5 Things I Wish I Knew Before Getting a BFA in Acting

Recieving my BFA in acting was one of the greatest joys of my life. I had a rigorous, challenging, and rewarding journey as an undergraduate. I came in eager to learn, but I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about acting. Boy, was I wrong.

After reflecting on my years spent training, I came up with five things that I learned during my professional journey that I wish I had learned earlier. 

1. You Are Here to Learn, Not to be Perfect Already

This is by far the most important lesson I learned in drama school. After constantly beating myself up for not understanding the nuance of Chekhov, flubbing basic audition technique, or feeling a disconnect between my voice and body, I had a eureka moment. If I was already perfect at every aspect of acting, there would be no need for me to be studying it.

If I, at 18 years old, was already a maestro, I’d be gracing the stages of the most renowned theatres in the world, not drilling my slate in a practice room until I no longer felt robotic. The whole point of going to college and getting a degree in acting, or any field in theatre, is to learn, to fail, and to improve.

Perfect isn’t interesting, and the years I spent in college would have been rather boring if I had nothing to learn.

2. Your Goals and Passions Will Change

I came into college with my eyes set on New York City and jazz hands. In my heart, I knew my love was with straight theatre, but I was one of many young people whose primary exposure to professional theatre was large budget, commercial, Broadway musicals. There is absolutely nothing wrong with pursuing that niche as a career, but since it was all I knew, it was all I had to measure success against.

Through my years, my passion for Broadway and NYC morphed into a desire to travel as a children’s theatre performer. That idea quickly faded, and I soon felt passionate about settling in a city like Chicago or Minneapolis to do Shakespeare and contemporary plays. That goal stuck, and I now co-captain a local Shakespeare company in Minneapolis. The moral here is that it is not wrong to change your mind and pursue a new goal or niche. You are not giving up, you are simply growing.

3. Change Your Mindset from “Have To” to “Get To”

This was a lesson that hit me like a ton of bricks after graduating. I had gone from acting, or otherwise being involved in theatre making, every single day for three and a half years (I graduated early), to going weeks at a time without acting.

Even in the busiest of audition seasons, I found myself lucky to do a few monologues a week. I missed acting every day. I missed collaborating. I missed being held accountable by someone who wasn’t myself. I missed being required to create every day.

Of course, there are ways around it in the professional world. I quickly enrolled in classes, met up with friends for work sessions, or ordered new plays to read. However, for every busy season I have had as a professional, I have had a slow season.

Looking back on my time as a BFA student, I wish I would’ve replaced my complaints of “Ugh, I have to memorize this scene,” or “Ugh, I have to go to 8am Acting Studio,” with “I get to to memorize this scene,” and “I get to go to 8am Acting Studio.”

4. Other People’s Success is Not Your Failure

This can be a hard lesson to come to terms with in a field that is as competitive as ours. Not only are we judged on our talent, but we’re judged on our appearance, the tone of our voice, our posture, our resume, and our choice in material. It was very easy, (and sometimes still is), to get jealous of a classmate who got good feedback in class, received a role I wanted, or got more callbacks at a regional audition.

I learned, however, that this reaction was simply rooted in insecurity. The fact of the matter was that I could’ve changed my hair, clothes, or material as much as I wanted, but this career is incredibly subjective. Just because someone else gave a good performance in class didn’t mean that I wasn’t talented too.

What has helped me in my professional life is to become fans of my “competition.” Knowing that someone who I admire as an actor booked a role I thought I was perfect for makes me excited to support their work rather than get jealous or down on myself. The truth is that, yeah, you probably could do that role just as well, but a closed door will leave room for a new window of opportunity.

5. The Degree is Just the Beginning 

“This is just the start,” was a piece of advice I received from one of my professors during my final week of college. He went on to explain that even though I had learned and grown so much throughout my years, I by no means knew it all.

The tools and technique I learned would continue to ebb and flow as a professional. I would begin again at the bottom of a proverbial food chain and work incredibly hard to inch my way up. Even though I was so proud of the work it took to receive my BFA in acting, I didn’t doubt it for a second that I still had, and have, a long way to go.

I stepped out into the professional world repeating in my head, “You are here to learn, not to be perfect already.”