People are going to question your choices your entire life. The best advice I can give you is to own your decision. As a bright 18-year-old going off to college, I made the decision to go to school for Dance. Yes, my parent's friends and anyone they had a relationship with in the town community thought they were nuts in allowing me to do this. A lot of the naysayers were convinced I was going to be a starving artist forever and would never be able to hold down a job. Fast forward 4 years, I graduated from SUNY Brockport in New York with a bachelor's degree in Dance and a minor in French and Communications. I had the unfortunate graduation date of May 2008. Right before the recession hit in that fall. Where numerous people lost their jobs, their homes, and their livelyhood. Many recent graduates moved back home due to limited job prospects and a lack of money they were making at frontline jobs. I was not one of those graduates.
After finishing school, I moved to New York City to intern with a Dance Company. Shortly after that, I accepted a job with a world-renown dance company, Garth Fagan Dance. I never faltered in living on my own once I finished school. Did I have to take on various part-time jobs such as teaching dance at numerous studios and being a waitress at weddings and in country clubs? Yup, but I got to do what I loved and I thrived even though the world around me was in a freefall. Many of those parents who knocked mine for letting me go to school for Dance ended up with a 21-year-old adult living in their childhood bedroom.
So what is the point of this post? A degree does not make you who you are meant to be. Your work ethic, drive, and desire are what is going to help you succeed - no matter what is happening in the world around you. Your degree is just a piece of paper. Does it help get your foot in the door at various companies and help with getting a starting pay increase? Absolutely, but the way you are going to keep that job and continue to move up the ladder is through your actions and how you shine.
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