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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Exactly. Both things can be true (i.e., CMU has a top drama/MT program and graduates in the major have fairly poor job prospects, though almost certainly better than drama/MT majors at other schools).[/quote]

So you are saying drama/MT majors at CMU have a 0.002% employment rate while drama/MT majors have a 0.003% employment rate?  At a 80K/year at CMU for that 0.001% better odd, LOL....[/quote]

It's basically impossible to make any statement one way or the other because acting jobs are basically freelance positions.  Sure, you might get cast on a successful television show that provides an annual recurring (and then residual) income...but most acting jobs are not like that.

That said, every city has a stable of working actors that perform in theatre productions, local commercials, etc.  Some of those actors cobble together a career that allows them to act full time.  It's unclear the background of those actors.

[b]Seems like you think all arts conservatory programs are a waste.[/b]

Here is a blurb from a CMU profile of one of their grads:

He’s far from the first alumnus of CMU’s School of Drama theater program to make a living as an actor, which he credits to how students learn to transform pages of ink into living, breathing characters during their conservatory training.

It’s not uncommon for the drama school’s alums to bump into each other on set or backstage. A few examples include Broadway’s smash-hit “Hamilton,” which features Leslie Odom Jr. (A’03) and Renée Elise Goldsberry (A’93) in starring roles, and the second season of FX’s award-winning and critically acclaimed television show “Fargo,” which features three generations of CMU drama school graduates—Ted Danson (A’72), Patrick Wilson (A’95), and Rachel Keller (A’14). When you’ve been harvesting a crop of working actors year after year since 1914, it’s not so much serendipity as the result of the school’s time-tested techniques.

The school’s success is defined by its consistency, but individual acting careers unfurl in fits and starts. Dive into the biography of nearly any success story, and you’re bound to unearth bouts of unemployment, struggle, and long stretches spent wandering in the dark.

The reality of the business is that no matter one’s pedigree, the odds of success—whether that’s defined as making a living in Hollywood, Broadway, or otherwise—are long. Don Wadsworth, head of the school’s acting program, says that for most actors, the big break—if it comes at all—arrives “not with the first or second job—but with the 40th or 50th.” That’s why the program instills the principles of technique, perseverance, and flexibility. “Those are what could give you a career,” says Wadsworth, “instead of just one or two flashy parts in your 20s.”[/quote]

I never said such a thing.  I just questioned the need to spend almost 87K/yr at CMU drama/MT that you can get the same education/training at VCU for 30K/year.[/quote]

Because this parent never had success as an artist, so she’s desperately and insecurely hoping that her kid will?  Just a guess. [/quote]

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