“Snow!” my friend shouted, looking incredulously at the small patch of white on the ground. I climbed up the last few rocks into the clearing right behind him and for a moment I was overcome with surprise and excitement at finding snow in, of all places, the Mojave Desert. I looked up and realized we had crested yet another false summit and that there was no way of knowing how far it was to the top. Even so, having come...

Creating and telling stories is something I’ve been doing all my life, whether consciously or not. From the adventure based games I used to play running around with my friends as a kid, to the more intentional stories in films. I’ve been involved with some form of music for all my life. As a kid I was banging on drumsets, now I play bass and regularly play in recitals and shows. I’ve also been experimenting with technology...

“How would you like to go to France for two weeks to film and play music?” I was talking to one of my mentors, Aidan, and he was telling me about a trip that was being planned for the summer. Aidan also told me he wanted to document the trip, and that he wanted my friend Jonah and me to film it. Afterward, as I continued to think about it, I realized that this would be the biggest and most...

It was night. A small electric lantern hung from a tree branch stuck in the ground, casting shadows in the bushes at the edge of the clearing. It was cold too. Only wearing a light jacket and shorts, I was wishing we had been allowed to have a fire, but the forest hadn’t seen rain for months and was covered in dry Tan Oak leaves. I shook my head as I tried to stay awake. It seemed like hours...

The TV show Person Of Interest has some of the most interesting and connected characters and storylines I’ve ever seen. No detail is irrelevant, even if it seems unimportant it will reappear later as part of a much bigger plot or idea. The show even manages to create a crime boss who I would consider an ally, even though he often goes against the protagonists goals of preventing crime and saving innocent lives. The depth of the characters and...

I think the genuine depth and interest of a lot of my activities throughout highschool helped a lot. I was also homeschooled,...

I definitely should have done everything earlier. I tend to work better near deadlines, and although...

I only applied to 3 schools, and I got accepted to NYU and the University of Utah. From there, NYU was a pretty easy choice. Utah was my backup school, and I...

I chose schools based on their film program as the main factor. I also looked at how easy it was to be involved in things outside of your major, since I have other interests that I don't want to give up. I visited many of the schools I looked at online, which for me was very important. You don't know how a school will work for you until you've been there. For example, I did a...