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Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Original poster

Anyone got dc applying for MT or Drama?

41 replies

TwuntingCrow · 05/02/2017 11:20

Just that - anyone have a child looking at drama and musical theatre degrees ?
Could do with a handhold - it's so horribly competitive ..

OP posts:
Eeeeeek330 · 05/02/2017 17:55

Lots of threads about auditioning for MT and maybe drama too on Not A pushy Mum.

notapushymum.com/phpbb/viewforum.php?f=36&sid=5abe3b320c1ceeaae960b00a6affff59

Good luck

corythatwas · 05/02/2017 18:45

Hand-hold offered here.

Dd is going off, with the world's worst cold, for yet another acting audition on Wednesday. Thankfully, she already has a place (on her 3rd year of trying), but this is the one she really, really wants.

The one thing to be said about it is that you develop an increasingly thicker skin on their behalf.

Fingers crossed for your dc.

GetAHaircutCarl · 05/02/2017 18:46

I've got one applying for RADA.

Very tough process. Four audition rounds which don't finish for months yet.

rogueantimatter · 05/02/2017 19:05

Very best of luck to your DD and to GetaHaircut's DC. Four rounds - flippin' eck.

I don't have anyone doing MT or drama but my DS is starting an undergrad jazz course in sept. Is your DD applying to conservatoires?

Original poster
TwuntingCrow · 05/02/2017 19:30

She's just been turned down at audition for RCS and has auditions for Wales at month end ...

OP posts:
Antaresisastar · 05/02/2017 19:47

Hi Twunting, my dd is auditioning for MT (again!). She's doing a foundation course this year. Auditions start at the end of this month.

AlexanderHamilton · 05/02/2017 19:51

My daughter is 15. She is currently deciding whether to apply for an MT diploma at 16 or whether to wait until 18 & include degrees.

Her dream school list include Tring, Arts Ed, Mountview, Bird & RCS.

AlexanderHamilton · 05/02/2017 19:53

My husband also teaches in that sector & sits on the audition panel for a different school.

PurpleAlerts · 05/02/2017 20:00

My DD is- MT fanatic!
She has so far been turned down for GSA but their first round is only singing (and they audition 2000 for only 36 places of which half are for girls!) so she wasn't really expecting much there.

She has been recalled for Mountview after a whole day of auditions a few weeks ago- they auditioned 80 on her day and only recalled 5 so she is a bit pleased! Recall is in April and think there are two further rounds to get through.

She went to the London regional audition for the Scotland conservatoire last week and was recalled to the afternoon session (they cut out 2/3 at lunchtime after the first round) and is now waiting to hear if she has got into the final round.

She has two more auditions at Arts Ed and Trinity Laban in a few weeks.

She has been informed that not many people get in on the first year they apply so the fact that she has even been recalled for two of them has hugely boosted her confidence.

At both Mountview and SC she was up against students who have been in full time vocational training. She is at a grammar school and although does music and drama a level (and psycology) most of her MT training has had to be been extra curriculular so she has done well to get this far.

If she doesn't get in anywhere this year she will get a job next year and do more training and then try again next year.

Good luck to all the DCs going through auditions! It's a stressful process.

corythatwas · 07/02/2017 10:37

Just heard from dd. Her Guildhall audition is this afternoon and her voice has totally gone. I hope they enjoy miming... Grin

Well done to your dd, Purple: two recalls in your first audition round is brilliant.

Original poster
TwuntingCrow · 07/02/2017 12:13

Mine was recalled for RCS too but got sent away after the second call :(

She's holding a UC for MT at Wolverhampton with auditions for Central, Guildford and Wales still to come ... Is it true that they rarely get in first year of trying then ? DD's grades and references are impeccable

It's so brutal ..

OP posts:
Original poster
TwuntingCrow · 07/02/2017 12:13

Cory
Oh lord ... Fingers crossed for a speedy recovery x

OP posts:
corythatwas · 07/02/2017 12:30

It would have to be very speedy- like half an hour... Last thing I heard she was wandering around London trying to find somewhere that sold paper tissues.

corythatwas · 07/02/2017 12:37

Twunting, don't know about MT, but certainly it's common to have to apply for two or three years running for acting. They are looking for maturity and personality as much as anything else and not every 18yo has those. After one of dd's first auditions (think it may have been Central) she and a group of other non-recalls were told quite straight that they were too young ,and to come back another year.

It's a tough profession; you live on having to sell yourself again and again and being rejected not because you did anything wrong but because the producer had a different facial shape in mind or a different colouring. Or because there were 20 tall brunettes applying for the same part and they only needed one.

PurpleAlerts · 07/02/2017 22:51

Thanks cory- you are so
Right about having a face that fits their "cast" for that year's particular cohort.

DD even more pleased today as found out she got a third recall for the Scotland conservatoire! Unfortunately it is on the Day before two other audition days meaning she has three consecutive days of auditions the first
Of which we have to fly to
Scotland for😮

Hope she can hack it!

VirgilsStaff · 08/02/2017 11:41

She's holding a UC for MT at Wolverhampton

Why oh why would she go there? (I know the department ...)

If you don't get in to one of the better conservatoires which offer degrees, then it's much better to do a straightforward degree (say, Drama, or Theatre Studies) in a very good Department (not W'hampton) but say, Birmingham or Royal Holloway or Manchester or Queen Mary or Exeter or Glasgow - and re-audition when you're a bit older & have some experience.

Or do a 1 year Masters in MT at Central School of Speech and Drama, after a standard UG degree in Drama.

Far better use of your funding.

user1457824083 · 08/02/2017 22:53

This is our 3rd consecutive year of going through the audition process. DS gained an acting ba place on his second year of trying and DD started down the same route this year. After 2 auditions she has so far had one rejection and one recall with two first round auditions to go.
It doesn't get any easier.....

Original poster
TwuntingCrow · 09/02/2017 13:02

Ok VirgilStaff - tell me more ?
She is set - pretty much in applying only for MT this year - obvs next year she may take a wider view .. what's so wrong with W ?

OP posts:
VirgilsStaff · 09/02/2017 14:00

Well, it's not hugely well-resourced, its staff don't figure in the industry, and it's unlikely she'll be "seen" by the industry at the end of the degree. If you look at the 'industry experience' of the staff listed under the Musical Theatre section of the School of Performing Arts, you'll see they've done amdram in Birmingham & Dudley. Not inspiring, I'm afraid.

Three Cs at A level is the entry requirement.

If your DD has any hope of achieving ABB, she should look at any of the top 10 drama/theatre departments. Birmingham (if she wants to be in the Midlands), Manchester, Leeds etc etc. And then do MT as an extra-curricular, as well as dance & singing lessons.

VirgilsStaff · 09/02/2017 14:07

I'm afraid the really tough thing to say - and I know it sounds harsh - is that if you're not accepted for Central, Mountview, E15, LAMDA, RADA, Guildhall, Welsh Conservatoire, Royal Scottish Conservatoire, Bristtol Old Vic, etc - those really well-connected training institutions which have turned out skilled performers for years - well, you know if you're not accepted, you may just not be good enough to make it in the industry ... And not all the graduates of any of those expert institutions are successful at earning a living after 5 years.

I watch the industry from the sidelines (via the careers of several close family members) and I see what extraordinary talent you need to survive.

2014newme · 09/02/2017 14:08

Yes a family member will start in Oct studying drama at uni has 2 unconditional offers, other offers were high AAA OR AAB.

IvySquirrel · 09/02/2017 17:16

I work in this sector

I totally agree with Virgil

Moominmammacat · 09/02/2017 17:23

Virgil is right. Terribly harsh but my DC's contemporaries are finishing conservatoire now and even some really good performers are realising they are going to have to do something totally unrelated to their degrees. Lovely thing to do/follow heart etc but be aware of how things may be three or four years down the line ...

Antaresisastar · 09/02/2017 18:32

I'm afraid Virgil is right too. My dd is 19, this is her 3rd year of auditions for MT. 1st year, she only tried for a few of the big names, as really wanted/needed a gap year. Last year same schools again (GSA, ArtsEd, Central, Mountview plus LCM).
She was offered the BA at LCM (unconditional as she had A level results).
Recalls at all the others but no BA offers. She was offered and chose to accept the Foundation at ArtsEd. I think this was the right choice, she has really been pushed, especially in dance ( her weakest discipline). She has also had to question her commitment to MT as a career choice.
Auditions start again soon and we will have to wait and see what happens.
She loves what she does but is realistic about it providing a long term lucrative career!!!

GetAHaircutCarl · 09/02/2017 20:23

DD has only applied to RADA.

In the ( very likely) event of not securing a place, she will go to university to study English and Drama or ( more likely) go to college in the US.

Then possibly apply for a masters at RADA ( although who knows by then).