Acting career while in College?

So basically i am having a hard time figuring out what I want to do with college. I ultimately I want to have a career as an actor but at the same time i want to go to college to be more educated and also because I want to be an entrepreneur once I get my acting career somewhere.


Now I am debating with myself whether I should do full time college (and I have to work full time) or should I start my acting career now and basically start learning that business while also learning in college.


I am 19 and if I go full time in college I could be done by the time I am like 23 but at the same time I feel like I would miss a lot of life's great experiences!


At the same time though if I go part time I will be about 27 finishing college. However I will have experienced a lot and also I will have had a lot of experience in the Entertainment industry by then.


So what do you guys think? Should I work on my acting career while in college?

Acting career while in College?
I did the same debate as you many years ago. However it was for directing and not acting. I started in a two year college and about half a year before I could transfer to a four year I dropped out and moved to NYC to pursue my career. I am glad I did it for the adventures and experience it gave me but I always wished I had finished school. Finally 14 years later I went back full time to finish what I had started. It was difficult being older then the rest of the students but worth it in the end.





As I am sure everyone will tell you ( because it is true) this is a hard business. Even if you are one of the successful ones there will always be down time between projects. Most people aren't earning in the millions so they work job to job. I currently bounce between directing, casting and teaching. Things like writers strikes and lacks of budget can put you out of work for awhile.





So basically what I am saying is I think you should try to go to school full time and look around for what kind of opportunities are out there. If you land one then go down to part time. You are smart in that you clearly see that an education is important. People always ask if actors need a degree and my feeling is that they do because having something to fall back on is one of the smartest things anyone can do. Can you major in business and minor in theatre and get the best of both worlds while in school. If you do this you could also take advantage of internship programs and get a foot in a door that other people who are not in school do not have.





Good luck either way!
Reply:jules nearly has it. This is a point I cover in my free book The Tao of Acting, Mentoring for Aspiring Actors. All college is going to do is make you four years older. you could be useing those four years to become an actor, college will always be there, you can attend later, and there is a way to work on your acting career while in college. Do not go to NYC or LA, you need to go to Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, San Antonio or some other place where a lot of films are made and there is a lot of theatre activityl


For more details, read my profile and write me at my aol address in there.
Reply:I dont know where you go to college, but transfer to a college in NY or LA (depending on what kind of acting career you want to have). Then while you are in college, you can just go to auditions. If you get a big part is when you have to decide about leaving college for a career or whatever but otherwise just stay in college, get a part time job and audition for acting jobs.
Reply:I have the same problem as you..............