3
5 months ago
Admissions Advice

UCLA Film; What should I do as a freshman?

Hi! I'm currently a high school freshman, my dream is to go to UCLA and study film. The program there is extremely competitive (I believe they only admit about 15 new college freshmen each year), however, it is my dream. I know that the application is heavily based on the written material that you submit, but I am looking for things to do during high school to improve my chances.

As of now, I have a 4.0 unweighted and am in the hardest classes I can take. My elective is photography, because there isn't an actual film class/program at my high school. As for ECs I'm in mock trial and model UN (not sure if I should continue these because they don't really connect to film, but they help with public speaking a lot). I'm the founder/president of my school's film club. I'm in a club that pairs bilingual students with ones wanting to learn english/spanish. I'm also in some other smaller clubs (public lands, book club, interact community service club, etc.) I'm on the school site council. I've also taken a film class at the community college and am going to take another one in the spring.

For that general aspect of my application I feel is a good base, however, I don't really have that many film specific things. I am president of the film club, but it's small and not that impressive. I made a short film a while ago and submitted it to some festivals, but i'm not really expecting anything (it was just for fun, I never meant to submit it anywhere). I've taken/will take a few commmunity college film classes. I have a youtube channel and posted a bit on there, but it didn't really feel like my thing. Other than that there isn't much.

For the future here are some things im looking at. Obviously making scripts and short films, and submitting them to some festivals. I could work more on youtube and get a larger following but I'm not sure if that is what they are looking for. I would love to go to one of UCLA's summer camps for film, but they are also pretty selective on who they let go. Doing more things within my school for film (film column in school paper, getting involved more in filming events, etc.) I know UCLA is looking for applicants that stand out, any ideas on how to effectively do this? Would love any help or suggestions.

film
UCLA
3
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Unweighted GPA: 3.7
1.0
4.0
SAT: 720 math
200
800
| 800 verbal
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