Ryan Coogler initially attended Saint Mary's College of California on a football scholarship, where he planned to major in chemistry but was encouraged to pursue screenwriting after taking a creative writing class
. When Saint Mary's canceled its football program in 2004, he transferred to California State University, Sacramento (Sacramento State), where he earned a bachelor's degree in finance while continuing to take film classes
. After graduating from Sacramento State, Coogler was accepted into the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinematic Arts, where he completed a highly competitive three-year master's program in film
