...if you're going for the wrong reasons.

There is a general belief that more school is always good. Like most truisms, this one comes with that fun little asterisk at the end of it that denotes certain exceptions or qualifications. As an MFA actor about to start his third and final year of grad school, I love the MFA program and feel it is one of the best investments, financially and temporally, I have ever made. However, I have also had classmates who eventually left the program as they discovered that grad school was not right for them.

If you're thinking about grad school, you may want to think again if the following are your main or only reasons for wanting to go:

You don't know what to do next.

If you just finished undergrad and just don't know what you want to do next, take a year or two off to just work and live life. You might find your dream gig or job in that interlude. Don't go to grad school only to figure out you actually have a true calling as a rocket engineer or lawyer or para-psychologist AFTER 1.5 years and mounds of debt. I went right from undergrad into my grad program because I wanted to carry forth the momentum I felt I had built up by my senior year--but even then, there are times in retrospect where I think a year or two off would've been good for me.

They have a showcase at the end! That's how I'll find an agent!

Going to grad school for the showcase at the end is a bit like buying a car for a chance to win a free vacation. The "prize" at the end should be an added bonus, not the end goal. And it's not even a guarantee! I've seen lots of people walk away from showcase with nothing--really talented, wonderful actors who go on to make incredibly strong work and get great opportunities on their own. If your main motivation is the dream that you'll get "discovered" at the end of grad school, reconsider.

The school is really famous.

The allure of a named program can be really hard to resist. However, it doesn't matter if you went to Yale if the Yale drama program isn't doing the kind of theater and acting that you're interested in. In choosing my grad program, I turned down some great institutions and a few that offered better financial packages because they ultimately were not as good a fit for what I wanted as CalArts.

I really want to move to xyz city to start working in abc industry.

This may be different for some programs, but my experience is that grad school will keep you very, VERY busy (and rightly so!). You'll be doing work at, and through the school / institute you're at. The amount of time for extra-curricular projects and work is limited. If you want to start in an industry (film for LA, theater in NYC etc.), just move there and go for it! You don't need a school to enable you, and honestly you probably won't have time to really dive into the industry/scene until you've graduated anyway.

So why should you look at grad school? Check in next week for part 2. In the meantime, let me know if you agree, disagree, or have other things to add to the list!

-my