Out of Position

According to the Hollywood Report, UCF doesn't even rank amongst the top 25 MFAs for film in the country. It would be hard to take exception with the A.F.I. being listed first or U.S.C being listed second or N.Y.U. being listed in the top four.  Those are the schools that people traditionally have gone to for pipeline jobs into the industry.  And that is what their selling points are.  USC tauts a bajillion alumni in the industry, so does UCLA for that matter.  Even schools like F.S.U. promise work on the productions that are being done in Louisiana.  They all have one thing in common the promise of the student being able to find work after getting a post graduate degree from their school.  UCF makes no such claim.  Our focus is on being the first school to really delve into what the new world of digital content is going to look like.  Existentially important sure, but what does it mean for people coming to school?  I think that further than just the hope we are at the forefront of some shift in ideology, UCF teaches us how to be our own boss.  A great many of the classes I've taken are about how to run my own business, not be a cog in someone elses.  And that is reflected in the expectations of my academic life as well.  Only two other programs in the country require their students to create a feature length project upon matriculation and both of those are limited to documentary film making.  Its the boldness of the program that really seems to set us apart in all ways.  We make feature length movies for the same amount of money students at AFI, NYU, and USC spend on their short films, and at the same time we teach students how to work (maybe more appropriately "Think") for themselves.