waitingforgodard
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Thanks, ci1717, Swagato and softparade, you've all been really helpful. Well, I officially accepted my admission to USC's MA program today. Hopefully, I'll run into you folks down the line.
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I haven't focused my interests with any certainty yet, so a school with a good range might be the best fit for me. However, I do know that I'm not interested in focusing on a specific national cinema, or a specific era in cinema, or a specific cultural or ideological approach to cinema (feminist, Marxist, black cinema, etc.). I come from a screenwriting background, and mostly I'm interested in studying narrative, the way a script shapes the viewing experience and meaning of a film. I'm also interested in the history of cinematic technique. How have musical scores evolved, for instance, or how do filmmakers view the close-up, and what industrial factors have shaped these evolutions? If I had a better grasp of the terms used to designate various fields in cinema studies, I could articulate my interests better, but I'm a newcomer to the subject. Right now, I'm trying to decide between Emory, USC, and UCLA.
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Thanks, ci1717! That's very helpful. It sounds like identity politics is a strong focus at USC, but I feel as though that's been true at most cinema studies programs I've come across. Especially between USC and UCLA, have you discovered a program that might have more of a focus on aesthetic analysis or film theory, or am I mischaracterizing USC?
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Hey ci1717, I was just wondering what you've discovered about USC. What's your opinion about their strengths in terms of specfic research interests? --an open question to anyone else, of course, if you've made any discoveries.
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Thanks, nyfilmfest! That's very helpful!
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Not really a question for advisors... Since applications for Fall 2012 were completed and submitted last semester, I've already had my heart-to-hearts with advisors, and they helped me arrive at the decision to apply to terminal M.A. film studies programs, as well as other programs of study. My question is more about graduate admissions policies and whether or not M.A. programs generally look specific research focuses. It seems as though several of the posters on this forum are completing or have completed terminal MAs and are now applying to PhD programs. So I'm wondering how specific your focuses were when you applied?
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So, this might a pretty belated question but... I'm currently completing my undergraduate degree (not in film studies) at NYU and I've applied to terminal M.A. Film Studies programs at USC, UCLA, Emory, and Chapman for Fall 2012, but have yet to hear a peep. I have a 3.9 GPA and excellent GRE scores, but I admitted in my statement of purpose that I don't really have a specific research focus yet. I've noticed on this forum that a lot of applicants have mentioned the quality of the research proposals in statements of intent as key factors for admissions offices, but I would have supposed that was true mostly for PhD programs. So my question is: do terminal M.A. programs generally expect applicants to already have specialized? I mean I haven't studied film studies extensively at this point, so it wouldn't make sense for me to have a highly specific focus. What do you guys think?