u/JohnnXjohn5

I am a shopmore in college and wanna pursue dentistry and I failed Gen chem 1 and it tanked my gpa but I’m gonna retake it in the fall. I’m a shopmore and will be a shopmore next year to cause of my credits and retaking Chemsitry. I basically have 3 years left of college.

I did Gen chem 1 and biology together that’s why it was very tough and even my academic advisor told me not to do both classes together and I did not listen.

I feel like I did not know how to study and it was my first in person semester of college in years after taking time off after highschool and doing online classes

I’m currently in college in a big college town and I’ve been trying to get into bartending, especially at the downtown bars. I already have experience working at a fine dining steakhouse as a food runner, busser, and barback, so I’m not completely new to the restaurant environment.

The problem is it seems like a lot of the college bars mostly hire through connections, Greek life, or friend groups, and I just transferred to University and I am new even though a lot of the bartenders are only like 18–20 years old. I’ve applied to a bunch of places but it’s been harder than I expected to actually get my foot in the door.

I have a strong work ethic, learn fast, and genuinely want to get experience this summer so I can hopefully work at my college town bars in the fall.
Any advice on the best way to break into bartending in this situation? Should I focus on serving/barbacking first, smaller bars/restaurants, bartending school, networking, etc.?

For people who bartended at AMC Theatres or movie theaters in general — after getting that experience, was it easier to get hired at other bars/restaurants later on?

Especially college town bars or higher-volume places. Did employers respect the experience, or did some places kind of look down on theater bartending compared to restaurant/bar experience?

already have some hospitality experience from fine dining/barbacking, just curious how transferable AMC bartending experience actually is long term.

Those who bartend at AMC theaters is it hard to get hired with no experience? I have an interview tomorrow, I have worked customer service and in restaurants and served a little.

And what’s the money like?

I’ve worked in fine dining as a busser/barback/food runner and spent almost 2 years at Rocket Mortgage, so I feel like I already have solid customer service experience.

Even then, it’s been tough getting hired as a bartender at the downtown college bars. One place even told me being in a fraternity helps.

How did most of you get into bartending around here — server/barback first, connections, or just timing? And is it actually worth it long term?