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Drama schools for MT

Hello,

My daughter is finalizing her UCAS application for musical theatre courses but is struggling to narrow down her choices to only five. Is anyone able to give some insight into them, how good they are, whether they are really difficult to get into, etc? Are there any we have overlooked? Thank you for any help!

She is looking at
Italia Conti
PPA
The Hammond
Wilkes
Urdang
Performers College
The Brighton Academy

MPAA (direct application)
Emil Dale (direct application)

Reply 1

Original post
by Renegade_x
Hello,
My daughter is finalizing her UCAS application for musical theatre courses but is struggling to narrow down her choices to only five. Is anyone able to give some insight into them, how good they are, whether they are really difficult to get into, etc? Are there any we have overlooked? Thank you for any help!
She is looking at
Italia Conti
PPA
The Hammond
Wilkes
Urdang
Performers College
The Brighton Academy
MPAA (direct application)
Emil Dale (direct application)

Hi @Renegade_x

It's such a hard decision to make, narrowing down your short list to 5. I don't have any personal experience of the theatre schools, but as a piece of general advice, have you visited the institutions' open days or had a visit to the campuses and departments? Going to an open day can really help narrow down your selection as it will give your daughter an insight into the universities and sometimes the one that on paper she doesn't really think is 'the one' turns out to be perfect. At an Open Day, not only do you have the chance to meet all the academic teaching staff, but also the support staff. You will be able to look around the university, meet and speak to current students, have guided tours of the accommodation etc, often led by students who have current experience of living there and studying there. Importantly, your daughter will be able to gain a feel for the place, see if she finds it a nice place to be and somewhere that she feels comfortable at and thinks she would be happy to study there and spend the next part of her academic journey at. This can be more important than league tables etc. If she's not happy there and doesn't feel at home, she won't be able to perform her best.

I hope this helps a bit, feel free to ask anything else! And the best of luck in narrowing down the choices, and her future studies,
Jess
PhD English
University of Chester

Reply 2

Italia Conti and Urdang are the only trustworthy ones in your list. Be aware that there are numerous dodgy 'theatre' colleges out there with no reputation/history and that are out to just fleece the unsuspecting. Add Trinity Laban, Mountview and Guildford School of Acting to those two and that would be 5 sensible choices of colleges that are not just going to close-down overnight

Reply 3

Original post
by McGinger
Italia Conti and Urdang are the only trustworthy ones in your list. Be aware that there are numerous dodgy 'theatre' colleges out there with no reputation/history and that are out to just fleece the unsuspecting. Add Trinity Laban, Mountview and Guildford School of Acting to those two and that would be 5 sensible choices of colleges that are not just going to close-down overnight

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately Mountview seem to charge a lot in extra fees so we wouldn't be able to afford that. Trinity Laban was one we looked at, but it's on UCAS Conservatoire so a separate application to the five choices anyway. We also looked at GSA but daughter didn't get a great vibe from there.

Reply 4

My dd has just started her degree (well….still mid freshers so almost lol). She got BA offers from Italia Conti, Wilkes, Performers, SI before it closed and a foundation offer from Emil Dale. Narrowing down where to apply was tricky but I’d say visit them for open days if you can, I knew pretty quickly where I could see her and she felt the same. She ended up torn between Wilkes and Performers (loved Emil dale but wasn’t willing to do foundation with other degree offers that she liked). She’s now settled at Performers and from audition day, their communication etc has been fab. They were the only school (that my dd auditioned for) that allowed parents in for a quick tour. They also did an offer holders day and were really helpful with accommodation. Wilkes were also great with accommodation help but it was taking a bit too long as she didn’t get into the Bell and by the time they offered her a room, she had done the offer holders day and settled on Performers.

Reply 5

My daughter started at MPAA two weeks ago, absolutely loves it and so far very impressed with the teaching, classes and family atmosphere there.

Reply 6

How many people are there actually working in the profession from any of these here-one-minute-and-closed-the-next schools.

Reply 7

I have heard good things about Wilkes & have come across several of their graduates working.

Hammond used to be brilliant, but there was a change of management and my daughter, who was part way through her course at the time found it impacted her. Her final year was horrendous.

Performers again used to have a great reputation and their graduates can be found all across the west End and beyond. However, since being bought by BIMM they have become too big and less selective.

I have no recent first hand experience of Italia Conti. They dropped off the radar for a while but are now firmly back again.

Have you considered Leeds Conservatoire. Very up and coming and their graduates are getting work.

GSA is another to consider, it's one of the very best but incredibly difficult to get into.

Reply 8

Original post
by dis1982
My dd has just started her degree (well….still mid freshers so almost lol). She got BA offers from Italia Conti, Wilkes, Performers, SI before it closed and a foundation offer from Emil Dale. Narrowing down where to apply was tricky but I’d say visit them for open days if you can, I knew pretty quickly where I could see her and she felt the same. She ended up torn between Wilkes and Performers (loved Emil dale but wasn’t willing to do foundation with other degree offers that she liked). She’s now settled at Performers and from audition day, their communication etc has been fab. They were the only school (that my dd auditioned for) that allowed parents in for a quick tour. They also did an offer holders day and were really helpful with accommodation. Wilkes were also great with accommodation help but it was taking a bit too long as she didn’t get into the Bell and by the time they offered her a room, she had done the offer holders day and settled on Performers.

Thank you for your help and insight! Can I ask why your daughter didnt choose Italia Conti? Best of luck to her for her course ⭐️

Reply 9

Original post
by welcometotherock
I have heard good things about Wilkes & have come across several of their graduates working.
Hammond used to be brilliant, but there was a change of management and my daughter, who was part way through her course at the time found it impacted her. Her final year was horrendous.
Performers again used to have a great reputation and their graduates can be found all across the west End and beyond. However, since being bought by BIMM they have become too big and less selective.
I have no recent first hand experience of Italia Conti. They dropped off the radar for a while but are now firmly back again.
Have you considered Leeds Conservatoire. Very up and coming and their graduates are getting work.
GSA is another to consider, it's one of the very best but incredibly difficult to get into.

This is really great insight thank you. We did look at Leeds, as daughter knows someone who went there and loved it. I think its too far away for my daughter to realistically consider though unfortunately.

Reply 10

Original post
by Tabs1010
My daughter started at MPAA two weeks ago, absolutely loves it and so far very impressed with the teaching, classes and family atmosphere there.

This is great to know! Daughter has submitted her direct application and waiting to hear about an audition...

Reply 11

Original post
by PG Study Chester
Hi @Renegade_x
It's such a hard decision to make, narrowing down your short list to 5. I don't have any personal experience of the theatre schools, but as a piece of general advice, have you visited the institutions' open days or had a visit to the campuses and departments? Going to an open day can really help narrow down your selection as it will give your daughter an insight into the universities and sometimes the one that on paper she doesn't really think is 'the one' turns out to be perfect. At an Open Day, not only do you have the chance to meet all the academic teaching staff, but also the support staff. You will be able to look around the university, meet and speak to current students, have guided tours of the accommodation etc, often led by students who have current experience of living there and studying there. Importantly, your daughter will be able to gain a feel for the place, see if she finds it a nice place to be and somewhere that she feels comfortable at and thinks she would be happy to study there and spend the next part of her academic journey at. This can be more important than league tables etc. If she's not happy there and doesn't feel at home, she won't be able to perform her best.
I hope this helps a bit, feel free to ask anything else! And the best of luck in narrowing down the choices, and her future studies,
Jess
PhD English
University of Chester

This advice is very kind and no doubt well-intended, but given by someone who perhaps doesn't appreciate how drama school entry works. By all means go to Open Days to see what the facilities are like and meet staff and students, but ultimately you may not get much choice, as young people applying for MT and Acting courses vastly outnumber the places available. You might get no offers at all, or just one! I would say the best strategy is to apply for mix of 'dream' schools and slightly less prestigious ones. I would say the top 3 (and hardest to get into) are Arts Ed, GSA and Mountview. If you are discounting MV and Arts Ed because of cost, next look at Urdang, Italia Conti, Emil Dale, Royal Welsh, Central, Laban, Bird and maybe PPA and Leeds Conservatoire. I think Wilkes are starting to do very well for dancers, and Performers, although now massive, do still get some graduates who do well. I do understand McGinger's point that there are now too many colleges offering MT and realistically a lot of these grads will not be performing professionally in the most prestigious shows, but every school had to start somewhere. 10 years ago people would not have rated EDA for a degree course, but now it is doing very well. And many young people use the degree as a springboard to teaching, choreography, cruise ships, commercial dance and holiday park work - many are under no illusion that they will not be the lead at Drury Lane.
Is your young person more of a dancer/singer, or an actor singer? If singing is not the forte, go for Performers or Wilkes etc. Bird and Urdang are working hard to become more 'triple threat'. If they are an actor-singer, try GSA, Royal Welsh, Central, Laban? Check things like contact hours, agent showcases etc. Look at the last couple of years of grads on the website. How many get agents? Are they good agents? What sort of work are their alumni getting?

Reply 12

Original post
by Renegade_x
Thank you for your help and insight! Can I ask why your daughter didnt choose Italia Conti? Best of luck to her for her course ⭐️


Hi, thank you! She’s looking forward to really getting started on Monday.

She was offered the dance degree at conti but really wanted MT so it was off the table pretty quickly but she also just didn’t get as good a feel about it as some of the others. She has some good friends there though who loved it.

Reply 13

Original post
by Renegade_x
This is great to know! Daughter has submitted her direct application and waiting to hear about an audition...


Good luck to her on her journey. The auditions def really help in getting a proper feel for a place. MPAA started their audition day with a long talk which parents were invited to stay for. Was very informative and interesting, so worth doing if they keep that format this year.

Reply 14

Just to advise that Italia Conti has changed to direct application, so you don’t use up a space on UCAS. I’ve also heard they are going to be charging a top-up of £3000 per year, similar to Emil Dale.

Reply 15

Original post
by callingcard
This advice is very kind and no doubt well-intended, but given by someone who perhaps doesn't appreciate how drama school entry works. By all means go to Open Days to see what the facilities are like and meet staff and students, but ultimately you may not get much choice, as young people applying for MT and Acting courses vastly outnumber the places available. You might get no offers at all, or just one! I would say the best strategy is to apply for mix of 'dream' schools and slightly less prestigious ones. I would say the top 3 (and hardest to get into) are Arts Ed, GSA and Mountview. If you are discounting MV and Arts Ed because of cost, next look at Urdang, Italia Conti, Emil Dale, Royal Welsh, Central, Laban, Bird and maybe PPA and Leeds Conservatoire. I think Wilkes are starting to do very well for dancers, and Performers, although now massive, do still get some graduates who do well. I do understand McGinger's point that there are now too many colleges offering MT and realistically a lot of these grads will not be performing professionally in the most prestigious shows, but every school had to start somewhere. 10 years ago people would not have rated EDA for a degree course, but now it is doing very well. And many young people use the degree as a springboard to teaching, choreography, cruise ships, commercial dance and holiday park work - many are under no illusion that they will not be the lead at Drury Lane.
Is your young person more of a dancer/singer, or an actor singer? If singing is not the forte, go for Performers or Wilkes etc. Bird and Urdang are working hard to become more 'triple threat'. If they are an actor-singer, try GSA, Royal Welsh, Central, Laban? Check things like contact hours, agent showcases etc. Look at the last couple of years of grads on the website. How many get agents? Are they good agents? What sort of work are their alumni getting?


Exactly spot on.
& as for EDA pretty Building but
Arts1 seems to be the slow burner
& folk are off put due to the new BA course butt the bigger picture is the Faculty/ facilities / etc etc yes they expect a 3k top up BUT cohort is between 20/30 students per year & get 1 hr 1/1 sing lesson pw.
Just because IT ,Urdang, MV, GSA have been established.. majority of the teachers are freelance within other schools!
I spent 2yrs with my DD in open days & returning… it’s important to look further than the prestigious schools:

Reply 16

Look at the Federation of Drama Schools as the members have to provide a standard of training. You will find most of the big schools in there. My DD always said her dream school is the one that wants her and where she feels.she will progress

Reply 17

As you can see everyone has a different opinion (and different experiences/influenced by different things!) my advice would be to go to as many open days to get a feel. My DD applied to Urdang, Bird, Conti and Performers. Performers, Essex was always top choice for so many reasons. Bird, she just didn’t get a good feel for and same with Urdang. It came down to Conti and Peformers. Three weeks in at Performers, Essex and she’s having a great time, settled in really well. For those stating it’s got too big, I can only assume they mean in terms of sites (Birmingham etc) as Performers. Essex cut their intake to 110 this year, which is considerably less than a lot of the others! Good luck to your daughter.

Reply 18

Original post
by Renegade_x
Hello,
My daughter is finalizing her UCAS application for musical theatre courses but is struggling to narrow down her choices to only five. Is anyone able to give some insight into them, how good they are, whether they are really difficult to get into, etc? Are there any we have overlooked? Thank you for any help!
She is looking at
Italia Conti
PPA
The Hammond
Wilkes
Urdang
Performers College
The Brighton Academy
MPAA (direct application)
Emil Dale (direct application)

Hello

My daughter went for her Emil Dale audition on Saturday. She is a singer first with dance being her weakest discipline. She said the dance side of the audition was hard and fast with lots of press ups! She didn't get through to the interview round, but wasn't disappointed as it wasn't the School for her. She said all the excellent dancers were kept for interviews. She says for a dance heavy person with a good voice they'd very well there.
(edited 3 weeks ago)

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