Distribution : Student Vs. Short Category? by Beverly Tan

Hello all, I'm rather new to the community here and I'm a young producer doing the festival thing with my first short film. There are many times that I've been able to submit as a short film or a student film and I'd love some insight of the pros and cons. The thing with this film is that it was made while I was in film school, but wasn't specifically a class project. I had mostly had a crew of professionals with 5+ years of experience each. As the writer/director/producer I technically qualify for student categories and if the student category is free vs paying a fee for shorts then I obviously go for the student. But if the entry is the same, which should I do? I think the competition could be easier with student films but some film schools have really high budgets. Would it look better on my resume if my laurels/awards weren't student category? So far all 5 of my acceptances have been for short film categories (one being a new filmmaker category) and I've been rejected from every student category submission so far. I really appreciate the insight and help for the rookie!