Performing Arts/Drama/Acting/etc Applicants 2012

Greetengs guys,
I am considering of applying BA Acting this year at a couple of conservatories/academies and I wanted to ask you for an oppinion, since I am not from the UK and therefore I do not know for sure if my choices are good. I have done my research and according to it the academies I have chosen are with good reputation and teach you good enough, regarding your acting skills- body movements, improvisation and of course voice practicing. In general the UK has a lot of Acting academies/ conservatories and that is why I wanted to see if I am in the right direction.
Of course, RADA and LAMDA are maybe the main London academies, however I am more approaching the big conservatory in Glasgow-RSAMD. For me it is not only a very good conservatory, but it also concentrates more in your practical skills in acting, than in the theoretical part. Of course we should know the history and theory of acting, but some schools and academies overdo it. For me a good place to learn acting is where you concentrate more on your instage performance and practical skills, whereas RSAMD is a very good example of that. I also like Birmingham's acting school and Gildford School of acting, whereas they have a similar based method of teaching as the one in RSAMD. RADA and LAMDA are also good examples of that and I am planning to apply in them or at least some of them.
I just wanted to hear your comments on this, whereas to see as if my research is well done. Thank you very much in advance!

So, Hi, I'm new. -awkward smile/wave-

I've applied to study drama/performance/theatre studies etc at
Winchester
Plymouth
Cumbria
Middlesex
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

I've got a conditional for Plymouth - which I'm super happy about considering it's one of my top universities
and I've got an auditon for Cumbria - which is on the 9th of Jan (eek)

Anyone got any offers back from these guys?

So, Hi, I'm new. -awkward smile/wave-

I've applied to study drama/performance/theatre studies etc at
Winchester
Plymouth
Cumbria
Middlesex
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama

I've got a conditional for Plymouth - which I'm super happy about considering it's one of my top universities
and I've got an auditon for Cumbria - which is on the 9th of Jan (eek)

Anyone got any offers back from these guys?

Had my auditon for Cumbria and RSC, anyone got an audition for Northumbria on the 22nd?

I got my interview for Winchester the other day! So happy, it's my first place uni!!
I didn't like Worcester much.... I say much

I thought it was terrible... but that's just me
Maybe see you in the Winchester audtions? :3

Hello all,

First time applying this year! Choose quite a few, CSSD, RWCMD, Guildhall, Italia Conti, and LIPA so far, sending off a few more applications this month!

Is anyone down at Central 2moro for the BA Acting audition?!

Was anyone at the Winchester audition for Drama today?
If so, I was the one in the patchwork trousers and that fell over when asked to touch something green!

Also - Plymouth on the 19th
CSSD - 23rd
Cumbria 6th
Middlesex 20th

Anyone else going to these dates for Drama??

Yeah
300 points
You?

hey peeps, im a musical theatre applicant and ive selected bath spa (weston campus) as my firm, and chichester as my insurance. this year, i applied to several performance courses, and ill share my personal experience, and what i have learnt about the whole process. i am not a huge dancer, i had been dancing for roughly half a year prior to the audition process. i am more of a singer/actor.

i am only 18 years old, coming straight out of full time education (6th form), and although it may seem in some cases i am disparaging the process, i am speaking purely from my own experience and voicing my personal opinions. i applied for 5 places via UCAS, and 1 drama school. at the time, i had discredited many of the courses i had applied for on UCAS, and considered them as "back-ups", or simply to fill up my five options. i applied for bath spa, colchester, chichester, central school of speech and drama and manchester (arden). i also applied to mountview academy of arts. i had my heart set on acceptance into either mountview or central, and the soul reason i applied to only central and mountview as far as drama schools are concerned is because i had the mentality that if i wasnt good enough to get into mountview, i wouldnt be good enough to get into somewhere like guildford for example (which now thinking about it was such a foolish way of thinking).

my first audition was for bath spa. the audition took place at weston college, weston super mare, and i went in head first, not knowing what to expect and simply prepared what i had been told to. after falling in love with the university course and tutors, and receiving a hasty conditional offer, i decided to withdraw from colchester and manchester and only attend auditions at chichester, central and mountview. my audition at chichester followed several months later, and this followed a similar process to bath spa/weston. this audition also went very well and i gained a conditional offer.

my audition for mountview closely followed, and after the three and a half hour journey from south wales, i had a very different feeling and reaction to the location and pressure of auditioning for a drama school. the initial thing i noticed about this particular audition was the amount of auditionees, and still to this day i wonder what mountview were looking for in an applicant. out of 60 auditionees, roughly 6 (6!!!!!!!!!!!) applicants were recalled after a singing and dance audition, with no consideration for straight acting ability and past experience (i doubt the tutors took time to read each personal statement!). i did not get recalled, but after my experience at the audition i was in a way relieved! this left me wondering what do they actually look for in an applicant, on that particular day... did they consider if the applicant was self funded and not relying on a DaDa (dance and drama scholarship) for acceptance. was it based upon genuine talent, promise shown in the dance audition or technique in the singing audition? was it based upon appearance, or whether they had already accepted someone who bore a likeness to you? im still not sure, and i dont think i will ever find out. it may just be down to instinct and who they get a feeling for on the audition day. i dont know. i didnt respond badly to the rejection, i simply brushed it off and thought whats meant to be, will be! the only thing i felt bad about was making my father drive me back home after what had already been a long, unsuccessful day.

my audition for central was a few weeks after my mountview audition, and having to prepare two classical monologues was a strenuous task. after feeling dreadful for making my father drive me to north london and back for my unsuccessful mountview audition, i decided to attend this audition off my own back, book the coach myself, find my own accommodation etc etc etc! feeling quite proud and mature about the fact i had managed to book up the audition without the help of my parents, the actual experience provided me with a very different feeling. call me inexperienced or foolish, but i found navigating myself around london on the tube, at 10 o clock at night, attempting to find my way to my friend's university extremely difficult. the pressure of getting on the correct tube all on my own was huge (at the time...), and very stressful. london is a busy place, and upon reflection i am glad i had opted for a university course a lot closer to home, for i dont think i could have handled life in london at this moment in time. the audition itself was fine, lovely in fact. the school was easy to find, bore similarities to mountview with the fact there were 10 groups of roughly 10, meaning 100 people had attended the audition on that particular day. there was also an added pressure to succeed with this particular audition, for it had cost 50 pounds! they must be making a bloody fortune, and i actually find it quite disgusting that they can charge 50 pounds for an audition. but besides the point, without paying that fee you dont get an audition, and thats the harsh reality! the audition was different to all my others. it consisted of a morning talk/induction, an "acting" audition, a "musical theatre" audition, and then a tour. this didnt include a dance audition, unlike the previous three auditions. there was also a recall stage after the main audition, which claimed to "evaluate some of the applicants potential/to investigate skills further", and they claimed that this recall did not determine whether you had gained a place at the final recall or not... who are they kidding? ofcourse it did! after waiting a whole month, and roughly 6 days before the UCAS/student finance deadline, central finally got back to me with an "unsuccessful", and although i appreciate they are probably busy with the whole audition process and sorting applicants etc, it was a great inconvenience when i could have been sorting out other university stuff.

so, with my audition experience out of the way, i have learnt a lot of things about the workings of drama school auditions, and my only wish was that i had known all this roughly a year ago. personally, i would consider the following before applying to any drama schools, especially mountview or central simply because i have attended the audition.

firstly, do not apply unless you have examined the prospectus thoroughly! if you are like me, not a huge dancer and more of a singer/actor, then avoid places like bird, laine, arts ed, which from word of mouth are all big on dance experience. also consider things such as funding and the cost of the course. if youre made of money, go for it, but if you are like me and are simply an average joe whos parents uphold normal jobs and who earn enough money to support the family home then consider your moves very carefully. even though drama schools offer scholarships, these are extremely limited, and if a scholarship is granted then you are not allowed a student loan. this means you have to fund your own accommodation and living costs, which in london will be very expensive.

dont apply unless you are fully invested! upon travelling to london on my own, over the course of say two days, i realized how big a city london was, and how big the step was from standard living to living there. for me personally, having to travel 3 and a half hours back home to south wales whenever i needed something or was missing family was a daunting prospect. maybe in 2 years or so, after gaining a sense of independence or experiencing the real world of work would i audition for drama schools again.

not going to a drama school isnt the end of the world! yes, getting into a BA hons course and having a final showcase infront of agents etc is a huge boost into the world of musical theatre, but for 12 thousand pounds a year i wouldnt expect anything less! there is such a thing as a postgraduate, which is half the expense because its only a 1 year course. this grants the same privileges ad going for 3 years - a showcase, agents, etc. after attending bath spa/weston and seeing the facilities they offered - spring board flooring which is amazing for dance, several studios, a local theatre to perform showcases in - i realized that the quality of training is probably the same of that at drama schools.

i always live off the incentive that if you work hard enough, you will succeed in the end! i may be wrong, and if i dont succeed then so be it, but at this moment in time, accepting a state university with the ambition to progress onto maybe doing a post graduate course in a drama school is very appealing and i believe i have made the correct choice. i often believe that the information drama schools provide can be misleading, and my only advice is to consider what you are looking to gain from attending a certain course, the financial side of university living, your distance from home, the nature of the course and its main focuses, and most importantly whether you FEEL youre ready to attend drama school. i hope this was helpful, and i do apologize for the length, but there was no way i could provide a watered down version of my audition experience without missing out any crucial details. if you have any questions just throw them at me, and best of luck to anyone whos going to have to go through the audition process and i hope you succeed!

I agree with what you say! I've spoken to many teachers at universities and they say if you get into drama school then ''YOU GO'' you don't question it. A lot of people do complain about the money and don't investigate further and don't realise that places like mountview and arts ed do actually offer loans and funding (not including Dada's). I absolutely agree with your attitude - it's not the end of the world if you don't get into drama school but it gives you a boost into the industry and there are postgrad courses available. However, I don't agree when you said you have to be a dancer to get into places or you need to a triple threat. They want to see talent and someone they can train. If you were perfect at all three they wouldn't waste there money training you. I have a friend that got into arts last year and friends before who can dance, but aren't dancers at all, but are bloody good performers. I say I am an actor/singer who can dance. I always wanted to go to mountview, but I don't know what they're looking for because of the different types of people they call back I stupidly applied for just drama schools last year and didn't get in. I'm currently on a gap year and have applied for uni's and drama schools this year. One of my choices is Chichester...you got in right? Can I ask what songs you sung? I've got a rep. book and think I may contrast 'Sunset Boulevard' - sunset boulevard (which people say is overdone, but you will surprised how many people haven't heard of it) and 'On the streets where you live' - from my fair lady. I picked these songs because Sunset is uptempo, is about ambition, he goes on a journey and is in his 20s and it's modern (1980s) and My fair lady because it's older (1956), legit, about love, and uses legato, 20's, and is slower. They BLOODY contrast in terms of character, place, period, type of music and state of mind. SOrry i'm going on....Can you explain more about the Chichester audition and what you did? I have my audition next month...x

Hi, thanks for your post.
im waiting to hear from chichester, how long did you wait to hear from ucas? In your opinion what did you like about it?