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

UEA, Kent or Lancaster?

I want to study English and Drama. I’m not sure out of Kent, Lancaster, Royal Holloway or UEA.
Any advice??

depends what kind of uni you want to go. Lancaster's campus based so all the uni facilities are in one place. royal Holloway could be more expensive because its in London. i can tell you i have applied for Lancaster and i got a really nice offer from them so that may be something to consider. Although i have applied for nothing like drama.

(edited 2 years ago)

Reply 2

SiennaEveKelly

Original post by Porridge9280

What kind of offer?

Reply 3

Porridge9280

Original post by SiennaEveKelly

What kind of offer?

i got an offer initially of Distinction Merit B for a course that is required ABB so that would transfer to distinction distinction B and in Btec a Merit is a lot easier than a distinction. Lancaster was always my first choice uni. when i went to the open day everything was great.

Reply 4

Porridge9280

Are you applying for entry in september?

Reply 5

SiennaEveKelly

Original post by Porridge9280

Is the student life good there?

Reply 6

Porridge9280

yea thats my one issue is that its not in a city so idk

Reply 7

University of Kent Reps

Official Rep

Original post by SiennaEveKelly

I want to study English and Drama. I’m not sure out of Kent, Lancaster, Royal Holloway or UEA.
Any advice??

Hey @SiennaEveKelly!

I think a lot of your decision will come down to what kind of student life you're looking for. Of course you will want impeccable teaching; For Drama and English the University of Kent scored 91% overall and was ranked 14th for research quality in The Complete University Guide 2022 - and ranked 1st ranked 1st for research intensity and scored 87% overall in The Complete University Guide 2022. So we're highly regarded for our Drama and English course!

Student life here is really thriving. Much of the population is made of students, so you'll always be bumping into people you know or at least people your age. We've got plenty of nightclubs to choose from like Tokyo Tea Rooms, Club Chemistry - our on campus option Venue - and more! I can't even begin to list all our pubs, but I have made a thread here on my favourite bars, coffee shops and restaurant in Canterbury. My favourite thing about Canterbury is the atmosphere. At the University you on top of a hill, with students all around you and modern buildings everywhere. As you go into the city, it becomes more historic, with pubs and city walls which have been there for decades - and the cathedral of course! Canterbury is great for travel too. In about 40 minutes you'll be at London St Pancras, from their its a short tube or train over to Heathrow and Gatwick. Equally, if you travel for 20 minutes to Ashford, you can take the Eurostar straight into Paris; the perfect little weekend trip!

I hope this helps, but feel free to ask more questions :biggrin:

Nathan
UKC Rep

Reply 8

Muttley79

Original post by SiennaEveKelly

I want to study English and Drama. I’m not sure out of Kent, Lancaster, Royal Holloway or UEA.
Any advice??

Kent is the best of those. Which course do you prefer? What sort of place do you want to live?

Reply 9

Lancaster Student Ambassador

Official Rep

Original post by SiennaEveKelly

I want to study English and Drama. I’m not sure out of Kent, Lancaster, Royal Holloway or UEA.
Any advice??

Hi there!

I currently study Theatre and Spanish at Lancaster and am in my final year so I can tell you about some of my experience studying theatre here! I also recommend seeing if you can chat to some current students at the other unis who do drama and English as they'll also be very helpful to you! I'd also recommend looking at what kind of modules they offer because it will give you an idea of what kind of focus the course has and see if it's something that appeals to you. English and Drama is a very popular degree here so there will always be other people in your year doing the same course and it's well structured because of this.

As someone mentioned, Lancaster is a campus university so all the theatre classes are on the north campus (close to the English department too). In terms of facilities, there's the Nuffield Theatre which is the one of the biggest black box theatres outside of London which you get to perform your end of year performances in. There's at least 5 rehearsal spaces that you can book out for rehearsals for your modules and 4 of them have sprung floors, ideal for if you are interested in dance at all.
The lecturers the department has are great and they all have a background as theatre practitioners or are still theatre practitioners, for example Tim Etchells from Forced Entertainment and Andrew Quick from Imitating the Dog. There are lots of ties to companies and shows to go watch as there's always external professional shows coming to the Nuffield as part of the Lancaster Arts programme.
The course is 50/50 theoretical and practical work and it is blended well so the theory gets put into practice. The course is designed to teach you to be a theatre maker and learn various aspects of theatre. Some of my favourite modules so far have been European Postdramatic theatre and New British Writing (availability of modules changes year to year so you might not be able to take these specific ones) and this term I'm looking forward to one called Writing for Performance. The main focus is contemporary modern theatre which is really interesting so if that’s something you’re interested in, Lancaster might be a good fit!

I don't know if this answers any questions you have about Lancaster so please let me know if you have any more or want me to explain something further! Feel free to ask me questions about Lancaster in general as well!
In terms of choosing unis, as well as looking at the course, I'd also suggest looking at where you'd like to be in the country, if you'd like be on a campus or city university, what the pastoral support is like, what kind of societies they have. The place itself is just as important as the course, in my opinion!

-Daisy :smile: