USC Tour = The Suck
Here I am in LA. Specifically the Lucas building at USC. I got out of the tour about an hour ago.
People, it was bad. Really bad. So bad it had me second guessing the general purpose of higher education.
The tour was lead by the admission councilor for the Cinema school. But as she quickly explained, she was a grad student for Communication studies; No where related to the Cinema school, let alone interactive media.
First, she couldn't figure out how to play the intro DVD. Then she told us 'it was stupid anyway'. Then she started a talk... I guess. It was a rambling of catch phrases and didn't even assemble to talking points. The people in the tour group comprised of 2 undergrads, 2 other grads, and one transfer. As expected, I was the only interactive media applicant of any denomination.
And the rambling continued. Mostly apologetic about what the program isn't and mentioning a few mediocre points. Certainly nothing about the educational process. To save the talk from being completely pointless, I tried to ask questions that were applicable to the undergrads and grad programs themselves. Is the school focused as a conservatory or liberal arts? That sort of thing. Only then did we get some meaty responses, but nothing I didn't already know.
We walked around the little island of the Cinema buildings and seeing a few labs. All of which were film labs. Sound labs were closed to tours, but she didn't say, point, or mention anything about the interactive media program. She even said things like "All film schools base their programs off of ours." Fuck you. At the very end of the tour, I asked if I could see something about the program. She showed me a 2D animation studio. Jane you ignorant slut.
Walked back into the Cinema admission office to get my luggage. On my way out, one of the grad applicants started talking to me. We ended up talking for about 10 minutes where I was acting as admission councilor.
Seriously guys, I am absolutely floored at how horrible that tour was. Not even the lack of interactive media in the tour, but the general demeanor and ignorance of the admission councilor is a complete turn-off for the school. I am starved for SOMETHING about this program. Right now all I have is the program website. While a great resource, I wanted something more personal to supplement the media. I didn't get that today.
My next hope is finding USC people at the GDC next week. That's why I didn't make any appointments with professors this trip; They're all traveling to GDC. But I have to be honest with you guys; I feel like a job may be better than grad school for me, only because USC has not communicated what their program is to me.
But tonight, it's party time with rotting_orange and crew. Fun times ahead!!!
People, it was bad. Really bad. So bad it had me second guessing the general purpose of higher education.
The tour was lead by the admission councilor for the Cinema school. But as she quickly explained, she was a grad student for Communication studies; No where related to the Cinema school, let alone interactive media.
First, she couldn't figure out how to play the intro DVD. Then she told us 'it was stupid anyway'. Then she started a talk... I guess. It was a rambling of catch phrases and didn't even assemble to talking points. The people in the tour group comprised of 2 undergrads, 2 other grads, and one transfer. As expected, I was the only interactive media applicant of any denomination.
And the rambling continued. Mostly apologetic about what the program isn't and mentioning a few mediocre points. Certainly nothing about the educational process. To save the talk from being completely pointless, I tried to ask questions that were applicable to the undergrads and grad programs themselves. Is the school focused as a conservatory or liberal arts? That sort of thing. Only then did we get some meaty responses, but nothing I didn't already know.
We walked around the little island of the Cinema buildings and seeing a few labs. All of which were film labs. Sound labs were closed to tours, but she didn't say, point, or mention anything about the interactive media program. She even said things like "All film schools base their programs off of ours." Fuck you. At the very end of the tour, I asked if I could see something about the program. She showed me a 2D animation studio. Jane you ignorant slut.
Walked back into the Cinema admission office to get my luggage. On my way out, one of the grad applicants started talking to me. We ended up talking for about 10 minutes where I was acting as admission councilor.
Seriously guys, I am absolutely floored at how horrible that tour was. Not even the lack of interactive media in the tour, but the general demeanor and ignorance of the admission councilor is a complete turn-off for the school. I am starved for SOMETHING about this program. Right now all I have is the program website. While a great resource, I wanted something more personal to supplement the media. I didn't get that today.
My next hope is finding USC people at the GDC next week. That's why I didn't make any appointments with professors this trip; They're all traveling to GDC. But I have to be honest with you guys; I feel like a job may be better than grad school for me, only because USC has not communicated what their program is to me.
But tonight, it's party time with rotting_orange and crew. Fun times ahead!!!