Drama school after uni?

silver~planet

I've always wanted to be an actress, and loved being involved in plays etc, but made the decision last year to read English and German at uni, instead of Drama (or going to drama school) - mainly because I don't do Theatre Studies at A-level. I was just wondering if anyone knows about going to drama school after doing a uni degree? And if prospects of employment etc are much worse if I did that?
Cheers luvvies x

Quite a lot of people do it. It makes it SO much easier to get into drama school than applying post Alevel at the age of 18/19 because after uni people are more mature etc. So it definatly makes getting in easier and a lot of drama school students are in their mid 20's. I have seen a few plays were people have been to uni and then drama school..and not just people who have studied drama/theatre at uin (because ofcourse this isn't proffesional training and therefore it is very unlikely to make you a proffesional actor alone) I know of a guy who did languages at Cambridge and then went to LAMDA and did a postgraduate acting course and is now working proffessionally..

Reply 3

silver~planet

OP

Thanks people...
I think that's my plan now - at least if I fail as an actress I can fall back on a degree (if I get it, that is :rolleyes:

) and not be a struggling barmaid...which I am at the moment :biggrin:

Reply 4

Acaila

17

From what I've heard, drama schools like people with more maturity and life experience, so you would hopefully be in with a better chance if you apply post-uni.

Reply 5

Acaila

From what I've heard, drama schools like people with more maturity and life experience, so you would hopefully be in with a better chance if you apply post-uni.

They do indeed. I only know of one person who has sucessfully gained a drama school place post Alevels and even she isn't going to one of the big name drama schools...

EDIT: no I lie I know of quite a few people who got into LIPA but they weren't impressed with it. I don't rate it highly at all!!!!

Reply 6

Acaila

17

sparklyteacosie

They do indeed. I only know of one person who has sucessfully gained a drama school place post Alevels and even she isn't going to one of the big name drama schools...

EDIT: no I lie I know of quite a few people who got into LIPA but that isn't an accredited course and I don't rate it highly at all!!!!

I think I only know one person who didn't get in applying at the normal time, but those who did get in didn't get in everywhere e.g. I know a guy who wanted to do the musical theatre course at Queen Margarets, and ended up only getting accepted to somewhere in Leeds I think it was...
The girl who didn't get in took a gap year, reapplied and got rejected from everywhere again. She was hideously wooden and just had a big ego though.
Oh and I know somebody who was rejected for stage management, but told to do something for a year and reapply.
But speaking to tutors and the like from drama courses, I know maturity has been mentioned a lot. Stanislavski said something like you can't create the character of someone else until you kno yourself. :smile:

Reply 7

Acaila

From what I've heard, drama schools like people with more maturity and life experience, so you would hopefully be in with a better chance if you apply post-uni.

My fiiend auditioned at all the top ones in London, (shes got a A at gcse and going to get a A at a2 as well probs)

Old Vic - said she ahd too much experience (we dont understand this) :confused:

other schools she got through inital auditions but didn't make it through.

ALRA - is tkaing her, on a full dance/drama award :smile:

the comment about mature students is true, from all these places she said she was one of the youngest and she's nearly 19!

they were only taking 30new students for september and over 10.000 audtioned so be careful and dont be to choosy + selective!

Reply 8

silver~planet

OP

Thanks for the advice everyone... it does sound as though maturity will be helpful so it's probably better that I'm doing it this way round.
Not that I'll ever really be mature :rolleyes:

Reply 9

Amzybaby24

My fiiend auditioned at all the top ones in London, (shes got a A at gcse and going to get a A at a2 as well probs)

Old Vic - said she ahd too much experience (we dont understand this) :confused:

other schools she got through inital auditions but didn't make it through.

ALRA - is tkaing her, on a full dance/drama award :smile:

the comment about mature students is true, from all these places she said she was one of the youngest and she's nearly 19!

they were only taking 30new students for september and over 10.000 audtioned so be careful and dont be to choosy + selective!

One of my best friends was also rejected from Old Vic and also Guildhall. She is going to study drama (acting and directing) at Dartington College of Arts in september as they gave her a place..don't really know much about it though apart from it is in Plymouth

Reply 10

WOW U NEED HIGH GRADES! thats the highest i've seen to study drama!

Reply 11

Acaila

17

I assume it's a not so performance based course? Also it's at a normal uni rather than a drama school
I think the courses at RSAMD and Queen Margaret's both only ask for 3 Cs at Higher, but when I spoke to a admissions person they said if you had the talent they'd accept you even without that. But for something like Theatre Studies at Glasgow is I think 4 Bs at Higher like pretty much all other courses.

A lot of people up here seem to get round the age thing by doing college courses. My drama tutor also teaches NQ Drama, and I think HNC, while her college also does an HND. All very very popular courses, and I think I know more people who do things like that than those who went straight into degrees.

Reply 12

Sean_McC

Hey all,
I'm an American and I just got accepted to LAMDA. However, I have a few more schools to audition for in the UK and I"m not sure which is the best school to go to. Does anyone know if LAMDA is better than Guildhall or Drama Centre?

Hope to hear from someone,

Sean.

Reply 13

Sean_McC

Hey all,
I'm an American and I just got accepted to LAMDA. However, I have a few more schools to audition for in the UK and I"m not sure which is the best school to go to. Does anyone know if LAMDA is better than Guildhall or Drama Centre?

Hope to hear from someone,

Sean.

well guidhal is more classical tranining. shakespeare etc whereas LAMDA is more modern..

Reply 14

Amzybaby24

WOW U NEED HIGH GRADES! thats the highest i've seen to study drama!

Yes they are high because it is a theory based course at Warwick...

Reply 15

ooo right well good luck then! xx

Reply 16

Amzybaby24

ooo right well good luck then! xx

thanks

Reply 17

sophieD

2

i went through a phase of wanting to go to drama school, i went to the mmu open day for the accredited acting degree and the man there said basically they prefer people with more life experience, because its an important part of acting, being able to draw from your own experiences. in the end i opted for a degree called english, writing and performance @ york, which involves a lot of practical work but also gives me the opportunity of getting a degree. I might go for drama school after my degree.

Reply 18

silver~planet

OP