<p>My daughter acted professionally during her teen years both on camera and on stage and was wrestling with this question as well. All it took was one audition, once she turned 18 and began competing with adult professionals, for her to learn the stakes were much higher, auditions much more crowded, and odds much greater for her to land a role even with her experience.</p>
<p>It does take a lot of hard work, a lot of maturity, professionalism, and mostly a lot of luck to get where you want to be. Can you get it doing community theatre and student films for four years, taking the occasional acting class on the side? Maybe. Can you get it being committed to your craft for four years in addition to making connections? More likely, but still not guaranteed. If you’re looking for guarantees this is the wrong career for you.</p>
<p>This guy sounds like he chose the wrong program for him. USC was one of my daughter’s possible choices but she decided ultimately it was not right for her. One of their big draws was the film department and the possibilities of working on student films during your four years there (which she is doing by the way at her current school). This guy just sounds bitter but he’s not totally wrong, he’s just more wrong than right, IMHO. But as Joehascoal says above, only you can decide what works for you.</p>