Insider Model Agent: Agent’s Opinion of Modeling Schools (Pt. 3)

“…then you’ve got these idiotic local modeling schools…”

Have I got your attention now?

Good. Because those are the words that losers believe. Those are the words that nobodies who spend the rest of their lives working in Taco Bell believe.

You’re not. You’re a believer in a different ideal, a higher ideal. And you’ve got some fire in your soul and you want to be the best and most glamorous model the whole fricking world has ever seen.

Keep telling yourself that, and you’ll probably make it.

Ever seen those crappy modeling schools? You know the local ones that are located in strip malls and always seen to be between the Starbucks and the Chinese food restaurant. Going by names like John Robert Powers and Barbizon?
Well, JRP and Barbizon are the best of the bunch, believe me. That’s ‘cause they’re at least part of a national franchise.
Then you’ve got those idiotic local modeling schools – whatever their names are. Some local dancing teacher in Nowhere, Iowa decides she knows all about modeling, so she sets up this little modeling school next to the frozen yogurt shop.

You’ve seen them.

Well, I’m telling you they’re all garbage.

Here’s the down and dirty secret of all of those modeling schools: You will not become a model because of them.

What you will get from the modeling schools, whether the best modeling school in the world or that skanky modeling school next to the Starbucks, is a basic education in what modeling is about, fashion, skin care, hair care, that type of thing. A Basics of Modeling, if you will. Or a Modeling 101, put it that way.

“…the worst you might expect [from modeling schools]…is to get scammed”

It’s like going to junior college to learn how to become a doctor.

Doctors do not come out of junior colleges. Yeah, doctors do learn some of the basics at a junior college, such as basic English, writing, science, biology. But not one single doctor In the entire history of the entire world has ever come out of 2 year community college. It’s a physical impossibility. It’s not even allowed by law.

Modeling schools are the community colleges of the modeling industry.

The best you’re ever gonna get out of a modeling school is a basic education. Like I said, the haircare, how to walk on a runway, blah, blah.

But the worst thing you might expect is to get scammed. That’s right.

Watch out, girls and boys. Lots of people know you’re desperate for fame and fortune, for glitter and bling…and they’re willing to take your $5,000 and teach you how to walk a straight line on a runway.

Complete and utter bull****. A scam. A fraud.

But as you’ll see later on, I end up eating my words…

Advice:  Cheap—or Free—Modeling Schools
Quick tip here. Since we’re on the topic of community colleges, these are great places to learn the basics of modeling…all without spending $5,000. Did you know that most junior colleges or community colleges have classes on fashion?

A second option is continuing education. Now, these are usually run by the community college, but you don’t really have to be enrolled in the college to take them. They’re usually quick 1 or 2 month classes, and I’ll bet you they have a modeling or fashion class you can take.

All very cheap. Classes might cost anywhere from $40 to $300. Much, much cheaper than the thousands that these bogus modeling schools ask. Some community colleges even have programs for students with special financial needs—and the tuition might be deferred (free, in other words).

“…Buffalo [New York] ain’t exactly a glamorous place [to be a model]”
Now, here is a good story about a model that came from nowhere and who went on to become a fashion model on the runways of Milan and New York.

Her name is Jessica White. She grew up just as a regular girl in the very unglamorous city of Buffalo New York. When you think of Buffalo you think of snow, rusting factories, and unemployment. Buffalo ain’t exactly a glamorous place.
But what she did was amazing. She went from looking through the Buffalo New York Yellow Pages for modeling schools—to being signed by a top modeling agency in New York City less than 12 months later.

True story. She did it by going to a small modeling school. You know, the type we talked about above, the type of crummy and skanky modeling school next to Starbucks and Chinese restaurant.

Except as far as local modeling schools go, this one was pretty good. The year was 1999, and the school was nothing more than a converted house down the street near bunch of strip malls, a pizza place, a gun shop, and a piercing and tattoo shop.

But what she did was amazing. The school was run by a woman name Susan Makai. Susan was a local Buffalo celebrity back in the 1970s. But instead of fading away, she turned her talents around to the local community with her school.

I’d have to say that Susan Makai is the exception to the rule. A lady who didn’t make it in the “big world” of editorial modeling in Milan and New York. But still a lady who gave her Buffalo students everything she had, and sometimes that “everything” means encouragement. It means encouraging self-esteem and pride and confidence.

So I eat my words. But like I said, that’s the exception to the rule. Most local modeling schools are trouble.

Go to Insider Model Agent Part 4