<p>Currently: Undergraduate Sophomore in Business (more precisely, Marketing)</p>
<p>Recent realization: LOVES writing (more specifically the interactive format; tv shows, screenplays, comics), only lukewarm about a career in Marketing.</p>
<p>Knowledge: that a degree in marketing is only the fastest way to a sales position; not to an advertising one (my favorite aspect of the field).</p>
<p>Options:</p>
<p>1) Stick to my current major at a relatively unknown business college here in Canada.</p>
<p>2) Try my damnedest to switch to a US university for a degree in English hopefully Yale to which I was admitted a year ago but couldn’t go to because I got accepted after being waitlisted and had already made other (MUCH cheaper) plans for my current college. (This choice implies a 5-figure student loan).</p>
<p>3) pick another more specialized college for a career in writing (screenplays and tv shows ideally)</p>
<p>Going to Yale would probably be your best bet, but it may no longer be an option for you. However, you can succeed no matter where you go if you really work at it. Networking is one of the keys to success. You have to be good at what you do, and persistent about it, but you also have to build respect among your current and future colleagues. You should build strong relationships with your professors and anyone else you know in the field. </p>
<p>Just follow your passions and interests with conviction and you’ll be fine – just remember that for most people, it takes many years before they get to where they want to be.</p>
<p>Also, if you plan to stay in Canada permanently, you may want to start thinking about which part of the country you’ll live in and maybe transfer to a school in that city so you can start networking early. Isn’t Montreal the place to be for your field? A lot of people stay in the area where they went to college. In other words, if you wanted to find a job in New York City (or some other big American city), Yale would be an amazing choice because of the tens of thousands of alumni running amok in your field, but if you wanted to work in Montreal for the rest of your life maybe McGill would be just as good.</p>
<p>A lot of people in the U.S. have an attitude about pre-professional degrees like Business. If this is true in Canada as well–especially true among the people in you desired field–I’d consider a change of major to something in the liberal arts.</p>
<p>Is there a university in Canada that has a lot of ties to the entertainment industry? I’d look into transferring there if there is an old boy system you could truly benefit from.</p>
<p>Get involved in writing related extracurriculars at whatever university you attend, be it writing for a school paper or literary magazine or writing plays performed on campus or working on a school TV or radio station (if possible).</p>
<p>Any chance for internships in your field of interest?</p>
<p>I think debt load needs to be considered seriously. You say you would have had a five figure debt had you gone to Yale. There’s a big difference between $10,000 and $90,000. This still needs to factor into your decision. If you follow your dream career, it’s one that won’t pay well and debt can crush your dream.</p>
<p>I agree that transferring to Yale will be extremely difficult, much more than getting in initially. I’d say the reasons to transfer to Yale have less to do with getting an English degree (yeah, it has the best department in the country, but you can get great English degrees elsewhere) and more with the Yale’s powerful network and the opportunity to work on very well respected publications like the Yale Daily News.</p>
<p>When you talk about a specialized school, do you mean a place like NYU or USC? I wouldn’t move to a no-name school that has the program you want, only a highly recognized one.</p>