So, as promised, here is a post dedicated to info on the FSU Film School admissions process. But before I begin, I would like to weave you a tale of misfortune, uncertainty, and my eventual induction into the film school.
First, let it be known that I am an out of state student here at FSU. I am originally from Pittsburgh, PA (for which there is an unusually high acceptance rate here at the film school for, so hold your heads high pittsburgh) and so being so far away, it is only natural that one must fly down to Tallahassee. I had started rehearsing answers to questions I thought they might ask weeks beforehand, and I gathered together all of my nice dress clothes to look as professional as possible during my interview, I mean, this aint no high school (and by that I mean nobody wears slap bracelets in college, besides the occaisonal 80's party). So away I went, to the Pittsburgh Int. Airport, on my way to be interviewed. Now I don't know how much you know about murphy's law, but if there was anyone out there who exemplifies it...it's me. My flight to Atlanta was delayed four hours for tornadoes which had grounded every plane in the area. Luckily my connecting flight had a long layover so I wasn't too nervous when we finally got about the plane. After two lovely hours we arrived in the Atlanta airport, where we were told that our flight to Tallahassee had already left...wait...no, you can make it right now if you run all the way to the other side of the airport. After hoofing it with my dad, we got to our gate which was packed with exhausted people who had been waiting hours to get on board, but we were happy because it hadn't left yet. It was at that point that we realized there was no plane to board, and the subsequent three hour wait gave me some time to think about my future. "If I don't make it to my interview, I'll have to become a businessman, or perhaps an accountant...I have to make it to my interview."
By 1:00AM we were weary and almost ready to give up, when they announced that we would start boarding. After half of the passengers board, my dad and I step on and start looking for our seats, when a screeching noise comes over the speaker, "Attention passengers, the crew has timed out and will not be able to fly tonight..." "Well shit." We had boarded! We found our seats! It was over, and now because the crew had been waiting so long, they wouldn't fly anyone out.
"It's one in the morning and I have an interview in eight hours, I'm not going to film school."
"The hell you're not!" My dad proclaimed, or so I like to think. It was probably more like, "Chris, I'm tired as shit, lets rent a car and just drive down so I can go to sleep."
So by 3am we were on the road from Atlanta to Tallahassee, without any sleep, without any of our luggage (the airline had locked it up and we weren't allowed to get it) and without much hope of an effective interview.
That morning when we arrived at our hotel an hour before my interview, I jumped in the shower and my dad ran out to buy me a clean shirt since I was in all of the same clothes from the day before. He dropped me off in front of the film school and went home to finally sleep. I walked into the hallway where I sat and waited my turn with adrenaline rushing through me.
"I hope they don't notice how much I smell." I thought.
So that's my story of pre-interview madness. Now on to what you actually want to know, the admissions process and so forth:
Q: How undergrads apply each year as freshman?
A: I have heard from the administration that there have been from 300 to 600 applicants every year. I overheard today that this year was somewhere in the 400's. There are 20 - 25 chosen to enter as freshman of these applicants (after you do an interview).
Q: How much do grades/SAT scores matter?
A: They are looking for the best students to attend because it is extremely competitive. They WILL look at grades and SAT, but they are not the most important thing. Your essay(s) are very important in order to get an interview because they want to know what kind of a filmmaker you will be. If you blow off classes in highschool and get bad grades, than they know you will probably blow off class in film school, which is not a good thing (some classes lose a letter grade for one unexcused day). I had pretty decent grades in highschool and did very well on my SAT, but I have friends in the film school who bombed their SAT but had good grades otherwise and vice versa.
Q: Do I need to have filmmaking experience to get in?
A: No. The program is very open to people who have a strong passion for filmmaking, but have never made a film before. The most important thing to do is reveal to them that this is what you want to do and what you will suffer for until the end.
Q: Is there a preference to Florida Natives?
A: No. Everyone is equal in the admissions process, but there are usually more people from Florida simply because more applied. FSU is very well known and respected in the south and not so much so in the north because NYU, Columbia, Emerson and all of those are close and get a lot of attention.
Q: What should I expect during the interview process?
A: Usually it goes down like this - The morning will be an interview with yourself and two teachers of the school. They tend to ask questions such as what your favorite movie is and why, if you could make anything right now what would it be, if you are willing to put in time at all hours (and they mean ALL hours) of the day to complete your work, but there are also questions to make sure that you are being honest with them. They asked me if I was ever on set with someone that I really despised, and they were getting on my nerves more so than usual that day, would it affect my work. I thought about it for a second and said that, yes, it probably would in some way because it would make it much more difficult to focus, but I would try to work around it. You need to be honest with them because you will be working with them face to face soon enough and if you turn out to have lied about work ethic and you slip up, they can toss you out. It rarely happens, but it could. Luckily the screening process acquires a lot of really great people that will become your best friends.
That's all I can think of right now, leave a comment if you have some.
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8 comments:
thanks for posting this its very helpful to someone who is hopefully going to go through the very same process. crazzy story about the flights, glad you made it man, i also would do whatever it takes to not be an accountant.
just curious...what did you say was your favorite movie?
I said my favorite movie was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and it still is. No matter how many classic films I have watched that are more critically acclaimed, there has never been one that affected me like Eternal Sunshine. It leaves me speechless every time.
What would you say yours is?
I was admitted to FSU and the Film School without ever having to do an interview. Im getting worried though because everything I read talks about this mandatory interview. Have you heard of anyone getting in without doing the interview? Btw, my grades and test scores are both very high (4.1 gpa, 2150 SAT, 32 ACT)
To be honest I have never heard of anyone getting in without the interview. It always seemed like such an integral part of the process for everyone. Did you get a call from Marie telling you that you got in, because she personally calls everyone who has been admitted to the film school before they get a letter saying that they are in.
No I didn't get a call or a letter, but my application status says that I have been admitted for a major in Motion Picture, Television, and Recording Arts. But even if I was denied, I would've at least gotten a letter telling me that, right? I emailed the admissions office and am going to call the film school and admissions office tomorrow.
That is really strange, yes if you were denied you should have recieved a letter as well. It could be a glitch that could have gone either way. I'm sorry to say that if you didn't have an interview than you probably aren't in the film school just because they take the interviews very seriously. When you call tomorrow ask for Marie Behm (Beam), she is the undergraduate advisor and the person who would have a definite answer. Good luck, Tony, let me know what happens.
i love that "airplane mishaps" is a tag, like there will be other entries documenting your misfortune at the hands of Dr. Aeroplane. those airline people have way too much power.
I have my interview in a week and was wondering if they expect you to wear anything appropriate. What did you wear? I was planning on wearing jeans and a button down...?
Also, the email I got says that after the interviews, all the candidates for that day will meet for some kind of activity. What is that all about?
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