need REAL advice?

Question

I have no clue on what to do. I am going to school to become a teacher but I don't have the patience for teaching or children. I change my mind a lot and I'm driving my family nuts. I keep thinking about theatre, acting, and directing. I love the idea of working in that kind of world but people keep telling me to go for something that I could actually make it at but I think I could make it. I can always imagine myself acting. I just love everything about it. I need some advice. What should I do? Should I go for what I want? Should I listen to my family? What?

Answer 1

I say go for what you want as long as you can afford to get there and stay there on your own. It won't hurt to have a formal education so you have something to fall back on while you're trying to "make it" in the arts.

Answer 2

I know more than a few people who found they really didn't like teaching but finished that degree anyway. They were miserable. If you hate it - don't do it. The more miserable you are, the more likely you are to not complete at all - then you're just "a college drop-out".

"people keep telling me to go for something that I could actually make it at" take that advice. If you hate teaching, you will not make it as a teacher. That's an easy call. You will "make it" at anything you are passionate about.

Teaching is not a "fall back" career if you hate teaching. It will show very quickly and you will find yourself unemployable in that field.

Others are correct, there are plenty of jobs out there for theater grads. Remember too, a Bachelor of Arts in Theater is first a Bachelor of Arts. Many careers don't require a specific major, just a degree.

Go for the dream while you're young. You can do something else later if you need to.

Answer 3

You need to do both.

Get a little job in an office or something like that that doesn't require any career specific qualifications (there are plenty of jobs like this, admin assitants for estate agents, lawyers offices every company has a few young people doing some admin work).

This should keep your parents off your back coz your earning money.

At nights and weekends go to drama school or a college that teaches drama or stage production etc etc.

Btw I'm 22 and have a business degree because I was told I needed to get in the real world and study something that'll get me a "real" job. So now I have a "real" job. Dont love it. Dont hate it. But I want to be a writer. But at the end of the day unless you are Nicole Kidman or JK Rowling.... very very very few people make enough from a career in the arts to survive.

Answer 4

If you don't have patience for teaching, don't major in it. You'll hate it. Bad choice. Change your major.

To what? You could certainly major in theater, and so long as you get a BA in it, rather than a BFA, you'll have a solid liberal arts degree. You could end up working in marketing, just as easily as a history major could - the choice of major won't limit you. But what it will do is provide you with the opportunity to try acting, and technical theater, and etc. To major in something you enjoy, and to allow yourself to take that risk and prepare for that career. Maybe you'll end up being an actor. Maybe you'll end up as a stage manager. Who knows?

There are actually a lot of paid jobs in theater, tv and film, behind the scenes. Sure, the acting jobs may be difficult to get, but if you have the right tech theater skills, and you get some real-world work experience while you're in school, you can be solidly employed "backstage".

So I think you should go ahead, and change your major to theater. Study acting. Do summer stock and student productions to get some experience under your belt. But also take some tech theater classes - directing, but also do work building sets, designing sounds, being a stage manager, etc. Get some solid tech skills, like lighting, sound, carpentry, or whatever interests you. You may end up liking those things, and they can act as a decent back up to you, should acting not pan out, or to supplement your work as an actor. You could well end up making a career in that world, but not as an actor. Who knows? It's worth it to change your major and try it.

Answer 5

It's great to follow your dreams, but you also need to be realistic. Why don't you major in education and minor in theater? That way you will have a career to fall back on if acting doesn't work out.

Answer 6

You could always teach theatre, acting, etc.. instead of going the k-12 route.