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!!

urdang is really tough to get in! Brilliant well done 👏

So true - the odds on the other courses almost seem like winning the lottery 😂🤪

Woohoo, what great news! Such a relief to have the first offer in the bag and from such a prestigious place too! Massive well done 👏🏼

Hello, I think I'm in the right area if not on the right thread - please let me know if not - my DD is currently in Y12 and although we all know it's a tough road, her first ambition for after A levels is to study theatre/performance somewhere.

That's the tough bit as we simply don't know where to start looking - colleges (including famous ones we've all heard of which I don't know if it's worth touching?), uni courses, no idea of the best routes. Her 6th form college is quite Maths/Sci leaning so any careers stuff so far has found her sitting alone in the Arts corner.

I would really appreciate a steer on how to start sifting out what's best for her to look at or a useful link for us to find information about it all.

Well this is a great place to start. Is she thinking acting? Actor musician? Musical theatre? Writing? Does she want a uni course like drama at Exeter or a drama school? If you Google uk drama schools you will get a list and then start thinking about travel distance etc good luck!

👋 welcome!! Plenty of advice to be found here, you are absolutely in the right place! 😁

What’s her training / experience up to this point?? Has she thought about whether she’d prefer a conservatoire / drama school over a more traditional uni? The former include a lot of the big names like Central, RADA, GSA, Mountview etc and the main differences are that they get many more contact hours (35+ per week) and the courses are Spotlight accredited so they have a professional profile when leaving. Also the conservatoires generally get a lot more agent interest at the end of the course.

What’s the ‘better’ option is an hotly debated matter of opinion and is entirely down to the individual and their interests / ambitions.

Also depends a lot on the area of performance they are interested in (MT, acting, screen acting, actor musicianship etc) as different places have different strengths.

If you are happy to give some more info on the above I’m sure people will have more specific recommendations.

Thanks, what you say about the conservatoires is helpful because I think that’s the first decision to make, ie those or Uni. We didn’t even know the pros/cons.

She’s focused on stage acting/ musical theatre. She is in a local Am Dram, is a Youth Ambassador at the theatre in the city centre, does ballet, choir and fencing. And Drama A level.

@ChoccyJulesThe best piece of advice I saw on the thread last year was to do thorough research. I helped DD make a spread sheet of all of the places she knew of and added fees, course requirements etc. She was able to take some colleges off her list through this process. We also tried to get to some open days too, that way she got a few for the place and again whittle the list down. She applied for 6 in the end. She has favourites but will be thrilled at a place at any of them and feels like she knows pretty much what to expect from each institution.

Hopefully her drama a level teacher can give her some pointers too?

@ChoccyJules welcome! It's such a minefield but you are in the right place! Has your dd thought about a foundation year to get her ready for MT auditions for degree? They will definitely have to do a jazz routine, so if she's only done ballet to date and hasn't attended a Performing arts school (a lot have) she might just need that extra year to prep? What about singing? Any lessons/grades?

Leeds take 10 days - BA offer for MT today! This sure is a rollercoaster of a ride!

On a roll @Sop2! Congratulations!

@Sop2 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Wow absolutely brilliant having another offer in the bag! Massive congratulations to your DD, she must be over the moon :)

Wow - absolutely smashing it!!! Congratulations! 💫

@WishITookLifeSeriously@Newgirls@Sop2 Thank you for your helpful replies.

I am wondering if there’s a handy list somewhere of conservatoires/well thought of Uni courses because I don’t know how we are even going to start a workable spreadsheet!

Drama tutor seems to lean Uni direction due to not narrowing your options and the variety of people you’ll meet. I had this advice myself from school (different career path) and wished I had ignored it to be honest. But I understand their point.

She hasn’t done any jazz dancing and has been in a choir which performs twice yearly since she was 7…but no exams. She would like singing lessons but tried someone, didn’t click, at the moment she’s so busy.

I just don’t want to miss any open days or deadlines because she struggles to self organise, hence joining this thread (which I am still reading through).

DD 18, has 2 offers now for Acting - Plymouth offered immediately a few weeks ago without interview, conditional to getting a Merit in her UAL course, for BA Hons Acting for Stage Screen and Future Media.

Falmouth have offered today after audition last week for BA Hons Acting, subject to 96 UCAS points . Even if she got the lowest Pass, she would have enough points thanks to LAMDA and LCME qualifications.

Plymouth would be closer and easier to get to, but the course is new. They withdrew Acting this year for the new course.

Falmouth had great facilities and a lovely feel to it. One is city and one is rural.

So it all boils down to the course really and which is the better one for DD. She has an offer holder day for Plymouth at the end of Feb to see what it is like there.

She also sent a tape to Bournemouth (UAB) and has been invited for an in person audition, but won't be going to that.

We couldn't go down the drama school route due to costs mainly and also as a SEN pupil there is more support via the Uni and accommodation etc, so just felt much easier to do than a conservatoire.

So you can filter ucas by musical theatre courses and the same for ucas conservatoires - that will show
you all the relevant courses on offer. But There are also private drama schools that offer degrees. What doesn't work is saying that a Uni course is a certain way and private are a certain way as there are some top Drama schools like GSA on UCAS, central on conservatoires and Artsed which is private. All as prestigious as each other and offering the same type of degree. UCAS will also offer academic drama degrees. Be aware that the top schools have around 3000 applicants a lot of whom will be highly drilled in all 3 aspects of dance singing and drama and there are limited places - often 25 only.

Congratulations - that's brilliant news!

@skyeisthelimitmany congratulations! Given how hard acting is to get in, she must be super talented!

@ChoccyJules try and get to a couple of open days at different types of institutions.

As someone else said, a foundation might be a good option for your DD from what you’ve said about her experience thus far. Look at SOTE and their MT with dance course - they seem to be great at picking up kids with potential but not necessarily lots of training and getting them in good shape for auditions the following year.

If MT is her passion then the following are good to take a look at during your research. Many offer foundations as well as degree programmes:

Guildford School of Acting (GSA)
Mountview
Artsed
Urdang
Bird
Emil Dale
Trinity Laban
RWCMD (Cardiff)
RCS (Scotland)
Leeds Conservatoire
PPA
Wilkes
Italia Conti
LIPA

Im sure I’ve forgotten some!

Also look at Chichester - a university rather than a conservatoire but a bit less competitive and their course is based on conservatoire training.

and from what we've seen this year at BOA the places where kids seem to be picking up offers fairly consistently are:
LCM
Arts1
Brighton Academy
Chester
Bird (largely due to their size of cohort)
Chichester
I'm not saying the people who go there aren't talented, but the odds are better as less applicants.

I notice nobody talks about Laines anymore. My DS is on the acting rather than MT path so I’m a bit out of the loop but interested as I went there ‘back in the day’ when it was considered one of the top schools so wondering what happened to it…

It's still a very good school, but financially beyond the reach of most people! Very good training though, I'm sure.

Aha - so financing has changed - 50% of the places were fully funded in my day