Modeling Schools
Will modeling schools help? The answer is maybe, although the majority of the world's most famous models never attended modeling school. On the other hand, if you are uncomfortable in front of an audience or in public speaking, modeling schools have a good track record in training their graduates to have a higher degree of poise and polish. But modeling schools do have contacts in the modeling trade but don't expect a big modeling contract waiting for you after finishing a modeling school. Reputable modeling schools will not make promises of guaranteed employment but then neither will any other reputable schools of any kind. Modeling schools actually present somewhat of a paradox. Many of the major modeling agencies prefer to train their own models and they just might be looking for the youthful naivete, freshness, and innocence that you already possess.
Modeling schools do not transform people into models. While the schools can teach you how to dress, walk and apply make-up, there are very strict criteria for modeling, especially in high fashion.
So decide what you want from a school before you make a decision that can cost you hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars. Some schools will accept all applicants, regardless of their real chance of making a career in the business. Others are more discerning and will be honest about your chances, given your talent, measurements and looks. Still others won't take you unless they believe you really have the potential to work in the business.
Whether you are looking for an acting coach or teacher or a modeling school, talk to former and current students, audit classes and try to interview the prospective teacher first. If you can't meet the teacher personally, check out his or her resumé-before you sign up.
There are people at modeling schools who tell aspiring models who is and who is not agency ready. How do modeling school staff know who is "agency ready"? A modeling school is not an agency. If they are not an agency, they don't book models.
If they don't book models, they don't know if the clients considered a model ready or not. And if they don't know if the clients considered a model ready or not, they are in no position to say who is and who is not "agency ready."
Modeling schools are accountable to none. There is nothing to prevent them from exploiting the conflict of interest once, frequently, or all the time. There are no laws governing education at modeling schools. The industry, as already noted, has no standards. Modeling schools have no standards. Modeling school teachers have no standards.
A school is not an agency!
Aspiring models have been confused in the past, assuming a school was an agency. Even though the school may not call itself an agency, those who are unfamiliar with the modeling industry have made the mistake of assuming some modeling schools were modeling agencies.
Just as some potential models have made a mistake without coercion, others have been led to believe a school was an agency, because the school acted as if it was an agency, behaving similarly to agencies by using "model scouts," open calls, and telling the young people they had been "selected. Why do aspiring models go to modeling schools if they are not necessary? Why do they pay hundreds or thousands of dollars in the hopes of getting signed by and work though a modeling agency after attending a modeling school?
Very often it is simply because the prospective models do not know they can directly access the agencies on their own without payment.
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