Accidentally applied to crap universities

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I would second PQ's advice. If you get an opportunity to get into the Fringe that would be an amazing experience. (If you haven't been already I would definitely go, it's amazing!)

Reply 21

Nameless Ghoul

Original post by sachinisgod

Id rather you stay in the US and do a REAL degree and help your country. We've got enough people in our own doing mickey mouse degrees and wasting their time.

What is this "stay in your country" nonsense? If OP wants to come here and contribute to our economy, pay international fees to our universities, subsidise our degrees, for a BS course or not, they are more than welcome to do that.

Reply 22

Carnationlilyrose

The fact that some people haven't heard of some of these universities says absolutely nothing about the universities and more about those who haven't heard of them. The likes of LSE and Oxbridge don't do this kind of degree in any case. If OP wants to do this, she is perfectly entitled to do so, particularly as a self-financing international student. No degree will make anyone who is not already funny into a standup, but industry contacts are essential in this kind of thing, and such a degree will provide them.

OP, of those on your list, I would go for Salford. Its connections with the BBC via Media City are invaluable and the facilities are excellent - I've used them. It is also in the right place for Granada TV. In addition, Salford is the most well-established university on the list, with a good track record somewhat overshadowed by being right next to Manchester University. Given the high concentration of students in the region, the comedy circuit is well established and there should be plenty of opportunities for getting into performance.

Reply 23

Klix88

I'd agree that looking at general academic league tables for such an esoteric subject, is a pointless exercise. You need to be looking for the best department with the most opportunities for building performance experience - those are unlikely to be found at high-ranked unis.

Bournemouth barely tickles the middle ranks of most UK university league tables, but houses The National Centre for Computer Animation and has a raft of current and former students involved in this year's Oscar-nominated films - and it's been that way for some time now. If you want to go into that corner of the film industry, it's one of the unis the industry headhunters make straight for.

You need to be less fixated on stats and more focussed on the realities of your chosen speciality. Solent has an established track record for that subject, is in a reasonably sized city and a lovely area of the UK. You'd be on a direct train line to London which makes it doable as an evening trip, so if you wanted to have the best of all city/capital/country/seaside worlds, Solent seems ideal. Winchester's smaller and newer, but is still on that same London trail line. Salford, as has been said, is next to Media City, which is a big media industry hub - check whether Salford boasts about industry links which could be helpful to you.

And I'd echo what was said about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Find a uni which has an established reputation for performing there - it's a scout's hunting ground for new comedy and being spotted there by the right person would do far more for you than a degree.

In short, stop fixating on the academic reputations of unis and make a more logical decision about which one is best set up to get you where you want to be. You aren't looking at a traditional academic subject or future, so unis which focus on those are just a distraction.

Reply 24

Clearing and Applications Advisor

Original post by CandyFandomGirl

I planned on studying comedy since you guys blow American comedy out of the water. Stand-up is my passion but only Salford and Winchester offered courses. Of course, Performance degrees can encompass stand-up if you structure electives properly, so I'm open to them as well.

(Sorry for the preachy knobheads your thread has attracted).

On top of the above stuff I posted to ask about link/opportunities have you heard about newsjack? Most entrnats to comedy will end up at some point on radio4 (so if you like comedy then iplayer the crap out if it) and newsjack is a compilation of listener submitted sketches that they also use for talent spotting. If comedy writing is something you're interested in I know 2 people who are now employed by the BBC who were recruited via newsjack.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1hDdvFLfWClPHW7zT3sq01S/submit-a-sketch

Reply 25

Mystery.

I didn't even know they offered a degree in comedy.. And doubt there are "better" universities which do.

Reply 26

Doones

(Original post by @sachinisgod )Id rather you stay in the US and do a REAL degree and help your country...

Says the poster with a profile name extolling a non-English cricketer. Not that Sachin isn't a 'god', of course...

Reply 27

Minerva

Original post by CandyFandomGirl

If you are applying for a 'niche' course - which this is - then the overall uni rankings are far less relevant than they would be for a mainstream subject.

Original post by TheTechN1304

To be honest with you, you've applied to such bad universities that it would be a complete waste of money to even bother going for them. I hadn't even heard of half the ones you're applying to. As has already been suggested, either go for UCAS extra, or don't bother coming to the UK at all. Those universities aren't worth it tbh.

Lower ranked does not necessarily mean 'bad'. As PQ has pointed out, the critical issue is whether these courses are strongly networked so that their students/graduates get the opportunities they need to establish their careers.

Original post by nulli tertius

Most would be entertainers, have a day job. Are you looking to get a day job in England or the USA? If the latter, I don't think it really matters very much; you would be the person who went to college in England.

If you are looking to get a day job in England, most would be entertainers (other than actors) in England do degrees like English and history and not performing arts and get their day jobs on the back of their academic qualifications.

Exactly.

@CandyFandomGirl
I'd advise you to look very carefully at the course prospectus in each case before making your mind up. From what you've said there aren't that many courses to choose from. For the field you are considering, uni rankings mean very little, and what will count is how far you have been able to develop your talent by doing the course and the use you can make of the uni's networks in your field.

Reply 28

Mathaddict

Original post by Carnationlilyrose

One thing to note if choosing between LSB and Salford: I think audiences tend to be more brutal with comedians up north than down here! :sad:

Reply 29

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by Mathaddict

One thing to note if choosing between LSB and Salford: I think audiences tend to be more brutal with comedians up north than down here! :sad:

Good practice for a professional life, I'd imagine.

Reply 30

HFBS

As a Southern girl living up North, the humour is different. Northern comedy is in my experience more likely to draw on stereotypes and less cynical. Less dry. I have to pick my audience for my sarcasm more carefully.

Reply 31

User1333171

I'm going to a local college to study performing arts. TSR has the potential to make you think that league tables are everything, but once you've spent some time in the real world you realise how crap that view is. It might be important to go to a 'top' university if you want to do something like law or banking or whatever, where they target certain universities for graduates but as some sensible people have said above in the entertainment industry it's less important. What is important is experience and contacts, which those unis should give you. I have a friend who did media at Salford and she's just spent a year working at Disneyland in the US, whereas some people I know who went to Cambridge spent a year struggling to find employment in London. I know how I'd rather spend a year. Just ask the universities what they do to make sure you're employable at the end of the degree.

Reply 32

sweeneyrod

As others have said, league tables are completely irrelevant if you want to study comedy (as the degree will be completely irrelevant in helping you get a job in the field, no matter where it's from). If you want to do comedy, I'd go for one of the bigger cities (Manchester or London), as there will be bigger comedy scenes there. Stereotypically, if you can do stand-up in Northern working men's clubs, you can do it anywhere, so that might be worth thinking about.

Reply 33

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by sweeneyrod

Apart from possibly the Glasgow Empire...

That's one reason to suggest Salford, and the chances are that OP, being from the US, doesn't know that Salford and Manchester are, for many purposes, the same city and geographically adjacent.

Reply 34

nulli tertius

Original post by Carnationlilyrose

That's one reason to suggest Salford, and the chances are that OP, being from the US, doesn't know that Salford and Manchester are, for many purposes, the same city and geographically adjacent.

Like Buda and Pest or Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Two cities on either side of the mighty River Irwell. :tongue:

Reply 35

Carnationlilyrose

Original post by nulli tertius

Like Buda and Pest or Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Two cities on either side of the mighty River Irwell. :tongue:

Can only speak for Buda and Pest, but ... no, not quite like that...

Ankh and Morpork?

Just a thought OP, but if you haven't already you might want to check out Rich Hall and Reginald D. Hunter, both American comedians successful in the UK.