Conflicted Degree Choices

My passion is and always has been acting. However, if I were to study this at university, I would only want to study at the best drama schools in the UK, as this would increase my likelihood of making connections to pursue a career in acting (which is obviously an INCREDIBLY competitive industry). I've been looking at some of the best drama schools, e.g. RADA, LAMDA, Bristol Old Vic, Guildhall etc, but I've noticed most of their current and ex-students seem to be either elitist, from London, or have very privileged background (with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 students). As you can probably tell, I am not from any of these backgrounds but have shown my talent and skills through awards at my local theatre and all my previous schools. I've already written a personal statement for Acting but haven't sent it off yet as I'm considering writing one for a Speech and Language Therapy degree, which isn't my passion at all and people are pressuring me to pursue it as its a secure job. I know that many very successful actors such as Jemnifer Lawrence, Judith Dench, Brad Pitt never went to drama school, so is it even worth all the money to go, or should I focus on getting a secure career and go to auditions on the side?

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Jennifer Lawrence did have acting classes that her family paid for though. Brad Pitt also took acting classes while searching for work early in his career. Judy Dench had direct contact with the acting world from childhood due to her parents working in or connected to that sector (which would have also given her contacts in the acting world to get started).

In terms of your concerns about the "elitist" and "privileged backgrounds" those students have: this is essentially the case for all actors these days. There's a reason "nepo baby" is becoming such a common concept. So if you want to pursue acting you need to get used to that now, because that's who the majority of your costars will be in most cases.

Other than that one of the major potential outcomes of a degree in the arts is often not just learning your "craft" but also developing networks of contacts from whom you will find out about jobs and/or collaborate with on projects. That is often something that is hard to find otherwise, especially if you aren't from that kind of privileged background where your family connections can put you in front of executives/casting directors for consideration (either through industry connections or having enough money/influence to do so otherwise).

Ultimately you will gain little from doing a degree you have no interest in, so there's not really any point in wasting the time and money doing that. You may as well do what you're interested in - and if in the situation that you can't get acting work, you can just look at generalist roles that all grads end up pursuing if not going into a specialist role related to their degree. Also in terms of SLT you can qualify through a masters degree route if you wish anyway.