Will I be looked down upon due to my major (Film Studies grad schools)

[dj02bothell]

Hi, everyone

I'm a freshmen at Penn State - University Park (I know, I feel so young and naive!) who is majoring in Media Studies with an emphases in Film and Television and minoring in Rhetoric; though, I might double minor in Sociology or Philosophy, but I'm not too sure if I find it that interesting for me to continue beyond my intro class. Anyway, I'm a bit worried because people keep telling me that graduate schools look down upon "fluff" majors, which mine just so happens to fall under that dreadful category of "useless" degrees.

I originally planned on majoring in Communications but, unfortunately, Penn State only offers a Communication Arts & Science degree, in which the curriculum and core values of the program just does not appeal to me. Media Studies was my best option, plus they had an emphases on Film and Television, so I thought it would be perfect for me. So far, I love it so much. I've truly learned a lot and I value all the classes I've taken for my major. I just love how films can be a form of entertainment, an educational experience, and a cultural phenomenon; I seriously believe that I will become a better person if I concentrate in this field.

I really want to go to graduate school for film studies or visual studies. I eventually want to work for a television/film company or anything in the media. Another career option I've been considering is media analyst researcher or journalism. But my main focus is getting into the film industry.

I've been trying to take advantage of my school's career service, and so far they've been really helpful. I just got onto staff for The Daily Collegian, my school's paper, and write for the Arts, specifically film reviews of Independent and Foreign Films with some mainstream films here and there. I have yet to score an internship, though. I have my eye on a few; there is an internship where I can write film reviews for the newspaper in Peekskill, NY and the Tribeca Film Festival and Magnolia Pictures are currently looking for undergrad interns for film production, critique, etc. I am also likely going to get an internship at the undergraduate writing center at my school or a publishing company in my town this year.

I am really nervous that my degree will be looked down upon. Can this be true? I wouldn't say it's fair at all if grad programs judge a student because of his/her degree. I am determined to maintain my gpa at 3.8+ and graduate with distinctions. I'm also slowly planning on taking my GRE, which I just want to get at least a 1200, but I'm aiming for 1300. I already made efforts in building relationships with my Media Studies professors, one who went to Northwestern for film.

I am trying so hard right now to prepare myself for grad school because I know that it is something that I have to do in order for me to get the kind of job I've been dreaming of. I'm particularly interested in getting my M.A. in Film Studies or Visual Studies, or an M.F.A. in Film. I am not really looking into PhD programs, but a lot of the programs I am interested in happens to be just PhD programs. Some of the schools I'm looking at are:

Columbia

NYU Tisch

UC Berkeley

Northwestern

Iowa

UCSB

UCLA

Emory

USC

Yale

I'm really interested in Columbia's MA program; it sounds like a fit for me. I really like Berkeley's and NYU's program as well.

I also heard that going to a "lower tier" school like Penn State will make it harder for me to get into these schools. Is this true? Is Penn State looked down upon?

Help, please! I'm not sure if I'm on the right path by trying to score some internships this early, but I don't know what else I can do other than study and gain relevant hands-on experience. Is writing for the newspaper a good thing? What else should I do? Nothing else appeals to me and I hate joining a bunch of stuff to buff up my CV. I was thinking about creating a film club with another friend for Independent/Foreign cinephiles, which would particularly cover films with important social meaning; I think that would be amazingly awesome lol.

Anyway, thanks for reading this! I just need some guidance from people who've actually dealt with this similar kind of experience. I feel like no one takes me seriously whenever I talk about my future plans beyond my undergraduate...

[wasistdas]

I wouldn't be be worried about your degree, as long as you maintain excellent grades and work closely with a few professors that will be strong recommenders down the road. More importantly, I would focus on solid, long-term internships that will set you apart from the crowd. You should look for professional growth opportunity at any internship, especially the potential for escalating levels of responsibilities. A lot of undergrads have 1-3 month internships at a time, but in my work experience after undergrad, they were pretty much coffee fetchers and data entry drones.

From personal experience, I got a degree in History, worked in sales/marketing for an online start up for 4 years, moved abroad for a couple of years and am now applying for masters programs in IR. Having a compelling personal story to relate in your statement of purpose as well as strong recommendations are, in my opinion, where the meat of your application will be.

other than that, the fact that you are already planning and thinking about this means you are so far ahead of the game you can graduate with an extremely impressive resume/cv.

[bfat]

It's possible that at one time film studies was considered a "fluff major" but certainly not any more. From an academic perspective, there is a lot of value in studying cultural products like film and television, which have a massive impact on the way people think about and see the world (especially in an age when it seems fewer and fewer people are reading--or writing--literature). On the flip side, there is also a lot of really great and valuable technical knowledge that can come from studying film and tv. In the era of Youtube, being able to produce and cut a video is almost as important as basic writing skills. So don't worry about your major, especially if it is what you love (can you tell I have a BA in film?)

And Penn State is a perfectly respectable school. Don't believe all that elitist mumbo jumbo about the "prestige" of your undergraduate education--there are some amazing programs at schools most people have never heard of (and Penn State is certainly well-known). The Ivy League isn't everything.

[dj02bothell]

Thanks for the quick responses! So, i'll be sure to not worry too much on my major since it's already something I LOVE. I've been stuck a pit as to if I should double major or not. Is it really that good to have two degrees (Media Studies and English)? Or should I stick with a major and minor? Dunno. Ergh. I'll think about it later.

For your personal statement, can it be creative? I've read one of my older sister's friend's paper for grad school (Sociology, Vanderbilt) and her personal essay was very...."practical?" Like it was just a laundry list of her achievements and goals, and not very much substance. I mean, at least that's how I felt with it. But she got in. So, this leads to my question if it's OK to write your personal statement in your own creative way. I would rather focus on my reasoning to my interest in field of study and talk about the experiences I gained from jobs, internships, etc. and how I want to apply that to the real world.

Again, thank you guys for the help/advice. This website is awesome.

[alh]

Hey dj02bothell,

I think that it is totally awesome that you're thinking about advanced schooling. With that said, my main piece of advice is to just relax. More than anything, graduate schools (particularly for film) want you to have practical experience. You may be 100% confident about getting an MA in Film as an 18 year old college freshmen, but that could definitely change over your the next few years. If I were you, I'd keep graduate school in the back of my mind but concentrate on undergrad first!

Internships are always awesome and can teach you a great deal about the industry. For example, do you want to be a professor or do you want to go into the actual film industry (in production or media)? If you're interested in jobs in media, you should probably try to learn HTML or CSS. Those are incredibly practical and desirable skills for the job world (both academic and practical). You should focus more on what you want to do rather than how you might write about it in a personal statement.

I thought that I was going to go to graduate school straight out of undergrad, but my advisors encouraged me to wait. I have now waited two years and am applying this fall. I have had a solid number of jobs in that time and a variety of internships. My academic interests have also changed enormously in the two years I have been out of college, not to mention how much they have changed since I was a precocious 18 year old.

Don't worry about these things now. If anything, wait until you are a junior in college and start thinking about a thesis. If that seems to start off well, then start thinking about graduate school again. And hey, you have already done a lot of the footwork!

Good luck!