When people ask where I go to college, they are always surprised to hear that I go to a film school. What surprises them, even more, is when I tell them that there are only around 400 people that attend my school. College is supposed to be filled with parties, Greek life, and awkward social groups; but that's not how it is at a film school.
Ever since I was in high school I always dreamed of going to a big college. I wanted to live the college life that was portrayed on T.V. Waking up at eleven o'clock, drinking beer all day, going to sorority parties, passing out at four in the morning, and waking up to do it again. As uneducated as that sounds; that to me was college. So you can understand that when I got to the Colorado Film School I was a deer in the headlights.
On many campuses you have to walk miles and miles to get to your next class. My entire school is on one floor, in one building. There are approximately fifteen classrooms, holding less than eighteen students each. Even though our numbers may be small, our film abilities are endless. Every student at the film school is there for one reason, to learn film. We don't have to mess with business majors, psychology majors, or even sport enthusiast majors. We learn from each other more than we learn in the classrooms. We have a passion for film, and what better way to learn it than to be in a building of just film students.
With many major colleges, the students live in a black and white world. What I mean by that is, students are given a choice at their school. They can play soccer or not, theater or not. They are given an option between two things, and it's up to them to decide what they want to do with it. In film school, though, I am living a life of gray. I don't have an option between two things. I have to go out into the world and find what I like. There are no sports teams, cheerleaders, or theaters at my school. No "do this" or "do that." You just have to go out and DO.
Film School is one of the best decisions I have ever made. The friends that I have gained and the experiences that have taught me, could never have come from a major college. So even though I didn't and probably won't ever experience the "College Life," film school is everything I pictured college to be.
