Hi im incredibly interested in film and have been for the last three years. I intend on taking a 4wk film workshop this summer and im applying for college next year and currently looking at a variety of film schools.

However, my grades are horrid (C's, C-'s) i obviously don't excell in the academics area, math is a different language to me and i have poor memorization. i have adhd/add and i believe a large amount of my imgaination and creativity comes from the disorder despite the problems its given me in school. My question is how much can by grades and realllly low SAT scores keep me from getting in anywhere decent even if i have an awesome portfolio. im not an idiot, if i could only send in my iq score (the only test i got above avg on lol) instead of my sat scores...

So what do you think? Will they sympathize? My only encouragment is they say Spielberg has add So any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks for reading.

-Sam

Hey Sam,

Dude...you and i are in the exact same boat. Im also a junior in high-school right now. In LA. Im applying to college next year to, and I'm also tryng to go to a 4 wk film camp. I'm trying to get into the NYU one, but I dunno how much money they would give me, so Im not sure I can pay for it.

Well, my grades arent stellar (I have around a 3.3) but I go to a good school, and Im on scholarship so hopefully that will mean something to the people in college. I really think that film school should be based on how well you make films, and not on how well you do in math. (Although I am not saying this stuff is unimportant). I think if you apply to more "art" oriented schools, they wont weigh your grades down as much. I would still apply to all the big ones though. I'm doing that, my goal is NYU, but I dunno if I could get in. If not, there are tons of schools out there, and in the film buisness the only way to make it big is by making movies. So Id say....keep making movies! Hahaha, tis' all I do all day, hehehe.

If you like Spieldberg, look insto CSULB. Spieldberg went there after he got rejected from USC. USC is so hard to get into...lol. Im not sure why I'm even applying (oh, yeah...cuz there still burns that faint glimmer of hope that i may make it in through a HUGE fluke)

Anyways dude, good luck, and keep in touch...seeing as we like the same stuff, are the same age, and live in the same city...yet know each other, we don't....Its a big world.............

Sorry for the fragmented sentences....

You never know - as unlikely as it is (these big schools get all snobby about their academic standards) they may see your work and say, forget the grades, we're taking him! You could even explain it in your essay; write about how much of a challenge that side of your life has been, and how you feel naturally compelled to make films or whatever.

Also, on the topic of NYU giving money, don't hope for too much. Around $8-10k is the most ever given. I know someone with a half scholarship, but it's not supposed to ever happen. I'm just getting giant loans from Teri.

Anyway, best of luck to both of you! Oh, one more thing, people who go to the NYU summer film program almost always get accepted.

Also there is the way to go to a smaller university with a good programm, study your butt off and then transfer to a good school.

also, I do have a couple of friends who got into NYU with a 3.3 or lower gpa...USC is a different world. They wont look at your films and rumours say the GPA average is between 3.9 and 4.0

good luck

Ithaca College in upstate NY has an extensive film program that is very connected to the industry out west suprisingly, i recommend it also because people with 3.2 GPAs and perhaps a bit lower could get in without to much of a problem