Year End Reflection: Part Two

Describe your vision for yourself in pursuing higher education

I intend on going to the University of Southern California's film school. I have been wanting to attend USC since the 7th grade when I first realized my passion for film making. I know that USC only accepts the best of the best students, so that is why I have been pushing myself since I entered high school to get the best grades, SAT scores and as much community service as possible.

I hope to get my bachelors degree in film/cinema design while minoring in business administration and management. I hope to then peruse my masters degree in the same major, but that depends on if I get accepted to their graduate program, if I have any job offers etc.

What in the world do you care about and what are you doing about it?

I care about film making. I have been in love with it since the 7th grade when I watched the behind the scenes features of the movie The Incredibles. I have been working towards my dream of becoming a film director ever since them by putting my all into every film-based project we were assigned in school, trying to turn as many of my projects as I could into a film based project, (example: Media Saves the Beach) and entering as many of my movies as possible into film competitions and festivals. So far, one of my films has won an IVIE award and an award at the San Diego County Fair, (it is now being shown in multiple elementary school throughout the country). I entered another film into the IVIE Awards, (I also presented an award at the IVIE Awards) and I just entered a film into the San Diego Film Festival, so now i am waiting to hear back from them.

What four-year college/s are you interested in and why?

The colleges I am interested in are:

1. USC: University of Southern California is known to be one of the top film schools in the country/world. I have been interested in USC since I was in the 7th grade when I first realized that I wanted to be a film director/producer. USC also has one of the top business schools in the country, and since I intend on minoring in business it seems like the perfect fit for me.
2. NYU: New York University is often tied with USC for top American film school. It doesn't have the best financial aid packages though, which isn't good for any soon-to-be college student.
3. UCLA: University of California, Los Angeles is often ranked in the top five for American films schools. It used to be higher on my list until i discovered that you have to be a junior in college in order to even apply to their film school. Also, your chance of getting into the UCLA film school is low, even if you already go to UCLA.
4. Chapman University: Chapman's film school is slightly newer, but it is already ranked right along side of USC, NYU and UCLA. It's in the county of Orange, and a lot of the students are known to get hired by film or television stations almost immediately after graduation.

I also have Yale University and Columbia University on my list as my reach schools, and UCSD and SDSU as my backups.

Beyond grades, what motivates you to work hard at school?

I am motivated to work hard because I have a goal for myself, and that is to get accepted to the USC film school. I have been working my absolute hardest since the day I entered high school to, yes, get the highest grades I could, but I didn't want high grades just for the sake of saying "I have good grades". I shot for the best grades possible so I could get accepted to USC. I know that nothing is guaranteed and even kids with 5.0s get rejected from their dream college, but I am still motivated by my dream to go to USC and make a good life for myself doing what I love, film making.