for saying I could answer your questions and then disappearing like that! I’m on spring break, but I’ve been quite busy so I haven’t had the chance to come on here until now. Anyways…</p>
<p>“ooh and ragnarok do you think you could post your stats, or explain what you think got you in? thanks :]”
— I got a 1500 on my SAT (this was the year before the new SAT), and my weighted GPA was 4.26 or something, I think I had maybe one B+ and one B but the rest were As. I was president of NHS, co-captain of Quiz Bowl, co-president of Vocab Club (a club my friend and I started mostly as a joke, but that looked good on college apps anyway! lol), did tech crew for theater, did a lot of traveling and also did an exchange program with a school in Mexico City, a decent amount of volunteer work along with having a job at a coffee shop, did soccer through junior year, hmmm what else… I had good recommendations, and stuff. However, I think what got me in was the writing samples. What they are really looking for in the samples is originality; they read so much of the same bs, over and over and over, and what they really want to see is someone whose writing stands out, someone who can tell a good story, who can make them feel something. My character sketch was this ridiculous story filled with puns and planting/payoff and dry humor about a woman from the midwest who wants to act in soaps, but on her drive to California accidentally ends up working in a soap factory instead, and who when she finally gets to California in her old age gets a sex change because old men in Hollywood get more jobs than old women. My emotional moment was serious, and dealt with a situation I had while traveling where I encountered poverty like I had never experienced before. And then my personal statement…</p>
<p>“I sure would like to know more about what you think they are looking for in the personal statement. How did you approach it?”
— I actually spent the most time on my personal statement out of everything. What I basically did was I thought about why I really wanted to devote my life to telling stories, what it was that I hoped I could achieve, and I thought about why my life had led me to this point. Despite being obsessed with storytelling my entire life, I had only fairly recently decided for sure that I wanted to do film, so I thought about what it was like for me to realize where my passion truly was, and how it affected my life. I wrote a very long version, and edited it down significantly so that I was left with the most important words, the most active visual sentences, etc.</p>
<p>In my opinion, what it basically comes down to is your writing, your ability to tell a story, to convey emotions, and to create emotion, etc. I don’t mean to be cocky, but I’m a good writer, and I think that is pretty much how I got in. So, if you know that you are a good writer, I’d say you have a good chance of getting in also. One of my friends applied also, and had very similar stats and all of that jazz, but he isn’t as creative or as good at writing, and he didn’t get in while I did.</p>
<p>“ragnarok, did you get your film acceptance and regular acceptance seperately?”
— I got them separately, but that was because I got my regular acceptance first, in order to be invited to the Explore USC weekend for the scholarship interview. Then I found out about my film acceptance a bit after that.</p>
<p>“Any applicants here/you know who took a gap year? One of my schoolmates is taking a year off to work on his portfolio/get work experience before applying.”
— One of my friends in production did this, but from my perspective at least I don’t see much advantage to doing this. There may be more of an advantage for NYU Tisch, where as far as I can tell they look more for proven talent rather than potential like USC, I don’t know.</p>
<p>“question, what are the chances of getting into the film school your second year? Cause if I get accepted to USC but not the film school my parents think i should just go to chapman incase i don’t get into the film school my second year, do you know what percentage of current students they let in?”
— Haha, I know this question wasn’t directed at me, but oh well I’ll go for it anyway. 
The odds of getting in are actually higher when you are applying already at USC rather than in high school, but I’m not sure if the easier odds are compensated for by more competitive/talented applicants or not.</p>
<p>?i think i was accepted because they liked my writing samples. oh, and i also applied for the Critical Studies department but i haven’t heard from them…?
— Yeah, that’s how I feel also. Was CS listed as your second choice? If it was, I don’t thnk you’ll hear from them, because once you get accepted into your first choice major it trumps the other ones.</p>
<p>I hope this was all of some help to you guys! If you have more questions feel free to ask, I promise I won’t disappear for forever again like I just did, lol. Good luck!</p>
<p>actually you will hear from Critical Studies even if it was your 2nd choice, but it usually seems to come after Production tells you, because Cri. Studies has more applicants to go through. I just heard my “yes” from Crit. Stud. on Friday and I’ve known I was in for Production for ages.</p>
<p>hah, yes, i actually got an acceptance letter from Critical Studies a few hours after my last post. it was down as my second choice, which was indicated in the letter.</p>
<p>i believe my transcript showed a weighted GPA of 4.1, total SAT score of 2180 (i only took it once).</p>
<p>I’m unaware of the exact stats, but I have a class in the Lucas building tomorrow night, so I’ll see if I can stop in early and find out.</p>
<p>I just wanted to update by saying that I was accepted into the screenwriting program. If you don’t get into the Cinema-Television school straight out, don’t let it get you down. Exactly a year and two weeks ago, I was rejected from UCLA’s film school. I transferred into USC in the fall as a history major, re-worked my writing/portfolio, and applied for the screenwriting program. </p>
<p>Channel the anger and frustration of being rejected into motivation and desire, and you’ll be successful. To those who are waiting on decisions, best of luck. Feel free to ask any questions you may have, I’ll do what I can to help you guys out.</p>
<p>Kudos, Do you have to start as a freshman in the Screenwriting program? The reason why I asked was that I was told it is a 4 year program so even if you take your GEs elsewhere, my son was told that you have to start the 4 year program from the start.</p>
<p>thanks kudos…Does that mean you entered USC as a freshman and then made it into Cinema-Television your sophmore year? UCLA doesn’t take film school applicants until Junior year (I thought), so I’m a bit confused about when UCLA film turned you down…</p>
<p>Maybe Kudos was denied freshman entry in the USC theater program? If I recall they accept 200 - 225, then you don’t specialize for 2 years, then you pick your major for junior year and it is no guarantee that you will get film or screenwriting. I sure hope Kudos didn’t do the full 2 years then not get into the UCLA writing for film program. (I’m not sure they specifically call it screenwriting)</p>
<p>Alright, I’ll try to clarify some things here first. I graduated high school in 2004. I went to CSUN for a semester, dropped out, and attended community college for 1 1/2 years. I applied to Berkeley/UCSB/UC Irvine (Film Studies), UCLA (Screenwriting), and USC (History). I was accepted to every school except for UCLA, which was my top choice and only major I wanted to study. </p>
<p>The reason I applied as a history major to USC was because I was late on putting my Cinema-Television application together. On top of that, I wanted to be sure that I gained entrance to the school first, figuring it would be easier to switch while already at USC. In the fall, I will technically be in a junior standing, but will have 4 years to go to get my BFA in Screenwriting. Meanwhile, many of my GE’s (non-film related) are already completed, so I will have a lighter load than the incoming freshmen.</p>
<p>So, essentially, it will have taken you six years to have completed a Bachelors degree?</p>
<p>ouch, 6 years for the film degree… Do you get financial aid for all those 4 years you have left though ? or only for 2 more ?.. I can see that $$ starting to mount up, ouch</p>
<p>kudos, when did you hear about your acceptance?</p>
<p>Congradulations, Kudos! It is worth it to do the 6 years.
Also, if Kudos did a masters in Screenwriting, he would have to do the 6 years anyway. The undergrad prepares you the same as the Grad program (or so I was told). At least you got all your GEs done and can concentrate on writing and getting an agent.</p>