How is Drama considered as an A-level?

My daughters best friend has just started at Cambridge reading philosophy. He took drama , English lit and philosophy. So drama A level certainly didn't hold him back.

When I took Drama, I found that a large part of my grade depended on other people in the group. They needed to show up to rehearsals, take it seriously and contribute properly to the final performance.

In subjects like English and History, your grade is solely a reflection of your own work. Not so in Drama - I didn't always like being worried about whether my classmates would let me down.

Just something for your daughter to bear in mind.

My ex did drama a-level with English.... he's now an actor, playwright and screenwriter in New York. His work is awesome and has won loads of awards both in the U.K. and US.
We are still friendly and I'm ridiculously proud of his work.
He did his degree in Theatre

My niece went to a drama college instead of doing A levels and got an unconditional university offer for screenwriting and media off the back of it

Disagree completely.
Being able to speak confidently in front of people is a benefit most interviews and jobs.

Er... are you ok? You don't think lawyers and teachers etc need to have public speaking skills?

I studied English Lit, History and Drama at A levels and did just fine 😊

It’s a very sensible statement. In a freedom of information request a few years ago drama was the most common A level taken by successful law applicants at a sample of RG universities. I personally know a lawyer and a barrister who both cite the subject as being very useful in their careers and there is lots of evidence that it helps in careers where presentations etc have to be given. So much so that some companies employ drama specialists to do corporate workshops.

Me too!

I thought all the advise was absolutely to take drama! Certainly at gcse. Because of the confidence/assertiveness/ability to talk in meetings/present etc is a fantastic skill across so so many industries.

Drama is an excellent choice with her other subjects! It draws on elements of politics, history, psychology, literature, design as well as the more obvious personal performance/ confidence/ presentation elements.

Someone at DS's school got the top mark in A level drama in the country and went to Cambridge and now works as a City-based management consultant. It's a very well-respected subject.

I have an academic STEM child and an averagely bright 'drama' child (studying it at uni). In many ways our drama child navigates the world more successfully due to their general confidence and presentation skills.

My advice to my DC is play to your strengths and pick subjects you enjoy and which you're most likely to succeed in. Especially if you don't know what you want to go on to do after. Drama is a great choice with history & English lit. All quite general so plenty of scope uni subject wise off the back of them.

No but a real problem for many end careers. If getting to uni to do whatever is the goal then this poster is right. If she wants to be a lawyer, doctor, accountant etc it’s an issue,
Accountant don't need degrees. Drama, History and Lit is a fantastic combination for a would-be lawyer. If she wanted to be a medic she'd be choosing something completely different anyway. So that was a very odd thing for you to post.

I did drama A-level, ours was 50/50 performance and coursework of which a lot was essays.
When I enrolled I was told that it was fine to do drama even if I wanted to go to a serious uni later as my other two subjects were 'approved'.
I don't know if this is the case anywhere else, but they said that subjects like english lit, history, fine art, chemistry etc were approved and universities preferred you to have at least two of those and then you could have a 'second level' course as well like drama, criminology, sociology, media studies etc and then they counted vocational courses below that.

I don't know if thats true or just something a staff member made up to get me to take certain courses, but my university did not care at all what I got my A-levels in anyway as I went to study something unrelated.

Drama was great though- I made a lot of friends through it and the skills are useful in adult life.

(Oops 40kg doodle jumped onto my lap lol) …Opportunity to study the history behind the texts he was performing in a greater depth than he had before.

I did Theatre Studies at A level, I think we ended up putting in more hours due to rehearsals, performances & theatre trips than any other subject! I did Theatre Studies, English Lit, Media Studies & Physics.

I’m slightly biased as I trained as a KS2 teacher and a Lambda drama teacher, but drama at A level encompasses performing of course (if that’s the specialism the student chooses), but it is so much more than that. Communication skills, teamwork, technical theatre, lighting, stage management, advertising, set building, studying theatre practitioners like Brecht, Gordon Craig, Stanislavsky, studying texts from around the world (Lorca & Strindberg for example) and the socio-economic & political backgrounds that influenced their writing, interpreting text from page to performance, movement, composition & comprehension; so many skills that can be applied to other A levels. English Lit is a natural bedfellow to drama, but I’ve seen students taking history, geography, economics & public affairs, environmental studies, alongside more obvious choices like media studies & dance.

I attended a Russell Group Uni (although entrance criteria may have changed of course). My son also took Theatre Studies alongside law, psychology & media studies and likewise joined a Russell Group Uni. He’d already taken Trinity Guildhall exams to a higher level than the A level with more UCAS points & was a professional actor from the age of 8, but he still chose it because it gave him the opportuni

I mean times may have changed but I qualified with art and drama A level equivalents (Scotland) and had no problem getting a university place, and don’t think there’s ever a stipulation of say ‘4 A’s but they can’t include xyz’. Only what it should include.

Also I would like to add that my drama qualifications at school were by far the hardest I worked during my school career. It was hefty and very broad in what was taught.

In addition to the academic side of Drama, the acting training is beneficial for anyone moving into any kind of front facing jobs - eg teaching, Law, project management etc.

this wins the award for the most ridiculous statement on line.

No but a real problem for many end careers. If getting to uni to do whatever is the goal then this poster is right. If she wants to be a lawyer, doctor, accountant etc it’s an issue, she needs to decide what she wants to do.