What unis do well regarded English Lit with Drama degrees?

[wildfellhall]

Interested to know what perceptions are.

I've just looked at Royal Holloway which looks impressive.

That's exactly the kind of advice I was looking for.

Also, I was interested that when ds did a combined honours course he ended up a couple of times being the last in the queue for any trips as the single honours students got first dibs always. So he missed out on three trips.

But professionally, now, he is finding that having done a combined honours degree is an actual benefit.

I am also thinking how to prioritize uni open day visits. Realistically we may do three? DS and I did only two but it was hampered by Covid.

I made start a new thread to ask that!

My dad used to delight in responding to people who were a bit 'Oh... (sneery face) Hull..... And why did she goes there' with a smug parental 'Oh... Because it's rated the best course in the country'!

They don’t have anything that’s the best now. It’s a run down area in many ways. Not popular with many London students. If it floats your boat, obviously have a look.

I referred to access to theatre because the OP said Drama. Creative writing seems to have crept in. Obviously that’s not Drama and doesn’t need the same stimulation. People who love drama go and watch the best they can. Or go to drama school of course. A lot of this discussion depends on career aims.

I’d probably sit this one out @TizerorFizz because you really don’t have a single clue.

Drama studies can often include writing for the stage/film etc. DD (English Lit student, does drama as a hobby at Uni but spends more time probably on the drama than her course!) is hosting a new writers event at the one of the numerous theates at her Uni with an amazing selection of short plays.

@HistoryMmam Really? So you have the only valid view? Typical mn..DD has friends in really top jobs in film snd TV and all were mad keen on theatre and did Eng Lit. No creative writing. So surely career matters? I also know a friends DD did Ancient History and is now a top name in the film world. Jobs can absolutely go to anyone. Degree does not entirely matter because it what you do to get the career you want that matters. So creative writing, drama or whatever is best practiced by someone who has a body of knowledge. That’s not just via a degree. However I’ll take your advice. I’m out.

@TizerorFizz the fact you said creative writing has nothing to do with drama demonstrates how little you know about the subject. I could go on. My issue with you is that you want people to believe you are an expert on almost every subject, in this case drama, because your DD once spent an hour with someone from RADA and knows someone in the film industry.

Just to clarify @TizerorFizz an integral part of most creative writing degrees is drama, ie writing for performance. For anyone who is interested in finding out more about this I would be happy to assist. Please do not listen to someone who clearly has zero understanding of the subject.

Exeter, Exeter, Exeter! 😁

DS did straight BA Drama, but had lots of friends doing the joint English/Drama BA. There aren't as many practical acting modules for the joint hons students but they make up for it by getting involved with the extra curric drama societies, of which there are LOADS.
There is club which is exclusively for 'new writing' from students, with lots of opportunities to direct, produce and perform shows in Exeter and elsewhere.
DS went to the Edinburgh Fringe two years with uni shows - they had about 4-5 shows up there!

His peers are now working in a variety of jobs - publishing, marketing, media etc as well as many going on to top drama schools to do MAs in acting/ directing/ writing - LAMDA, GSA, Bristol Old Vic, Oxford, RADA, Mountview.

There aren't as many practical acting modules for the joint hons students

Well, of course Joint Honours students won't do as many modules in each half of their degree than Single Honours students! So presumably the Joint Hons students did half the number of practical modules that the Single Hons students did. Because they do 50/50 in their two subjects!

No, it was a bit more complicated than that iirc. Not only could the joint hons students choose fewer drama modules (obviously!) but the selection was limited due to the timetable presumably. But it's all clearly laid out if you dig down into the course syllabi on the website.

It is unwise to plan on the basis of specific modules anyway, as they may change due to staff changes/ sabbaticals and the students don't always get their first choices anyway as some are massively more popular than others!

Indeed @Jng1 I always advise possible applicants at Open Days that if they choose Joint or Combined Honours, they need to be aware that they will only do half of each programme, and that there may be more timetable constraints (university timetables are nightmarish to organise).

I've noticed that ver the las t 10 years - under the onslaught of an anti-Humanities government - a lot more Humanities & Arts applicants opt for a joint degree because it feels "safer." I do push applicants on this - what do you really really want to study?

I did two degrees in parallel in a system which enabled me to do this, so I understand the interest in a stretch across specific disciplines - in the Humanities, everything eventually interconnects. But students need to realise that they may need to make compromises that they'll have to accept - or do Single Honours.

My dd just graduated from Bristol Theatre and English and had the time of her life - happy to answer any qs about it

Thank you Oldie! Dd is in GCSE year so I'm just thinking about spreading uni visits out a bit as I feel didn't do enough with ds.

I'm also interested in how student can balance a massive passion with also being realistic about ever making a living.

I'm interested at the snobbery I sense from people I meet about drama A level. Even some of dd's teachers are a bit sneery about drama.

Yet they never seem to be sneery about drama grads who go on to win Oscars or Baftas!
People's attitudes to the arts are so strange. Drama, fashion, media etc degrees are looked down on and yet the graduates of those courses are responsible for the clothes we all wear and the TV we all watch, the design of the products we all use.

Quite. We all watch TV and films and listen to music. Not everyone wants to spend their working life behind a laptop.

In the wider business world, drama students go on to teach finance and tech consultants how to present, conduct interviews etc

it’s not an easy career for all but then that’s true of all sorts of careers

Exactly, dd is incredibly passionate about drama, music and English and they are taught so brilliantly at her school. I can't imagine it as my education was grim and fairly joyless.

We're such a creative nation and yet gov only seem to want to support STEM. It's as if we can't see half of what we're so good at.
STEM is of course vital but life is more than just those subjects.

@wildfellhall We are good a the arts but there are limits to success in that few get it. Most grads don’t get much at all. The household names we know, and Oscar winners, are a tiny tiny percentage of our uni or acting school output. It’s a huge gamble. Hence it’s mostly the well off who take it.

Exactly, but there are a number of creative people, writers, editors, directors, producers who work in the UK who have an arts background. Dd doesn't want to be a performer as much as a writer.

@wildfellhall I would also check what degrees they actually have. Many people write about what they know about. Often they write for free at uni and then make very little starting out. Our neighbours DS is a Deputy Editor of a very well known serious magazine. Studied Psychology. It’s far more about getting your head down and getting breaks. He has no connections to journalism but has got in at the lowest rung and at 30 is on the up. It’s not unusual for grads to follow their hobbies and not their degree focus. It could also be useful to look at what the theatres offer in terms of apprenticeships. I do think wanting to write is quite a difficult goal. About what?

I don't have any delusions that writing professionally in any sphere is an easy route, she's thinking about writing/directing for theatre now but she knows it might not be possible, it's just what she is wondering about alongside more realistic ambitions. She's deeply involved in performance and production at school so we will see how things go.

My DDs attended a school with a strong culture of drama and many DDs wanted this career. Very few did, despite going to drama school, and interestingly it’s not the drama buffs at the time who have made a career out of the arts. . DDs friend is Head of Film production at a New York film studio. She did an English degree but no specific drama or writing component. She honed her competencies after initially working at M&S. Another alumni a year older makes wildlife films and produced one for David Attenborough’s last series. She did an Audio Engineering degree. There are many routes into being creative.

@wildfellhall I've sent you a message (didn't want to post outing info on here!)