<p>Yup, we can go on and on about what college is all about, and the broad spectrum of theatre training. I think the only absolute is what the OP has already said she suspects - that you can’t get it all in one place, in four years. You’re going to make choices. This isn’t necessarily negative. And everyone in life makes choices based on their particular circumstances.</p>
<p>I have a friend who has the same graduate training as I do. She went right after college, while I waited 5 years and then went (sort of like “adult ed”?). We talk all the time about how she’ll never know what it would have been like to have 5 years of work experience before getting her professional training, and I’ll never know what it was like to build my knowledge directly from college, and to have had those 5 years working at a more professional level. Both experiences were valuable and good. You just can’t do both.</p>
<p>I do agree with SDonCC that college is a one-time opportunity to be where you can do foundational learning with your peers in a structured and contained way. I would prefer that for most young people, and I, too, lean toward building some essential academic skills at this time of life. But we all have stories, for better or worse, of people who have done this unconventionally. Either what they wanted to learn was not academic foundations (such as getting as much theatre training as possible!) or they wanted life experience in a different way. I know kids who are absolutely unsuited to classroom learning, and some who just can’t seem to tolerate living in a campus environment. We all know people who made great use of adult learning opportunities later - both in exploring academic subjects and getting professional training.</p>
<p>The wonderful thing is that there are so many schools and options out there, and that the theatre field is still open to many different paths. Kids who are considering other career options are so locked into one sequence that they have to commit to for years and years with no flexibility - and no better guarantee of success (whatever that really means). I think theatre kids are lucky!</p>
<p>It’s exciting that this field has such an opportunity for lifelong learning, for late bloomers, for people who prefer completely different learning environments, and dozens of other options. Actually, one of the reasons we were less thrilled about my D’s school - because it’s a local school with lots of commuters and non-traditional students (meaning adult returning students and people who take longer to graduate) and we wondered if it would have the right “college” vibe that way - has been really quite enriching for my D. Her program is fundamentally regular college kids on a 4-year schedule, but she’s meeting people experiencing a broad variety of learning and career pathways. She is getting a great perspective on how life is full of surprises and tough choices, and how the long-term results can be mysterious and really quite wonderful.</p>
<p>Worrying about whether a school “has it all” is often a perfect recipe for giving up a school that has things that really matter to you, even if they have some limitations. Faith is a really important word in this whole college - and growing up - process, and no less so in this particular field.</p>