Why I’m glad I chose Law instead of Drama

A dream is a wish your heart makes. But it won’t pay the bills.

I don’t need a degree to be an actor, but I do to be a lawyer.

We’ve all been there, you leave school and optimistically hope to pick the degree of your dreams that will set you up for life and deliver instant success.

Shame life doesn’t work like that.

I’ve sat in a foyer for two hours with hair artfully tussled and a dab of my sister’s foundation covering the start of a poorly timed acne break-out. But it’s worth it because nattering to skulls and prancing about in tights is in my blood.

But Law is my degree.

Halfway through a course that isn’t Drama, I chose pragmatism against passion- proving that you’re better keeping your options open.

When I was 11, I took to the stage in a local production of Waiting for Godot, and lost the part immediately. Not the most inspiring start to a career.

But a few acting classes later and my role as the baron in a local pantomime was the toast of the local tearooms and the target of various F-bombs from preteens.

This was enough to convince me the West End was waiting for me…until it was time to submit a UCAS form.

At the insistence of zealous careers advisers, “But STEM subjects are where the jobs are!” I passed on my chance to study Drama and opted for Law.

It was the right choice.

I’ve made more questionable life choices

This is the reality. Among my friends who study Performing Arts, the talk about unemployment is rife.

At an audition it doesn’t matter about training or a degree in Drama, instead you have to show  examples of work. Experience counts for more than any degree.

Yet you may collect a number of parts and have shed loads of experience but gain not one employable skill from any of it. At a job interview on the list of traits the manager might look for, “being able to express emotion under studio lighting” isn’t going to be very high up.

Unless your career takes off, you can easily be left high and dry by an industry already saturated by young and pretty people just like you.

‘Nope, no jobs here either’

Halfway through first year, this is a tough realisation to take. But the gamble has undoubtedly paid off. Working on creative projects means you can do what you love whilst building a more tangible skill set at university.

Without a back-up plan a dream can quickly become a nightmare, leaving you confused and alone atop a cold, pathetic bed of failure.

Break a leg.

Even that ceramic fish won’t want to associate with you