I’ll jump in here. My D graduated with the BFA-MT last May. And rather than moving to NYC or Chicago of LA, she realized she needed to chill out for a bit, so she came back to her hometown (a large Midwest city), and decided to start her career there. Since graduating she was in a professional show (Hunchback of Notre Dame), then went from that directly to a major community theater production of Annie (she was Grace), and from that to a big Christmas show. To make ends meet she bartended and waitressed, and now works part time for a big performing arts center in our town. She went to a unified profession audition and got a number of call backs and several offers for the summer and beyond, and signed a contract for this summer. And just this week auditioned and got called back for a couple equity theater gigs. She is thinking about grad school down the road, which I’d love to see because she’d be a terrific theater professor. She is close to her best friends, and this approach works quite well for her right now. at some point she may very well take a shot at NYC or whatever, but right now she’s actually getting on stage on a fairly regular basis.
Different kids have different experiences, and wind up with different goals. You might meet someone and that will change your entire outlook. You might take a class in college and realize a new passion. I love watching from a distance and seeing my D’s life evolve.