Year 12s: what will be the first way you research your future options? >>

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User1014865

Cheers.

(edited 6 years ago)

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Reply 1

Jack the hat

Follow your heart and your heart will take you there.

Reply 2

Atemukay

Do you mean mental capacity?

Reply 3

Atemukay

Original post by Jack the hat

Follow your heart and your heart will take you there.

have you sorted out your grey hair issue yet?

Reply 4

Jack the hat

Original post by Atemukay

have you sorted out your grey hair issue yet?

Reply 5

Atemukay

im sorry but stuff like missing letters really irritate me for some reason.......

Reply 6

alt31

i feel very similar - on a gap year applying for medicine but i'd love more than anything to do acting :h:

if i were you I'd make sure you finish the degree you're doing at the moment so you have backup, and apply to drama school/act
Your heart is more trustworthy, and sometimes you need to take a risk and leap of faith - you may regret it in a few years time otherwise!

Follow your head

Original post by Atemukay

im sorry but stuff like missing letters really irritate me for some reason.......

What irritates me is when people use 'I'm' as 'im'. So lazy.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 9

T_x

If you want to be successful at something, you have to have guts to go with your nose. If you're asking anonymous people on a student forum what you should do with your life, then you are a) either not really seriously toying with the idea and think 'oh it would be nice to be an actor' without wanting to put in, you know, the groundwork (i.e. being skint for a few years whilst trying to get as many jobs as you can; or b) uncommitted. Either way, make a decision and stick with it. If you decide to go down the medicine route, don't whine about how you 'never got to be an actor' when you had the chance to do so.

Reply 10

Jack the hat

I hope you don't think I'm a troll, but, maybe see a clairvoyant who could tell you what your future could entail. or just go with what makes you happy.

Reply 11

alt31

try and avoid regretting! If you take a step back and think - what's stopping you doing acting and becoming successful? :biggrin:

Are you going to finish your degree? I strongly suggest you do
maybe do a summer course or have you done any lamda qualifications? getting up to the highest grade (8) could really help
most importantly - don't give up! for me, i want to be successful, and i gauge that as one day i want my own wikipedia page :tongue:

Reply 12

Tycho

Original post by Atemukay

im sorry but stuff like missing letters really irritate me for some reason.......

apostrophail

Reply 13

Tycho

Don't listen to the rhetorical nonsense telling you to follow your heart. Your heart has nothing to do with the decision making process; it's all done by the brain.

Acting should almost never be a plan A in today's world. Even if you are incredibly good at it, you still need luck to make it into a good living. And even then, it's never going to provide you with the job security of a medical degree unless you become the next Matt Damon (which, even a clone of Matt Damon would need luck to achieve). So my advice would be to pursue medicine as your career, and do acting on the side. If acting then hits off you'll be able to take it further, and if it doesn't then you'll have an excellent career to fall back on.

Reply 14

Cryl

Go for Medical school. As you said yourself, acting is a very dangerous industry. And tbh, you don't even need a proper drama qualification to go into acting. Sure, it might be helpful. But if you have reasonable looks and a natural talent, you'll make it.

But you have a much higher chance of living a successful life if you pursue medicine. And it's not like "you-hate-medicine-but-you're-so-good-at-it" type of situation. You actually like Medicine. You can probably get drama experience part time while you're studying for medicine, but don't throw this opportunity away.

Reply 15

alt31

i'm not 100% sure, used to really want to do medicine, now it's losing its appeal :/ i'd love to be a professional actor :h:

i know someone at rada who loves it and obviously its a great platform so i'd recommend it, and i understand about lamda - i've done them at school, but i could see how they wouldn't be preferable in your situation
good luck! let me know how you get on - and if you become a major star i want an invite to your premieres! :wink:

hahahaaa

Reply 16

ahq

Personally, it sounds to me like you'd have a better time just trying to make a living in the acting business than doing medicine. :colondollar:

Have you considered universities in the US? There are some really good ones for performance arts, obviously, and my impression is that they're likelier to appreciate the stuff you do on a gap year, especially when it comes to the arts.

Reply 17

shorttstuff

I think a good way to decide is if you join medical school, will you regret applying to acting or the other way round.
I was a lighting competition yesterday and this girl was saying to me that she was so close to applying to do maths at top unis but knew that if she did end up doing a maths degree, she would regret not applying to do lighting at uni. She's now doing lighting at uni and enjoys it and does not regret taking that risk at all :smile:

Reply 18

BingTaoBing

You have a really excellent writing style...ever thought about journalism? Seriously, it rolls along splendidly...ANYWAY,

I was rather in the same predicament as you. I felt very attached to medicine, like it was an important career, a necessary one and like acting would be a bit of an immature option. I did a lot of reading online about the admissions process, as you've done.

Here's the conclusion I've come to:

Aim for medicine, primarily..Do the UKCAT again, apply for a graduate course after you finish your biochemistry.

Medicine will provide you with a job, a steady income, a secure qualification, a rewarding life and it will stretch you intellectually.

BUT, don't forget about the acting. To be a successful actor, you do not need to go to a drama school or have a degree in theatre studies. If you participate in amateur dramatics, and get yourself an agent, you can attend a few auditions on the side and see if anything takes off. I think it would be unwise to through yourself into acting with nothing to fall back on..

I know it's difficult - I was absolutely obsessed with acting and the thought of getting interesting characters and being successful in the film industry. I felt like it was my calling and I couldn't let it go. But now I'm doing it locally, and I have a friend who's an agent, and I've got a few auditions coming up but it's not my main focus.

I think, intellectually, you're wasting your talents if you sit around waiting for the casting director to give you a ring. You''d be much better off being a doc, whilst getting home to an answering machine message left my the casting director...if you see what I mean...

Anyway, Good luck, pal - you'll be happy!

Reply 19

madders94

I'm currently on a drama-type course (it's much more performance-based than academic-based so technically it's not a drama course as such, more of an acting degree) and I love it; I'm having the time of my life and the opportunities it's given me are incredible - in the first six months I've had opportunities to be on TV and I've performed for quite a well-known agent who's managed some well-known clients, the course is incredible - but acting is not my Plan A. There are so many people on the course who are adamant that they are going to be actors and that is that, and honestly they're the ones who tend not to be brilliant actors anyway.

My Plan A is to be a primary school teacher (which is why I'm at uni and didn't audition for drama schools; I was advised to but I knew they are aimed more at people who only want a career in performance). I'm doing this as my degree because the advice was to choose something you like and something you're good at. I love performing and I'm good at it, so it was the obvious choice, and I don't regret it. However, I do have some advice :tongue:

if you do go for it, be prepared to be around drama students. I know it sounds stupid, but there is a certain type of person who studies drama/performance, and there'll be at least two or three of them in every class. The one who constantly wears blacks and demands stage discipline at all times, even when you're not onstage, and swans around in short shorts, leggings and ballet pumps (not even joking, that's how to spot your typical irritating drama student), and thinks they're better than everyone else, when really, they're mediocre at best. If you can deal with them, you can deal with anything a performance course will throw at you!

Obviously funding may be an option for you, as you can only get funding for 4 years worth of university, and if you're in your second year and want to do a three year course, you'll need to find some extra money from somewhere to fund it. If money isn't an option, though, and you really want to do acting, I'd say go for it - if you pick the right university/drama school you'll enjoy it - but always, always, always have a back-up plan and some way of achieving it.

I agree with the people saying will you regret not choosing _________ if you choose _______. I was considering studying either Psychology or English at university and I know I'd regret not doing Theatre, TV and Performance if I chose either of those, but I have no regrets about choosing my course :smile:

(edited 11 years ago)