Last week I promised to share some good news with a little tease, and noted that those who follow me on social media already saw it. So for those who don’t, here is the news: our older son Danny applied ‘early decision’ to New York University and specifically the Tisch School of the Arts in the film program.
And … he was accepted! Not just that, he got what my wife called a ‘BIG ASS SCHOLARSHIP’ that meant rather than the expected tense sitting around the table with computer, pencil and slide rule trying to squeeze out enough money to get him there … last week were able to simply say ‘you’re going’, click the ‘Accept Offer’ button (which naturally comes with a good sized ‘deposit’ requirement) and that is it … he is part of the NYU class of 2019.
If you asked me a year ago when we were going to be now … I wouldn’t have known what to tell you. He was getting solid grades but his study habits were atrocious, and in one of his AP classes it was having a significant impact, and so we got him involved in a special ‘study plan’ that involved the teacher and guidance office. We did that for a few months and while I would like to say it helped, I think that simply maturing, having older friends graduating and heading to college and having his own aspirations are what mostly got him back on track.
It has been an amazing transformation – he has grown up and matured so much into an amazing young man, with an incredible artistic vision and deep and insightful way of looking at the world.
When looking at colleges it is one thing to look on paper, another to see it in person. So while he had an interest in RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology), he pretty well hated the campus. He liked the University of Rochester Campus, but not the programs. His other schools he liked for both academics and the campus were Syracuse, SUNY Purchase, and Boston University. But NYU … there was just a palpable difference … this was totally his place. There was no question – it was a great fit.
I want to share his portfolio video that he submitted (and wanted to get his permission, which he gave me yesterday), but first wanted to share some images from our trip:
This was taken from the window of our apartment where we stayed for the week.
Couldn’t have asked for a better place!
Washington Square Park – NYU surrounds this, calling it ‘their unofficial quad’.
In the bookstore … these were the books they were looking at …
… not these. I was looking at these.
Filming a jazz combo playing in the park.
At Alice’s Tea Cup on the upper west side
Central Park selfie!
It was a great vacation, and more importantly we came away with the school that was far and away his top choice … and will now be where he is living starting in Fall 2015. Here is his portfolio video (note – there is NSFW language and difficult themes):
Running Around the Bend 