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!!

Not yet, no. Think it might still be a few weeks. I can't remember what happened last year, if it was offers emails first or rejections. My DD got put on reserve last year and has reapplied. Good luck!

Thanks, you too! x

Seconding this! A friend of my DC has just landed offers at GSA and PPA after a year at SOTE (no offers last year). They had minimal dance experience going in.

This is the third year of my dd auditioning and the stress is making me ill. We're still waiting on self-tape results since mid-January. I'm guessing it's not good after all this time. She's got recalls and other things going on and she's in NYT but as yet no offers for BA. The waiting and constant checking is agony.

This is the third year of my dd auditioning and the stress is making me ill. We're still waiting on self-tape results since mid-January. I'm guessing it's not good after all this time. She's got recalls and other things going on and she's in NYT but as yet no offers for BA. The waiting and constant checking is agony.

Does she have uni alternatives? It’s insane trying to get into drama school and can be worth doing a degree and trying later. It can help to have other routes available to ease the pressure

On unis....I strongly encouraged my son to apply for 'academic' degrees alongside these applications as a back up. He has offers to do Physics at Bristol, Nottingham, Southampton and Glasgow but despite the rigours, stress and endless waiting in this drama school process, it has just cemented even further that he wants to pursue this path whatever it takes and is going to decline the Physics offers. I don't think it has been a waste of time though - I think it was important to fully explore all of the options, and I've had a lovely tour of the country at all the open days!! :)

How did you deal with the personal statement when going for 2 totally different courses?

He only had GSA on the UCAS form (all others were CUCAS or direct) so we spoke to the course leader at GSA and explained the situation and then emailed his acting personal statement directly to the admissions team and course leader at GSA

Has anyone not heard back or has from rosebruford , it’s been nearly 4 weeks since sending off the first round self tape and we are starting to lose hope .

This could've been me that wrote this, we're in the same boat :-) My DD wants to come back to UK for MT, also no formal dance training just showchoir dance really. For Sep 27 start so we have a year yet. I'm interested to hear how your journey pans out if you'd keep me posted? We're coming over this summer to tour some schools.

Sorry, this was in reply to momsthatlovemusicals

W've just had a no yesterday after almost 5 weeks of waiting. My DS is fine about it, but I'm slightly sour to see they watched less than half his tape, so didn't even get to his contemporary monologue. Hope you have a better result 😊

Just an update that we had a no yesterday from RB (finally!). He's absolutely fine about it, saw the email during a recall at Arts Ed, so he was too busy to worry 😂Recall went well but he knows it's a very long shot. So waiting on Guildhall, Mountview and Arts Ed, with a Leeds recall booked for March. He's managing fine with the 'nos', I keep mentioning your daughter to him as a shining example of the recalls that perseverance gets you! 😁

Oh that’s the same boat we are currently in . Do u remember when u sent off your self tape for them ?

Of course! I think I remember your previous post, are you in the US? We're in California 🙂. Just this morning she got a recall for Leeds so she is feeling much happier today. Producing the video auditions have been the hardest mainly because her senior year has been so hectic. She's been doing productions back to back and so much homework. Is your DD doing AP classes and SAT? If you need any advice feel free to ask. We applied 5 UCAS, 3 UCAS Conservatoires and 3 or 4 privates. They all want something a little different for their auditions, so there are lots of variations of the songs/monologues/dances etc. She found learning the specific dances the most time consuming part, so the best advice I can give you is start early! If there is any way you can get her into a dance class now, do it! Every bit helps, even basic ballet will help. We're still waiting on 5 outcomes so we're keeping everything crossed.

For those of you in the US- how come you are thinking of coming to UK for performing arts schools when the US has Juilliard/ Berkelee school of music etc? Or Carnegie Mellon?

For us it's more about coming home than purely an education choice, we never planned to stay in the US permanently and DD wanting to come home for Uni kind of decided the timing. We didn't research any US options but agree there are some fabulous places here that are exceptionally expensive.

I think some kids like the idea of studying abroad. For us we're moving back home to UK, so we need to start looking at colleges.

This is so helpful, thank you. We're in TX. She'll have 3 AP's by the time she graduates. She takes the SAT next week. Congrats on the Leeds recall! Leeds is on my DD's list. Keep me posted on your DD and i'm sure i'll have tons of questions over the next 12 months lol.

Just wanted to say, if your young people don’t get offers, it’s not the end - although it seems like it!

Think about them applying for foundations, or taking a year out, but making that year out count such as getting a job at a holiday resort for the summer, doing entertainment hosting, or really getting involved with local theatre, I expect a lot of of them are already involved, but keep up
dance classes and singing. A good singing teacher will help with appropriate songs for auditions.

Pre audition courses are good too, some are for a week, others weekends, but is a chance to get feedback on their choices snd see the drama school.

When they come back to it in September, which really isn’t a long time out, not only they have more life skills, they will be more mature and know what to expect in auditions to be more prepared, and in my experience a lot of the drama colleges are looking for that maturity.

My DD was disappointed with her offers, so took a gap year spent the summer at a holiday park, then auditioned again, got two BA offers at what I think were good Colleges, Chichester and RB,,along with a few recalls, but turned them all down because she wanted GSA , where this time, after a recall and rejection for BA, the year before, applied for their Foundation and got in. She subsequently had more offers after that Foundation, including one from GSA, where she stayed.

It is hard to see them go through it, but it builds resilience and if they really want it they will stick at it and you literally are talking about four or five months before they start reapplying which is nothing in the great scheme of things.

It a tough thing for them to go through, but it’s also a tough business with no guarantees.

A rejection from Urdang for us seems to be ok with it which is the main thing another couple of auditions to go hope everyone is well

It feels like the first load of submissions heard quite quickly but those late January onwards its taken longer. My DD was 3 weeks she heard for recall and it had looked like they’d only watched a tiny bit of the video, so I’m wondering if they take them offline to watch them. The recall email came in and it was for 5days later, so very last minute!
That was last Saturday and then she heard on Tuesday she was through to 3rd round, so that part seems to be a lot quicker. Good luck, hope you hear positive news soon 🙏🏻

Well done and thank you that helps 🙏🏻

Checking in have not done so for a while, well done to DC with offers and good luck to all those remaining auditions. @Operagirl1 I am so sorry to hear of your stress and 3 years is so tough to be going through this. We are year 1 and though I knew in my head it was going to be tough I don't think you really appreciate it till going through it. Been brutal here, almost straight first round rejections, a couple still in play for good foundations. No feedback makes it hard as it's challenging to learn. @Paddlinglikehell your daughter's experience is encouraging, thank you for sharing. Thankfully my DD is resilient and has bounced back but it is so tough to see them going down this hard path. But she is determined. One silver lining is she does have a fully funded local 1 year course that she can do and has secured so I think she will be doing this and topping up with additional training and trying again next year. She is going to see the last couple through and then draw a line and focus on her A levels. Best wishes to everyone. We have highly resilient and driven kids and that goes a long way regardless of outcomes!