CMU School of Drama


Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Chasing Yale

Stage Directions: There is a very ugly, smelly disease among many, many people in our industry right now, and it’s called OMG WHAT IF I DON’T GET INTO YALE Syndrome. The symptoms of this disease are basically sweats and bad attitude about not getting into one of the “top” places to study Entertainment in some form or another.
I have three friends right now who whine about their degrees, and how they’ll never “make it big” because they didn’t get their degree from Yale. Or Northwestern. Or they didn’t study with Ming Cho Lee, so how on EARTH will they ever get their genius recognized? The perception seems to be that there is just a small cadre of schools who really matter, and if you study there, you are guaranteed a spot on America’s Next Top Designer (which I just invented and you may buy rights from me directly) or you get to star in your own sitcom, called Another Actor Makes It Big. This is a particularly pernicious fantasy. (Who wouldn’t want to take the chance at actually succeeding in the fashion that it seems people who go to Yale succeed?) But it is a fantasy all the same.

No comments: