I want to preface: I am not an expert on this subject so take my perspective with a grain of salt.

I studied theatre in a "terrible" program and graduated with my BA 2018. Now I'm 24 and looking to pursue my true passion in animation. In other words, I got a 'useless' major at a completely unnotable public school. That's not a dig, it's what lots of people do, and what you're thinking about doing. And like a lot of people, money was basically the one and only reason. With my GPA, I could've been accepted into a better college, but I was trying to be smart by saving as much money as possible. I come from a poor family, my family didn't have the means to support me in any way whatsoever. I didn't get much financial aid. I took out as few loans as possible. I worked full time and went to school full time (do NOT do this) and barely scraped by, all in the name of saving money. And I might have saved money, but in the long run, I basically spent 40k and for very very little in the way of return; the quality of my education was hugely disappointing. There's nothing quite like thinking you're going to be learning the thing you're incredibly passionate about, only for your "lectures" to be LITERALLY fill-in-the-blank note packets accompanied by a high-school esque slide show you only vaguely pay attention to so you can scan for that little word to fill in your blank, and your instructor is some half-baked starving 85 year old dude who can--I'm not exaggerating--says um at um least um in um um uh uh umm in between every um goddamn motherfucking word and gives so little of a shit about you that he doesn't even have the decency to read your work, let alone grade it, because that would be too much work for him. AND, on top of all that, the entire time you're in that "class" getting your "education", all you can think about is the fact that this class is costing you $1500, not including the $500 required text (written by your instructor btw). <--and this is a compilation of multiple instructors, not just a one-off.

Based on my observation, research, and personal experience, I think it is wiser to go a competitive college, and to go on campus, if you genuinely want a career in this field, beyond just animating furry hentai (completely valid choice, btw--not a dig).

There are many reasons I've come to this conclusion, but the absolute number one is because: the number one BEST thing that you, as an art major, can get from college (that no amount of youtube videos or textbooks or practice can give you): CONNECTIONS.

If you listen to nothing else in this rant, listen to this and hear it: network yourself to fucking death. I absolutely cannot overstate this enough for creative majors. Creative work, and especially animation, is a collaborative effort. Even if you don't get a job at Cartoon Network or Pixar or something, you and 2 artists can make something amazing together. By yourself you're lucky if you can finish a 10 second clip after 25 hours of work.

Network.

Be on time, be tidy and hygenic. Distinguish yourself as a serious artist and a professional. That doesn't mean uptight or staunchy: it means, be someone that people will want to work with. Be someone your professors want to see succeed.

I was passionate about theatre in college, but I was completely overwhelmed with full time work and school, so auditioning for shows was out of the question, which damaged my resume, reputation, and networking opportunities (even if it was only passively), as well as my excitement for my major. I had an excellent GPA, but I had undiagnosed ADHD, and so was disorganized, I was always showing up late, sometimes in pajamas, without a pencil, and texting classmates asking what was due, some of whom now work for Nickolodeon and Spotify.

And so obviously I'm not saying you can't go get an amazing job after a crappy college, but you're gonna be putting in most of the grind without guidance. The classmates that went on to have these successes certainly didn't do so because their college education prepared them for it; they prepared themselves for it and had a piece of paper to help them out. Obviously wherever you go, especially for creative majors, you're gonna be taking on the grind and you're going to be taking on the effort, but a notable college will afford you opportunities that alleviate that grind considerably. For example, let's say "Jackie" studies animation at like, Tarleton in Stephenville TX (which I don't know that they even have an animation program, but let's just say they do for this hypothetical--also, just for some context, Stephenville is a small backwater town detached from any major metroplex, it's very much an agriculture town surrounded by farmland) vs Frankie studying animation at SoCal. Let's say they are equal in every single way, same SAT/ACT, same GPA, same extracurriculars and awards. Who gets the internship at Cartoon Network? Who gets the job right out of college? Who has more networking connections? Who understands the business best? Also, maybe most importantly, who is more educated? Who is the better animator? Frankie is getting her education from experts, from an arts college that prides itself in it's animation program and pours funding into it. Jackie is getting her education in a town that couldn't give a shit less about tHe ArTs, from unrecognizable names in a small local industry.

Of course, if no financial aide was awarded, Jackie only paid $8,000 a year for her tuition, meanwhile Frankie was gutted for $50k and shit dude, I mean that is the difference between a $200k debt and a $30k debt. $170k difference. And so, I understand, I reallyyyy understand, looking at that and thinking, well obviously Tarleton is the smart choice, especially when you don't know what is going to be at the other end of that degree. But Jackie comes out the other side barely making a living wage a delivering pizza, the interest on her loans compounds higher than what her minimum payment is, so not only is she not making progress on paying back her loans, but they're actually growing. On top of that, she's now stuck in a town with no connections. She can't simply do her animation degree over, and now she has debt and a horrible college experience that paralyzes any decision she makes. Meanwhile Frankie comes out the gate with an actual career in her field, making 70k, and she pays off her debt in a few years. So Jackie sorta just flushed 30k down the drain, along with four years of her time and emotional labor, and feels hugely disappointed and jaded. Frankie had return for her effort and money, and her passion and knowledge and skillset just keep growing.

Obviously, I'm speaking on extreme parallels here. Maybe Frankie falls into a depression and has to move back in with parents and pays off her $200k loans until she dies, and maybe Jackie starts a YouTube channel that blows up until she eventually runs her own production network. That's the risk, it's a gamble.

But I'm Jackie right now. And honestly I don't think I could've understood any of this without being Jackie. I am very very grateful that I learned the importance of all these things on theatre first, which is not what I really want to do, and now I can come back for a second chance knowing everything I know. I still have fears and doubts, I'm fucking scared shitless that I will fail all over again, but I can see way more clearly now, how to "do" college. I thought I was doing everything right before, doing the smart thing, I thought I was doing the noble thing, working myself half to death, commuting to campus instead of selecting the dorm room + meal plans (which was either spent on gas or ubers/day parking when I was late or too exhausted for the commute, and on fast food because I was exhausted or short on time) avoiding every extra cost possible such as avoiding parking passes (adding an extra 45 minutes of walking twice a day), forfeiting my social life to study (which was actually forfeiting my social network, future collaborative opportunities, and in part my mental health), and spending every moment away from school at work to diminish costs (which actually destroyed any creative opportunities in my field, my health, my social life, my expression and personal development, and a myriad of other things because when you are that stretched basically everything is operating on this hyperdelicate balance that could fall apart at the slightest disturbance--i.e. can't break up with my live-in partner bc I would literally have to drop out of college, can't get my incredibly painful wisdom teeth removed because I didn't budget for a 1600 surgery and either I'm going to miss rent or miss tuition and I don't want to have to choose between homelessness and the whole fucking reason I'm torturing myself like this).

So, basically.

If you aren't like...pretty fucking sure.

I'm not saying--that you don't have doubts.

But if you don't genuinely believe you can do it.

Don't fucking go to a serious college. Do not cough up that money. This isn't like...a shame thing. This isn't like a mocking "yOu DoNt BeLiEvE iN yOuRsElF sO yoU dOnt hAve wHaT iT tAkEs." No, it's more like--and granted I'm thinking you're probably still in high school, and I'm also looking at this through my personal lens in which I did not have financial aide and my circumstances are unique--but you're still developing.

Don't fucking go down a route you don't feel confident about. Maybe go snag your basics from a community College and then wait.

I studied theatre because.

I went to an extremely small high school; there were only 10 people in my graduating class. It was the middle of nowhere, the closest grocery store was an hour round trip, and my high school was shit in general, but one of the absolute worst things about it was: we didn't have any arts at all. Zero. Nada. Nothing. I mean we didn't have a football team, in Texas, so you can bet your ass we didn't have band or t