The Job Vanderpump Rules' Tom Schwartz Almost Pursued
The initial seasons of Vanderpump Rules revolved around the drama between Stassi Schroeder, Kristen Doute, Tom Sandoval, and Jax Taylor as alliances were formed and destroyed. The issues between Tom Schwartz and his long-suffering girlfriend Katie Maloney slowly but surely came to the fore after Scheana Shay got married, leading everybody — including boss Lisa Vanderpump — to begin questioning when Schwartz was going to grow up and ask for his lady's hand, too.
For a while, it seemed like the sometimes-model had no interest in becoming an adult, never mind getting married and having children as Maloney so clearly wanted. He did eventually get his act together, of course, at least to a certain extent (the laid-back Minnesota native still insists on wearing open-toed shoes no matter the occasion) but his desire not to work a regular job memorably led to a full-on anxiety attack in PUMP. Hence why it's so shocking to learn that, once upon a time, the Vanderpump Rules star was headed for a very serious career indeed.
Tom Schwartz almost became Dr. Schwartz
As People notes, Schwartz attended the so-called Jax Taylor/Tom Sandoval school of modeling, meaning he didn't study the craft prior to making it his sole income source. He actually found the two lads on Craigslist while searching for a place to stay upon initially moving to Los Angeles, and clearly Schwartz chose well because the rest is Bravo history. Prior to becoming a reality star/model (and not the other way around), however, Schwartz was actually in a real college, doing a proper degree. It's been mentioned in passing on the show, but is still galling to consider nowadays.
The Vanderpump Rules star actually attended Florida State University, where he studied medicine. Schwartz said, "I was pre-med in college. [But] what I really wanted to do was act. I thought, 'Who am I to think I can be an actor?' I tried to deny the feeling for a while but then I got into print [modeling] work and the entire being on set thing was really fun," (via Bravo).
Reddit reckons he was probably in a fraternity, but those are unsubstantiated reports. Clearly, the reality star couldn't ignore Hollywood's call forever, which is why we now know him as "Schwartzy" rather than "Dr. Schwartz."