Drama school auditions 2026 entry- Acting/MT

[Mcmumager]

Annual thread for those with dc about to embark on the rollercoaster of audition season. This is my second time round as my ds did it a couple of years ago. These threads are always really supportive and full of great advice as it’s often hard to explain to others how tough and competitive this process is. Good luck everyone!!

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Hi second time round mum here ...for anyone feeling frazzled by this whole audition process check out this brilliant mockumentary about a failing drama school that popped up on my instagram this morning ..made me laugh out loud over breakfast and totally resonates !!!

Anyway wishing everyone the best of luck for recalls and auditions this week

https://www.youtube.com/@ActTingwebseries

Hi all, can’t believe this is my first time finding this thread. Looks like i’ve been missing out on some great advice! 3rd time round mum here and really not finding it gets easier, the anxiety I have for my DD is unreal.
DD is applying for all Acting courses this year - RCS, GSA, RADA, RWCMD, LAMDA, Rose Bruford, Manchester Theatre School and she has thrown in a more “normal uni” with a course at Chichester. She doesn’t feel she can go through a 4th year after this if unsuccessful.
Previously she had applied to both MT and Acting courses but last year realised she didn’t want to pursue MT professionally so the focus is now fully on Acting which she feels much better about. She is on an Acting Foundation course just now and feels she has learned so much in a short space of time, she’s loving the full time training too.

She has yet to submit self tapes as waited until deadline dates to submit her applications because she hated the wait time the past couple of years when submitting early. First in person audition is with RCS in February which she’s looking forward to.
Anyway, waffling a bit here but massive good luck to all the YP applying this year, its definitely not for the faint hearted! 😊

My DD is very similar ie 2nd year of applying, has pivoted away from MT towards straight acting and has applied to the same places as your DD. Where is she doing her Foundation course and how is she finding it? It’s great to have gotten an in-person audition at RCS!

Ah really?! How is your DD finding focusing solely on Acting now? My DD ended up feeling like she was spreading herself too thin between the both and realised she had to make that choice. She’s delighted she made that choice now, and I’m also glad that she never ended up getting on to a previous MT BA to finally realise it wasn’t for her. Just shows you everything happens for a reason.

We are in Scotland so it is a small, relatively unknown private college up here she decided to go for called Acting Coach Scotland. She realised she needed full time hours training as she previously went to a local college to do MT and it was only 12-15hours contact a week which just didn’t cut it for her and really wasn’t a good prep for drama school. She absolutely loves it and is so happy she decided to go. She feels far more prepared this time round and it has highlighted how much Acting technique she was lacking previously. Just hope it helps with auditions this time round.

Ah all the first round RCS Acting auditions are in person, so unfortunately its not that shes got through an initial self tape round. She much prefers the inperson auditions though, she’s not a huge fan of the self tape process even though its industry norm now.

Has your DD had any recalls/auditions yet? Massive good luck to her! Xx

@JustDramaMumThings Sorry, I thought RCS stood for Royal Central, not Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, my mistake. My DD has also had an in-person first round audition at RCS last week (Glasgow is a very long way from us, as we in the far SE of England!). She enjoyed it, thought it went well, but hasn’t heard anything back yet. Otherwise she has recalls for Rose Bruford, Manchester and East 15 coming up. Still waiting to hear from everywhere else.
I think she is happy with the decision to focus on acting. Last year, she got two offers of places for acting (which she turned down) and none for MT, so I think that helped her to realise where her strengths lay.

oh that’s fab your DD has one audition under her belt then! Yes the travelling is an additional pain in this journey. RCS is the only one near us, so its a lot of travelling for the rest, and a lot of money!
Brilliant news on the recall front so far then! Just getting over that first hurdle is an achievement in itself. Also really good to have 2 offers last year! Was there a reason she never took them? X

@JustDramaMumThings One offer was from Chichester and she felt that it didn’t offer the kind of rigorous training she was looking for. Plus, she wants to go to a big city and Chichester itself is very small and the campus tiny. The other offer was from Leeds Conservatoire and she was tempted, but felt that they are better known for their music and musical theatre training, rather than straight acting, so it was a bit of a risk…. I have no idea whether that’s true or not, and I thought she should take the place (a bird in the hand and all that), but she needs to make her own decisions, so…

Omgs, my daughter is in year 12 only just started at college, she brought home brochures... how much dors uni cost ? and OMGs.. what do I have to do.. I am SOOOO out of my depth, I never realised this was going to be a REAL thing for her, so have NO idea on what we need to do next.. I am quite overwhelmed !! So not only am I new to mumsnet, (and rubbish at threads, posts, excuse my ignorance) but man I thought parenting ended at 18 years.. lol.. no I didn't.. but it was supppsed to get easier right..

How much is this going to cost me and what have we got into ??

Is she interested in Musical Theatre or Acting? Which colleges is she talking about. There are lots of folk on here who can guide you through the whole process (including how student loans/finances work) xx

Morning 😊 talking of Student Finance when do we apply for this? If we are fortunate to get an offer🤞 or now?

When applying for drama schools look very carefully at the websites. Some charge a lot! The ones on ucas charge the standard uni fee of £9750 a year. Some others can be more like £16k a year.

See this is our worry for Chichester, my DD has put it down as an option, but i’m just not sure. Do you know what the contact hours were like? I was speaking to someone else on another forum and they said their DD is at Chichester but for MT and gets close to 30hours a week, which sounded great. But not sure Acting is the same.

That’s funny you mention Leeds as thats the one my DD seemed to deliberate over applying to and decided not to in the end. I suppose we can only advise as they have to make their own decisions and if it doesn’t feel right then they have to listen to their gut. Its hard to know what to do from a parents perspective.

Thanks, do we need to apply for student loans now then? Or wait

I got the impression from Chichester that the MT course (which was run from a different site to the main campus) was run more along the lines you might find at a conservatoire ie early starts, long days, 5 days a week , etc), but I didn’t get that impression for the acting course. I could be quite wrong and someone else might have more knowledge/experience.

I don’t think you can apply for finance until you have offers?

re: Chichester, purely anecdotal and only one experience, but a friend’s DC is currently in year 1 of MT course there and is currently reapplying to other drama schools for next year. They will stay at Chichester if no place at drama school materialises, but are hoping to make a change. I don’t know the ins and outs so not sure how helpful this actually is!

apply for loans when your dd has a place. Be aware that some of the expensive places cost far more than the max loan you can get.

some students can apply for awards and bursaries but not many - but take a look

Hello, suddenly feeling increasingly anxious about this process and want to support DC as best I can. 2 rejections through already from acting 1st round self tapes. Concerned at the possibility of straight first round rejections which would be quite crushing and doesn't offer much learning. Worried that the self tapes perhaps weren't on point. DC prepared for rejection but hoping for at least some progression through the process. I am thinking ahead for her to try for another batch of foundation courses where she hasn't yet applied. Has anyone else done this - a foundation seems like it would be good for her to build skills and confidence. Not sure what I am asking just feeling worried for my DC at how brutal this could be this year.

Oh I feel your pain. The constant anxiety is horrible. Is this your DD's first year applying? We're on 3rd year and the anxiety does not get any easier, certainly for me anyway. The past 2 years my DD has not got passed Self Tape rounds either, it's horrible but there are thousands that apply. She really loves RCS as their first round is in person and she much prefers that.
I'd definitely recommend a Foundation year, my DD is on one now and she has learned so much and her confidence has grown a lot. She feels much better at doing self tapes now and realises previously the ones she submitted weren't great. Still not sure how she'll do this year though, she's yet to submit hers. I quite often look at graduating cohorts from some of the Drama Schools just to try and get some insight. When you look at many of the graduate profiles, you will see a lot of them have completed a Foundation year prior to their BA year and many of them you can see are slightly older. I think for Acting especially they do like people to have a bit of experience about them.
It really is a brutal process and unfortunately many courses are also casting a year group so even if our YP do get past first round, they could be up against so many others that have the same look. We're not sure what my DD will do if she doesn't get in this year.

Yes @JustDramaMumThings it is her first year. It sounds like quite a journey and it's reassuring to hear that your DD is loving her foundation course. I imagine they learn practical things that really help with their applications. Keeping everything crossed for your DD this year. I am going to have a search for options for my DD on foundations or alternatives for her beyond this initial round of applications. Thank you so much for your insights it is much appreciated. DD is going for a mix of acting and MT.

The numbers are tough. Hundreds apply for each place. Thousands for places like rada. Some students will also apply to uni courses - drama, English etc to have a range of options. Is that an option? I know people who went to drama school after three years of uni and did an MA. Some even did a full 3 year course. So they are competing against 22+ year olds. Expensive but it is what people do

How did your DD get onto a foundation course, was she offered it? Just looking at options if mine isn’t successful this year 🫣 Not sure what else she could do, she lives & breathes MT.

Ah thank you, it’s such a steep learning curve for both our YP and us as parents. So hard to see them get rejected, but we also have to build thick skin as its very much what happens in this industry. Don’t discount her other places as yet though, she may still have some recalls/offers to come, but always a good idea to look at other options too. Where has she applied to so far? My DD was also applying for both Acting and MT the past two years, however has now decided to solely focus on Acting.

So her first year she was offered a Foundation for MT at LIPA after being rejected for BA, however she wasn’t keen on LIPA at the audition so she didn’t take this. Last year she was offered another foundation at Bird, but by that point she realised she didnt want to do MT anymore and they ended up pulling that course anyway. She realised she wanted to focus on Acfing so after her rejections last year she ended up directly applying to a local private college for the foundation in Acting and thats what she’s on just now. So you can get offers for Foundation off the back of BA auditions or you can apply directly for Foundation courses. I’m not sure how it all works with UCAS though, if you need to apply through there or if you can apply directly through college/uni, hopefully someone else can answer that. Also, some are covered by student loans, some aren’t so its something you need to take into consideration finance wise. One course I did have my eye on last year was SOTE Birmingham, their MT foundation students seemed to have some great offers for BAs by the end of their course.

Seconding SOTE! DC has a friend on their foundation and it seems a great course. Applied for via ucas and supported by student finance.