Which is more suitable? UCLA/ Columbia

[Sue Yang]

Got admitted to several schools but not sure which one to go, now hesitating between UCLA MA in East Asian Studies and Columbia MA in Film and Media Studies. I plan to apply for a PhD degree in East Asian Studies/ Comparative Literature/ Film Studies. Undergraduate major: Comparative Literature and German. Interested fields/ topics: Contemporary Chinese Films, Sinophone Studies, New German Cinema, Nostalgia Studies, Trauma and Memory.

Concerns about Columbia is mainly on its reputation... Is the MA in Film Studies program easy to get in? 

If anyone has any suggestion please let me know T T

[binbinsmuoffer]

UCLA is surely better!

California is better than New York in terms of weather.

[Psyhopeful]

8 hours ago, Sue Yang said:

Got admitted to several schools but not sure which one to go, now hesitating between UCLA MA in East Asian Studies and Columbia MA in Film and Media Studies. I plan to apply for a PhD degree in East Asian Studies/ Comparative Literature/ Film Studies. Undergraduate major: Comparative Literature and German. Interested fields/ topics: Contemporary Chinese Films, Sinophone Studies, New German Cinema, Nostalgia Studies, Trauma and Memory.

Concerns about Columbia is mainly on its reputation... Is the MA in Film Studies program easy to get in? 

If anyone has any suggestion please let me know T T

I wouldn’t worry about that the school’s reputation as much as I would be concerned about being able to do something he research I want to do which will then lead me to the kind of PhD program I want. Since you don’t appear to have East Asian Studies in your undergrad education, do you think you could get enough at Columbia to propel you into a PhD in that area? And at UCLA, do you feel that you can get enough film experience? Is there faculty at one school that is more focused on your interests? And in terms of your PhD plans, is there a program that you have your eye on? What sort of backgrounds do incoming students there have. That’s what I would look at more than if Columbia is easy to get into. It’s an Ivy League school anyway, so I doubt it’s “easy”.