Columbia Ranked #2 for Composing for Film and TV

Music Department MFA program recognized by The Hollywood Reporter

Columbia College Chicago’s MFA program in Music Composition for the Screen was recently recognized by The Hollywood Reporter, which ranked Columbia #2 in a list of the top 20 music schools for composing for film and TV in 2021.

The program, headed by Kubilay Uner, Associate Professor and Director, MFA Music Composition for the Screen at Columbia, focuses on film, television, advertising, video games, and interactive media, and gives students the opportunity to complete a five-week semester in Los Angeles interning with professional composers and working with professional musicians and engineers.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Emmy-winning composer and Columbia alum Joel Goodman (ESPN’s 30 for 30) noted that “the program is not offered to undergrads—ensuring that students have a strong composition background before studying film scoring—and also boasts three composers-in-residence, each specializing in a different area.” Goodman went on to praise the program’s director saying, “Kubi [Uner] is a professional composer working now, and to have someone of his ability and experience running this program is a gift. He’s also super talented, open-minded, highly creative, exciting to be around and loves what he does whether it’s making music or teaching music.’”

"While I’m humbled and flattered by being acknowledged so explicitly in the list, we all know these kinds of victories are always team victories,” says Uner. “I want to emphasize that this is the work of our world-class team at the Music Composition for the Screen MFA."

The Hollywood Reporter polled members of Hollywood’s Society of Composers and Lyricists, the Composers Diversity Collective, the Alliance of Women Film Composers, and the music branches of the Motion Picture Academy and Television Academy for this year’s rankings.