- Here we go. Just started. We'll give it a minute to let everybody who
registered join today. Is it about 10:00 PM at St. Andrews? - Yeah - Oh For those just tuning in we'll get started in just a minute. We want to let everybody
who registered tune in. So we'll get started in just a minute. Okay. We'll get started. If everybody joins us later on, they'll get to hear more information about the Film Studies Major within the Joint Degree Program. My name is Carolina Ward,
I'm an Assistant Dean wit
h the Office of Undergraduate Admission at William and Mary. So I had the great honor of reviewing your applications
to the Joint Degree Program and congratulations on being
admitted to the program. That's super exciting. And just so you're all aware,
after we do introductions we will get started on the
Q&A portion of the panel. Please feel free to drop your questions in the Q&A box at the
bottom of your screen. I know there's a Q&A,
and there's a chat box. It's just easier if you keep it to the
Q&A for us to run through and we'll go ahead and get started by me
passing on to Hannah. - Hi, I'm Hannah. I'm from New York. I'm a third year in the
Joint Degree Program studying Film Studies obviously. I'm currently at St. Andrew's, as you can see, by my background I have the St Andrew's castle. So that's fun. I started at William and
Mary, so I did the ABBA and next year I'll be
back at William and Mary. So that should be fun. - Awesome. Awesome. The people joining in from
their homes and tu
ning in please feel free to start
dropping your questions in the Q&A box. I'll begin. I have some questions I'd
like to pose to you, Hannah. Can you talk a little bit about
that first year curriculum As a film studies major, what classes did you
take in your first year? - In my first year it's very
loose at William and Mary, which makes it really nice. So all you have are just
two required classes which is, Intro to Film Studies and then Film History, Part One. So that's one each semester. And t
hen you just have your
general breadth requirements, which vary based on how many
APS you took in high school. So it was very nice. It was very chill. I got to take more Film
Studies classes just because I wanted to, but also I got to have the
general everything classes that you expect when you go
to a liberal arts college. So that was nice. It's very like flexible and also just really great
introduction to Film Studies. - Nice. Awesome. And, going off that, how do you film classes
at William Ma
ry differ from film classes at St
Andrew's, or do they even differ? - They actually, are very
complimentary between each school. So at St. Andrew's it's
a little bit different because you take a lot less classes. So your film studies classes proportionately take up
a lot more of your time. So in second year I
just took three classes. One was Film Studies and then the third year
you just take two classes and they're both Film Studies. It's just more time for film studies but I guess within the ac
tual
classes they pair really well. Because in second year at St. Andrews, I took Film History, Part Two. And then it was Film Theory. Which just opens the door to
everything else in Film Studies which is what I'm taking now. So this year first semester, I took Detectives, that was fun, and I took Sensory Cinema. This semester I'm taking Film and Politics and Film and Nation. So that's good. - Very cool. Sounds like cool classes. And then how did you decide
to do the ABBA track? So, we've always
gotten questions about how do you decide which
track you want to do? How did you go about that? - So there was a number of things. I wanted that continuity
a little bit between. I just like two years, because it's a lot picking up all your stuff
and packing it all up and traveling across the world. So I wanted to stay for that. And then also in fourth year, it's a little bit different
how you do the classes. If you're at William and Mary, there's a little bit more flexibility because you go bac
k to
the William and Mary style where you're taking all these classes, then you have these fun
projects and options like that. Whereas St. Andrew's, you
take your classes in film and then you also have to
write a dissertation module. So it's a big paper that you're working on which isn't really the
case at William and Mary. I was just talking about this
with my advisor the other week and at William and Mary
for my big like project I get to design my own
course, which is fun. Find a professor and
be like this is what I want to
study in Film Studies and then choose all the watchings,
choose all the readings, and then write a couple of papers on it. It's like a lot more chill than
it would be at St. Andrew's, which is something that
I was just interested in. - Yeah, that sounds great. Oh, that's awesome. And can you talk a little bit about how advising
within the program works? So, I know, in case those
that are tuning in don't know, you know, you have your
major advisor on both sides and
then you also have peer advisors which I know can be super helpful. But would you mind sharing kind of your experience within that? - Yeah. So in terms of major
advisors you have Marcus Holmes who is in charge on the
William and Mary side, but then we also have our own
advisor who is Richard Lowery, who's absolutely wonderful,
very helpful with everything. So he helps you with everything
on William and Mary's side, choosing classes and just
like fulfilling requirements, everything like that. An
d then on the St Andrew's
side it's a little bit different because in your first
year you have Lisa Jones who is kind of the equivalent
to like Marcus Holmes. So she helps you with all
your first-year classes. Then you also have like another advisor who's just for film
specific, who is Tom rice who I've had for three
modules at this point. Who's also absolutely lovely. He's more of a resource, to ask questions about specific film classes
and to help with the transition more than a formal peer ad
visor, because there's less
of an option in classes It's very much, you have
your required classes and you get into them, and you take them, and it's not like you might
not be able to take them and you have this like freedom as you do at William and Mary
and all these requirements. - Thank you. Also in terms of that
transition between the schools, that's a big point of
the program of course. You're attending two schools, during your four years in college. What are some of the challenges that go
with that transition? I know some students
are worried about that but how would you say you
overcome those challenges? - It's a little hard transitioning.
Everyone talks about it. You're going somewhere completely new. You have your joint degree friends, but you're also out there
trying to make new friends. You feel like a freshman again, which can be a little
frustrating at times. But even within that,
it's just so much fun. Just joined a lot of clubs and sports. Sports is a big thing at St. An
drew's. I play handball, just randomly enough. Just meet a lot of people through that in the same way that you
would at William and Mary. It's what you make of it. You just have to put yourself
out there a little bit more because you've already been there before. So you're a little
hesitant, for most people - That's a good way of putting it. It's what you make of it. It's what you pursue and get out there. Actually, your mention
of handball reminds me, can you share what you're
involved in extra
curricularly? That's a tricky word. Extracurricularly at both institutions? - Yeah. It's been a while
since I was at William and Mary but I was in a sorority there, I was on Exec. Board for Hillel, I was on Hall or Community Council, which is a hall committee,
so planning events for that. I was a tribe ambassador. And then I did a few like
random things around. There's a film festival,
so I did stuff with that, which was fun. At St. Andrew's, I play
handball, like I said, which is a lot of fun,
do recommend. Then last year, there was a
big student run arts festival, which obviously can't
really happen this year because of COVID. So that's, on the rocks. I was on the programming
committee for that. So that was fun. Also. There's a theater here. This is more of a this year
thing called the Byre Theater, which because of COVID became
a film screening place. I was also on the
programming group for that. So we just selected all
the films that were played throughout the fall semester. I was
also on Jewish society,
I'm the treasurer for that. And then I just have a job. Oh, and then I'm on the
WaMStA executive board but I forget about that because that doesn't
feel like it is either. - Busy, busy. For those tuning I feel like
I'm asking all the questions and I hope they've been informative but please feel free to drop
your questions in the Q&A box. We definitely want to get those questions that you're wondering about answered whether they are about the degree program, William and Ma
ry, St Andrew's, the Films Studies Major? Happy to answer any of those. Feel free to drop those in the box. I always like to ask every
degree program major this but why did you choose the JDP and what was that
process like choosing it? - I had a lot of fun applying to colleges. It felt like I was going shopping but I didn't have to, buy anything. So I had like all the
massive college books that was 300 or whatever schools, randomly found St Andrew's
found William and Mary on it. I was just on th
e
William and Mary website, looking through majors to see if there's
anything I was interested. I saw Film Studies and then underneath I saw Film for the joint
degree with St. Andrew's. Ooh, what's that? Exciting, fun, fun. This seems like a lot of fun. I applied to that and I applied
to a lot of other schools and then just looking at everything, I was just like so this
is where I want to go. This seems like the most fun. In the grand scheme of things, I'm paying so much money
to go to universit
y, so I might as well just do
something that's interesting. That's really just going
to enhance my experience outside of the name of a college or the traditional
American college experience which I feel like I would get otherwise. - Looks like we got a question. Can you share the other
courses you took outside of film during the years
one, two and three, and particularly at St Andrew's. So what classes have you taken? - I took a bunch of classes. In terms of St Andrew's, I took
Scottish Music an
d Culture, which was interesting to say the least. It's something when you have
someone playing bagpipes for you at nine in the
morning on a Tuesday, but it was fun. It was cool. I took a class in management
called Entrepreneurship. You were in a group and you
designed your own product to sell to other students, and it was all about that
process, which is quite cool. I took an anthropology course and I took a linguistics course. And then at William and Mary I took some sociology
courses, psychol
ogy, math a few religion ones. I took Jewish music. I took intro to Hinduism, intro to cultural anthropology. There is a bunch more, I'm just trying to think
it was a while ago. And then because how it works, the third year is just
film studies courses. I've just been taking
some studies this year which has been kind of nice, but I'm excited next year to go back. I just registered for my
classes for next year. That's going to be
exciting. That'll be fun. I'm taking a class on Darwinism and it's
cultural implications,
which is quite cool. - Those sound cool. Very
interesting classes. And for the William and Mary
and the St Andrew's side now I know you're, in your third year but we always get questions
about the career services. Can you pursue internships on both sides, and are the career services
robust on both sides? Do you mind speaking to that a bit? - Career services are definitely helpful in my first year at William
and Mary over spring break I went on an industry trip. We went to
New York city,
where I'm from ironically, and looked at a lot of different careers in television and media and entertainment and just everything like that. Just because going in, I really didn't know what I
wanted to do, or anything. So that was just like a
nice way to narrow it down. Actually last week, I just ended. I was interning with
Nickelodeon, since last June. So that's been a lot of fun. Ironically, on that trip we actually went to the office where I
should have been working, but COVID
happened, so I worked from home, and it's been great. In terms of career
services at St. Andrew's they're definitely helpful. I haven't personally used them as much because I worked out my
internships beforehand, but they'd also hold events a lot because I do get all the
emails from the career services about different talks and different events about how to pursue things
in film studies beyond. - And then we have a question asking, what are some things you like to do around St Andrew's, and the
town? - So with COVID obviously
it's quite different but I've literally walked
all around St. Andrew's. I do that all the time. It's this joke that I'm always on a walk. I love the beaches. It's just like a nice place. The castle behind me, that is my favorite place in St. Andrew's just to like go in. If you're a student you can just walk in with your little red robe
and they just let you in. And it's really beautiful. And then also one of my good friends happens to be from a nearby town. So we
just go on adventures through all of her childhood homes and the fishing village is a Fife. So that's a lot of fun. Normally, also there's
cafes and pubs and all that, but with COVID, it's like a
little bit different at moment. - That's so nice you have
a close friend nearby. That's awesome. Definitely go, go travel
around and actually that brings up another question. We always get students that ask, are you able to travel on
the weekends or breaks? Is there time? And you know, a lot of
JDC stud
ents have said, Oh yes, I travel all over. Have you had experiences like that? - Yeah, definitely. I personally don't travel on the weekends because it's a lot of money
for not a lot of time. Last year, especially over winter break I just traveled the whole time. So I spent six weeks just
backpacking through Europe alone. So that was a lot of fun,
highly recommend that. That was a really, fantastic time. Then also there's just a lot of breaks. You have like fall break, which is a week and then y
ou have spring
break, which is two weeks. So in a normal year,
you would travel then. You would travel over your breaks. You have time between
exams that you would travel and then just all the time around it. So, it's definitely a very
good and easy opportunity. I do have a lot of friends who
did just travel on weekends. Like I had two who, one
time, they're just like why don't we just go on Skyscanner? And then they saw a 10 pound
like return trip to Sweden. So they just went to Sweden for a we
ekend. - So cool. It just seems impossible
being here at this time, like here, it certainly is. Looks like we've answered
the questions that people tuning in have
asked, but in terms of what have been your favorite classes and what have been your
favorite professors? Some people like to get recommendations. - Hmm. Ooh. There's been a lot
of really good classes at both universities. Hmm. Sorry. I'm just thinking about this. - No that's okay. I know
I've heard there's a lot of great professors at
both. I know that can be tricky to think about. - Yeah. So at St. Andrew's I really liked my class this semester, which is Cinema and the Nation. That was with Professor Rice, who I was saying is our advisor. Absolutely lovely. I've had him for two classes
classes now this year, one of my favorite professors. Also doctor, Zoe Shacklog,
she's also lovely. Really fantastic. Also had her for two classes this year. And then at William and Mary, my call 150 was I think Media Today. It was a sociology
, but also media course. I really, really loved that. I really loved the professor for that. That was a great course. It really just helped
me improve my writing. And it was just a great every
time I'd go to office hours I'd come out like feeling
better and just like leaving, I'm like, I'm the best
here, no one can stop me. So that was really fun. Then obviously all my phone
classes have been really great. So I'm excited for more of those. - Awesome. Awesome. And how has, from your experience as
a student within the
Joint Degree Program, and the pandemic affecting
it, basically halfway through how did that affect your experience? How did it affect it a
year ago in the spring, And then how did they
manage this past fall? - Obviously it was really
upsetting having to go home. I was really bummed about
that, because it was also right on spring break, right after my birthday. So I was planning on going to Norway. Didn't happen, but that's okay. Had to go home, sad times, but then it's been
really,
really nice being back. I didn't go home for winter break so I just spent the whole time here. You obviously can't go as far because of the lock-down
restrictions and everything, but I've seen so much of the local area and so much of Fife and just so much of Scotland
that I never would have seen had the pandemic not happened. Because why would I
casually go on a day trip to another little fishing village. Why am I going to this
random, Scottish city? Now it's just really fun. And I have
all these cute little day trips planned for, after I finished. And all my friends are from Scotland so I'm going to go see all
their homes and their towns. And it's just really like special in its own kind of sad kind of COVID but also just nice way. - Thank you. And then we have a question asking are there classes related to film production and
if so, how are they? - That's more so a thing on
the William and Mary side. I actually signed up for one
of those classes for next year. So Intro to Pr
oduction,
where hopefully I'll know. I'm sure it's good. No one's ever told me it wasn't good. Also just within that
there's a lot of opportunity to learn about film production
at both universities. They both have media centers and resources to take out film equipment
and learn how to do it. I remember my first
year at William and Mary I signed up for the global film festival to be a youth mentor. And I had no idea how to edit a video. The whole goal was to teach
them how to make their own film
and I didn't really know how to do it. I just found my own mentor within that, who was a fourth year at William and Mary. And he showed me how to
download all of the Adobe suite kind of stuff. Not so legally but it works really well. I now know how to use like Premier Pro. I can use Photoshop and all of that. So there's also a lot of resources at William and Mary to like
teach you how to do that. Both online and then in person. And at St. Andrews, it's a similar deal, where they have the film ma
king society. So with that, they also
teach you how to do that. And there's lots of opportunities
to make your own film and entering competitions. Which is not something that I've been personally super interested in. But I know that there's a lot of people who do it and they love it. - Nice, awesome. I have a final question,
but again, those tuning in feel free to drop your
questions to the Q&A box, but what advice would you
give to these Film Studies admitted students deciding on whether to do
the program or not? What advice would you give them? - Honestly, just make the
most of your opportunities. I worked very hard in high
school. That's how I got here. It was a lot of fun, and then I got to university and realized there's so many other great
things that come with it that are kind of outside education that I never would have thought of. Trying a lot of different
clubs and societies and things I didn't know I would be interested in. That just seemed fun. And just looking for all
thes
e different opportunities that I never really saw
myself doing or thought of but it just seemed like cool. And just making the most of
all the different opportunities that both universities have to offer, because, why not? - Good advice, good advice. And then it looks like
we have a question asking how much do the JDP students
function as a cohort? Particularly during the
years at St. Andrew's. Meaning do they meet regularly
formally, informally? Is there support from faculty for William Mary JD
P students
while they're at St Andrew's? - Yeah, we're definitely a tight cohort. I have my friends in my JDP, I have my friends in St. Andrews. It's kind of funny. When I talk about them, it's like, Oh, my friend Claire from the JDP. A lot of my really good
friends are from the program. So that's absolutely lovely. We do have formal and informal events, obviously more so without COVID. We also have the WaMStA
student partnership. Which is like the students,
own like leading way where we have ev
ents and funding and just all these different
things to support each other and support ourselves. I'm on the exed board for that. I am the External Communications Officer. I run our Instagram and
our blog and all of that. And then also in terms of
faculty and administration, we definitely get a lot more
support at both schools, then students if you just went to one, because I have all of my advisors. Every time there's an event
there everyone will, come up. They know who you are. I remember, las
t year going into St Andrew's We had this big welcome
event and everyone's there. And then I just remember Dean Sikes, just walking up to me and
like, Oh, Hannah, how are you? How is everything? How's Film Studies? And I was just like, wow, I didn't even know that you knew my name. And you just saw me across the room and you knew it was me and all that. And my advisors, they come
to everything and everyone, they're always there for
you when you need them. And they respond really quickly. And the
n there's different
times where you you check in and they'll just like reach out to help. And they'll just reach out
to see how you're doing which is just really lovely. - And then our next question asks, when you went to St. Andrews, did you room with people in the JDP or were you randomly assigned? - I actually live in a single, which is amazing, highly recommend. At William and Mary, my
roommate coincidentally also happened to be in the JDP. That was a lot of fun. But then when we were going
to St Andrew's they're like, everyone has their own room, so obviously we're going
to have our own room. There's a bunch of people in
the JDP who were in my hall, but everyone who I live with
is just St. Andrew students, which is also just a really
great opportunity to meet people because now those are
like my closest friends. I live with them again this year. And it's just great. And then I also just know a lot of people within the program who
they do come to St Andrew's and they do room with s
omebody in the JDP because that's what they want to do. And it's all worked out great for them. They're all really good friends as well. So it's really just up to your preference. - Awesome. Does anybody
have any more questions? Oh, it looks like we get
another question I'm asking. Will it be hard for you to find a roommate senior year back at William Mary? - Actually, I decided for senior year since I haven't been there in awhile and a lot of my friends
are either in the program or they've grad
uated. And I also just want to
branch out a little bit because, you know it's always fun to make new friends. I'm actually living
with people who I found on like the get-a-room, Facebook page. They just posted that
they needed a fourth. So I messaged them. We face timed, they seem lovely
and I'm living with them. And then ironically, one of my really good
friends from the program is living next door. So it just works out really well. - That does workout. That's great. Any other questions? For pe
ople tuning in, any questions you want to
drop in the Q&A or the chat? We'd love to answer. And of course, for those tuning in, I did put my email next to my name in case you had any admission questions. Hannah if you're good dropping your email in the chat to attendees. That way, they have your
email in case they questions specifically about the student experience that unfortunately I cannot speak to from a firsthand experience. So please feel free to reach
out to either one of us. We're happy
to answer questions. Oh, Hannah just dropped in her email. I think that was actually
to all panelists. So let me just copy it. No, it's very hard. I'm sending it to everybody. So there we go. There's her email. Don't mind the dog barking in the back, but please feel free to reach out to us with questions after today but thank you so much, Hannah, for providing your
experiences and your insight about the program, the film studies major and thank you to those tuning
in and learning more about it.
We're so happy you could tune
in and talk with us today. Have a great evening.
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