<p>The other people you are competing with are also people just like you, who have just come out of high school and so their experience is almost entirely going to be high school productions.</p>
<p>Make sure you let the colleges know about all this experience you have. Don’t leave anything out. You will probably also need a “portfolio”, a collection of documents, photos, etc that can show people what tech work you have done. So start organizing that, and in the meantime keep getting as much tech experience as you can.</p>
<p>I have always heard that folks with theatre tech degrees have an easier time finding work than folks with acting and directing degrees–there are simply too many aspiring actors and directors for the few jobs available, while there is often a shortage of trained tech people.</p>
<p>In small theatres, everyone has to help out, and “job descriptions” tend not to be very strict, so you will indeed find yourself doing everything. Later (maybe not much later!) in your career you will be working for union theatres, that will have strict rules about what folks can or can’t do. But for a job like “stage manager” or “technical director” a good overview of all theatre tech is only going to help, not hurt.</p>