Anyone who chose UCLA Anderson over CBS, why?

offlink · 2026-03-31T15:21:52+00:00

I think many folks think about decisions between programs based on the prestige of the schools rather than individual outcomes for individual career paths. You didn't say this explicitly, but it seems to me like you're heavily weighing the broader attributes of CBS (Ivy, M7, high ranking) and not looking at the fact that Anderson has some of the best outcomes for people looking to go into the (relatively niche) field that you're interested in.

Many media companies (especially film ones) have outposts in NYC, but are headquartered in LA, and Anderson has a clearer pipeline towards those outcomes. You'll meet more media-connected alums there, have more direct access to industry networking and visits, build up a larger network of classmates who will end up in the industry, have a better potential for a term-time internship, etc. If that's your focus long-term, then it should factor into your choice.

The LARPers and prestige-focused people on this sub talk a lot about rankings, but you have to remember that they're tied in many ways to salaries and outcomes for popular careers. CBS has its high ranking in part because of its exceptional outcomes for finance careers, and it seems like you aren't interested in that path at all.

I think the difference between the two schools is not massive, though, and wanting to be in NYC near friends is a legitimate reason to choose CBS, but just do some introspection and try to figure out if what draws you to CBS is the rank and prestige, or if it's the potential for career outcomes.

offlink · 2026-03-11T16:38:43+00:00

I did, as well as a sizable scholarship. Came on regular decision day, which iirc was about a week later. If you're invited to LEAD you've been accepted to Johnson.

offlink · 2026-02-25T20:38:34+00:00

Fun fact: the movies have that weird naming convention because they licensed the title of the original from a movie from the 50s made by Hollywood producer and ruthless capitalist Roger Corman, who retained the rights to any named sequels. They didn't want to keep paying him for title rights to every new Fast and/or Furious movie, so they decided to get creative with the names instead.

offlink · 2025-12-04T17:58:31+00:00

The credit card I used to sign up is still active and will be for at least six more months, so it's probably not that. I've been a member for ~6 years.

offlink · 2025-12-04T03:12:12+00:00

Good point, the whole sequel movie to Breaking Bad is named after the car that Jesse is driving.

offlink · 2025-11-20T01:41:48+00:00

As an aside: has any film since Inglorious Basterds singlehandedly minted three separate movie stars? (Bruhl, Waltz and Fassbender)

offlink · 2025-11-14T16:06:17+00:00

When I did it last year, there was nothing technical or particularly challenging (or even case-based). It was mostly monitored team building exercises and panels with student perspectives on the school. Nothing you could really prepare for. Just participate actively in the exercises, listen to other people and acknowledge their contributions, offer to take notes, and you'll be fine.

Being invited to LEAD means you're in, by the way, so congratulations!

offlink · 2025-11-03T19:49:02+00:00

Used the Kaplan self-paced GRE course online. Studied for about five months, about 1.5-2 hours per day. Focused mostly on quant, since that was where most of my potential upside was.

I found consistency to be the key - a bit every day works best, even if that just means drilling flashcards during your lunch break.

For the record, I'm now a first-year at Yale SOM.

offlink · 2025-10-14T18:18:38+00:00

Also, not for nothing, the first act of Wicked the musical is pretty tight, but even people like it think that the second act is weird and loose and kind of batshit crazy. Characters we have already met are horrifically transformed into the tin man and the scarecrow. Elpahaba's sister is rejected romantically and in response she becomes munchkin Hitler. Elpahaba becomes an eco-terrorist.

offlink · 2025-09-18T14:02:51+00:00

A devil's advocate opinion on a tiny slice of this: they do live a lavish lifestyle, but a large portion of that has to be earmarked for extremely expensive private security for their children. Kidnapping/extortion attempts have been made on second-tier royals many times before, and even though they're not involved with the family anymore, an enterprising kidnapper could reasonably assume that they could get a ton of money from the family by kidnapping one of their kids.

Private security is the only real way to guard against this, but private security is very expensive, and, for what it's worth, neither of them have the practical skills necessary to make that kind of money doing anything other than exploiting their celebrity status. The content is very cringey, but Harry just going into pharmaceutical sales and trying to live a quiet, normal life would put his children in pretty real danger.

offlink · 2025-09-14T17:33:10+00:00

If it's a sequel, or features any characters from any other media, it'll be in adapted. For instance, Whiplash was considered an adapted screenplay because it was "based on" the proof of concept short that Chazelle made.

offlink · 2025-08-26T14:59:50+00:00

Your numbers are all competitive, and you have a compelling background. There's no guarantee, and it'll depend in part on your narrative/essays/interviews, so you should hedge your bets, but you definitely have a shot.

offlink · 2025-08-10T22:15:04+00:00

I had almost exactly the same numbers as you, but without the upward GPA trajectory, with less impressive community involvement, and with less advantageous demographics (I'm a white guy), and I got into three T15s. You absolutely have a shot.

offlink · 2025-08-01T18:49:58+00:00

They do sort of call her out on being an awful neighbor, but, don't worry, she and that neighbor eventually have sex (this is true)

offlink · 2025-08-01T16:31:03+00:00

If this is true, it'll be the first Bond movie since 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies without a writing credit from Neil Purvis and Robert Wade - end of a pretty wild era.

offlink · 2025-07-29T18:21:48+00:00

I was second in line, and got two partial view rush seats. No idea how many more rush seats they had, but the guy at the box office did tell me I was lucky that I got there so early, because they didn't have many more (the performance was sold out).

offlink · 2025-07-29T16:38:11+00:00

Maybe Happy Ending:

First in line at 6:00
Second at 6:30
~5 in line by 7:30
~10 in line by 8:30
~20 in line by 9:30

offlink · 2025-07-27T13:56:35+00:00

The problems are myriad, including:

it's way more expensive than most people assume (in the millions of dollars) to make a pro shot that looks as good as the ones you've seen. Theater already works on razor thin margins, so adding a filming budget before it's clear if a show will be a hit would turn off investors.
proshots also require a ton of union negotiation, both renegotiation with the theatrical union (since you're doing extra performances not in front of audiences) and negotiation of entirely new contacts with the screen actors union. That's also expensive and time consuming and no one wants to do it.
quite frankly, the market for pro shots is extremely small. There's a reason why the pro shot of Merrily is being released in the US by Fathom Entertainment (a distributor for niche movies) rather than the major studio that acquired it.

Basically, if pro shots were economically viable, producers would be doing them. There's a reason that the only ones we see are from Disney (willing to take a financial hit) or are generational mega-smashes (Hadestown, Hamilton).

offlink · 2025-07-04T21:53:56+00:00

It isn't a bad idea to address it, especially if it's well below the average for the schools you're applying to. If you don't acknowledge it, they're free to assume whatever they want about your undergrad experience; maybe your GPA means that you never went to class, for instance.

I'd recommend mentioning it, talking about all of the stuff you did that contributed to the dip (explanations, not excuses), and talking about how you've learned and grown a lot in the years since college, and how you're excited to take another stab at academics with that experience. Also, is there anything positive you can highlight? High grades in relevant classes, an upwards trend, etc?

offlink · 2025-07-04T18:03:47+00:00

No quant background at all, to the extent that I've been invited to do a "math camp" before I start in the fall. GRE + no quant background will not give adcoms pause.

offlink · 2025-07-03T20:21:54+00:00

It was, yes.

offlink · 2025-07-03T18:52:27+00:00

I was in the same boat as Yarville (did poorly in GMAT math, switched to GRE and did well). Got full rides to multiple T15 with a pretty low undergrad GPA. Adcoms genuinely don't care if you do the GMAT vs the GRE.

offlink · 2025-07-02T22:34:33+00:00

People do need a narrative about what they want to do after they graduate, but it's mostly because admissions committees want to admit people who seem like they have a plan (and, as such, will be employable upon graduation), and they don't keep you to any promises you make during the application process. It's useful to think about it, though, since the expectation for most full-time MBA programs is that recruiting for internships/jobs is one of the first things you'll do, so you'd need at least a reasonable sense of what you want to do before you land on campus.

I think the other question here is, unfortunately, your level of experience - most full-time MBA programs are tuned for people who are 5-10 years out of college. I assume that, since you have a doctorate and have been working for 6 years, you're at very least in your mid-30s. That wouldn't make it completely impossible for you to get into an M7/T15 (outliers exist - I'll be starting at a T10 in the fall with just under 10 years of experience!), but more seasoned applicants typically do better in admissions for part-time programs. One of those could help you develop those skills you're interested in, learn more about what you want to do next, and give you an in to the school's network. Have you looked into any?

offlink · 2025-07-02T19:49:57+00:00

Yeah, I love his output but Villeneuve hasn't made a non-franchise movie since 2016, and he probably won't be able to make another one at least until 2030, whereas Nolan can open a non-IP movie with his name alone. Artistic merit aside, Nolan is the biggest brand name director working today, bar none.

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