Applying for 2013

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showtunes
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by showtunes »

dorothy wrote:My dds been quite lucky in terms of cost although we have still paid out probably about £250 in audition fees and travel. She has a good circle of friends she has met through YMT and youth threatre, auditions, stage experience etc over the years and so has managed to stay overnight with friends for one of her London auditions and Glasgow audition, she got a lift with her friend for the other London audition travelling overnight and she got a voucher for a free audition at Central through her college. The other auditions were in Liverpool so no travel cost and Manchester for which the train fare was quite cheap. She also applied to her college and got some financial help off them towards the cost of auditions. Having said all that she still has no offers although she is still waitng on GSA and if she gets a recall the travel down there will probably be about £50 and she might need a travelodge so that would bump up the cost. Wiithout any offers its dead money although she now knows what to expect and its been good experience but we will have to go through it all again next year without any help she has had from college this year. It is very expensive and I agree it does sometimes seem that you have to be really low income to get the full grants or dadas or preferably be wealthy in order not to worry about the cost. Regretably a lot us arent wealthy and have to do without holidays and things to try and help our kids do what they love. I havent had a holiday for about 5 years (other than a few days away in london once or twice a year to see some shows) I am certainly not well paid. i am the only breadwinner in the family and am only doing 4 days because of the recession so money is really tight and although dd might get a grant it wouldnt be a full one so I would still need to try and help a bit and I really have nothing much to spare. Its not even a well paid profession unless you are famous so you will probably never earn enough to repay all the student loans . What a crazy world we live in.

A voucher for the central audition! Wow that's fab. Am so jealous as we paid £50 for that one! :shock: it was the most expensive one. It never occurred to me about dd's college helping out in any way,no idea why it didn't seeing as she is doing musical theatre :roll: but she hasn't been given any help with any reg auditions. I must admit reg the GSA audition I had mentally costed it all up in my head how much it would cost if she was given a recall and with hotel and track expense it would have put another another £70 approx.And again that's just stopping in the good old travelodge.
dorothy
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by dorothy »

Yes we were lucky with Central. Apparently dds college Liverpool Community College have someone come from Central each year and they give I think a talk or maybe a workshop (not exactly sure what) and they got given a voucher for a free audition . I was suprised she got some money from her college I think it was around £150 so she was lucky. Its a good college and she has enjoyed it there
dorothy
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by dorothy »

Pity we never got to meet at auditions. We could have had a good old chat/moan about such things. Was just looking at extra on UCAS in case dd wants to apply somewhere else and looks like the musical theatre triple threat at chichester is full or not available on extra although musical theatre with music is and blackpool is still. Wish GSA would hurry up
showtunes
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Re: Applying for 2013

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dorothy wrote:Pity we never got to meet at auditions. We could have had a good old chat/moan about such things. Was just looking at extra on UCAS in case dd wants to apply somewhere else and looks like the musical theatre triple threat at chichester is full or not available on extra although musical theatre with music is and blackpool is still. Wish GSA would hurry up
That's a shame. Beware of the musical theatre with music course at chichester as we have been told they hardly get any dance classes or acting with it. It's apparrantly more for students wanting a career in singing and not the whole package. But you can always give them a call to check it all out.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the GSA. I think not hearing immediately is a good thing. They are obviouolsy sending out the no's first and have been all week.
showtunes
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Re: Applying for 2013

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showtunes wrote:
dorothy wrote:Pity we never got to meet at auditions. We could have had a good old chat/moan about such things. Was just looking at extra on UCAS in case dd wants to apply somewhere else and looks like the musical theatre triple threat at chichester is full or not available on extra although musical theatre with music is and blackpool is still. Wish GSA would hurry up

A thought has occurred to me,if the mt triple threat course is full. What about the people yet to audition? We know of two people going this month. Are the course leaders anticipating that the places will indeed be filled with the high number of applicants they will have auditioned. Or is it full now and they have no chance on the triple threat course and may be offered an alternative course i.e the mt with music course. Just a thought....
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Caroline A-C
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by Caroline A-C »

I would think that they can't open the course up to the second round of applicants until they have finished auditioning those already down to audition. Hopefully it will be opened to others later on.
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dorothy
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by dorothy »

showtunes wrote:
showtunes wrote:
dorothy wrote:Pity we never got to meet at auditions. We could have had a good old chat/moan about such things. Was just looking at extra on UCAS in case dd wants to apply somewhere else and looks like the musical theatre triple threat at chichester is full or not available on extra although musical theatre with music is and blackpool is still. Wish GSA would hurry up

A thought has occurred to me,if the mt triple threat course is full. What about the people yet to audition? We know of two people going this month. Are the course leaders anticipating that the places will indeed be filled with the high number of applicants they will have auditioned. Or is it full now and they have no chance on the triple threat course and may be offered an alternative course i.e the mt with music course. Just a thought....
Sorry I didnt mean to confuse everyone by saying its full i am sure they are still taking people on the triple threat course as they still have people to see, What I meant was that they werent accepting any applications on extra for that course and I think the dance course > Maybe once they have done the outstanding auditions they will open it up if there are still places which makes sense if they still have a lot to see and think they can fill it with the people due to audition.
showtunes
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Re: Applying for 2013

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Sorry I didnt mean to confuse everyone by saying its full i am sure they are still taking people on the triple threat course as they still have people to see, What I meant was that they werent accepting any applications on extra for that course and I think the dance course > Maybe once they have done the outstanding auditions they will open it up if there are still places which makes sense if they still have a lot to see and think they can fill it with the people due to audition.[/quote]

Yes that would make sense Dorothy. They probably still have a lot to audition. A friend of my dd hasn't even got their date through yet for the audtion. Any news yet? Hope you hear today otherwise its another long weekend waiting!
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by dorothy »

No no news yet from GSA. A friend of dds is also still waiting to hear from the audition last Friday but others she knows who auditioned then and didnt get a recall have heard. I believe they did some recalls last Saturday and another lot of first round ones on Tuesday . Someone else she knows said to her that they applied last year and they forgot to let them know and they had to ring them up to find out (not sure if thats true or not though) THink she will give it another week and then phone if she has heard nothing . All these colleges must be working overtime to get the auditions done and results out
nigelben
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by nigelben »

Good luck to your dd, ds still hasn't had a date from GSA for his first round in Cardiff, think they are having problems setting a date, I have been assured that if they are not able to get a Cardiff audition sorted they will accomodate them for an audition in Guildford, I wish now he had just gone to Guildford. DS still waiting on the outcome of his recall at Manchester Met, they said 10 to 15 days, so a few more days to wait. It was a no from Drama Centre and Rose Bruford, just has Bristol Old Vic and RADA to go-nothing like saving the most difficult ones to last!! DS taking it all in his stride and knows he may well have to have a gap year.
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by dorothy »

Thanks nigelben and good luck to your son at Man Met. I hope he gets a place or at one of his other choices. My dd has a few friends who had recalls at Man Met last Friday and are waiting to hear. I am sure they just want to know where they stand so they can get on with there life make plans for September to do something else for a year or accept other offers if they are lucky to have got them.

I hope you dont have to wait too long for GSA. They took ages to organise the Manchester one and seem to do loads of regional ones which make sense when you only have to do 1 song on the first round of auditions. Its a long way to go to Guildford just for that which I am sure is why you chose the regional one. Hopefully you wont have to wait too long.
Last edited by dorothy on Fri Mar 01, 2013 6:21 pm, edited 1 time in total.
dorothy
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by dorothy »

showtunes wrote:
dorothy wrote:Pity we never got to meet at auditions. We could have had a good old chat/moan about such things. Was just looking at extra on UCAS in case dd wants to apply somewhere else and looks like the musical theatre triple threat at chichester is full or not available on extra although musical theatre with music is and blackpool is still. Wish GSA would hurry up
That's a shame. Beware of the musical theatre with music course at chichester as we have been told they hardly get any dance classes or acting with it. It's apparrantly more for students wanting a career in singing and not the whole package. But you can always give them a call to check it all out.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the GSA. I think not hearing immediately is a good thing. They are obviouolsy sending out the no's first and have been all week.
Thanks for that I know my dd would really prefer the triple threat and do all 3 although her strength is her singing so will check it out if need be
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Re: Applying for 2013

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One thing that I keep on coming back to in my head with all this auditioning malarkey(love that word! :lol: ) is the debate between doing a uni degree training or going the drama school route. Will my dd have as good a chance at uni as students going to "top" accredited schools.I know her course will be full on at 30+ hours a week. 3 big productions a year and extra classes to do if required. Obviously there is some written work but only a small percentage. From what I have read,drama schools are usually 40+ hours a week,with it being 100% practical training.They do the same qualification as uni's now too. We have tried with a couple of vocational schools,central and GSA. Both covered by student loan but not successful there :( the majority of the vocational schools are not fully covered by a student loan and the living expenses in London would be very high. Others only offer the diploma which you don't get any funding for at all and cost approx £10000 per year. I know there are dada awards but our income is too high to qualify for that. So the university training makes more economical sense for us but not if my dd is going to be saddled with a huge debt with no chance of getting work at the end of it.

The reason I'm thinking about all of this again is that I e mailed a few agents I found on yahoo. A few based in London,a few in manchester. I asked if they would take on someone with university training as opposed to drama school. I have had one reply so far and the lady said that no,to be honest she wouldn't bother going to the end of year showcase at the uni as they very rarely took on people who didn't go to a main vocational school. She went on to say that obviously not everyone goes down the same path and that if someone is super talented they will work but a good agent is imperative for getting castings. She says the best seem to come from arts ed. (another tried but not successful)

I don't know wether this will be the opinion of every agent but its very worrying for my dd. She accepts that she hasn't got into the drama schools and is happy with the uni course, from all we have found out about it it sounds great. But I can't help looking at the bio's at actors in brochures in shows and 90% of them are always from the top London drama schools. She could wait a yr and try again but she doesn't want to. She wants to start her training as soon as possible. And of course there is no guarantee she would be any luckier next year either. Plus we would have all the auditions cost again.

Suppose we just have to hope that if she does take her place on the uni course,she does fantastically well in her training and that her talent will outweigh WHERE she trained for these agents. I suppose she can still get there,but just the hard way. :-k
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Welsh Mum
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by Welsh Mum »

I think that agent's reaction will be the common one I am afraid :( . There are a large number of showcases etc to go to just with the accredited drama vocational courses. Also most of the vocational courses will have other industry connections and opportunities. being in London is expensive but it is at the centre of the theatre industry - students are encourage to see as much live theatre as poss, and if you live there you can get day tickets etc. If your DD did take a gap year she would prob find that most of her year would be older than 18 on the vocational course - some a few years older. However, if she is dead aganist it then the uni route does seem the only option for her.
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Re: Applying for 2013

Post by songbird »

My dd did a one year course at the london school of musical theatre she was one of about 4 who got in at 18years old the rest had either worked professionally or had attended well regardedmusical theatre degree or music courses such as chichester cumbria even one from a 3 year italia conti and one rose bruford last the year before had people from oxford school of drama and rose bruford - the course is not trying to compete against the drama schools but instead they aim to take people who they feel with a year of professional training in avery full on environment like a company in rehearsal will be ready to gain work and employment within the year. Virtually all got an agent at the end of their training many have had well regarded work and currently one is in taboo one in book of mormon some touring abroad and dd is working as lead vocalist and dancing on a six month cruise ...

my point is that if your child does go the uni route there are other ways into the industry my dd went at 18 so no degree under her belt and possibly some of her year group who had done the 3year course at uni may have also gained a place at 18 without the degree but whichever route you choose there is always anoth you way you can fund a course like lsmt or an MA at the the drama type courses like arts ed mountview via a career development loan and most of the students like my dd had to work weekend to help pay rent and feed theirselves - yes it was hard work but believe me the jobs in the industry are very hard work to so stamina is the biggest asset that you need alongside talent. If you get into a top show it is unlikely that you would have much more than 2 weeks rehearsal period so every bit of practical performance experience you can gain is very important. very best of luck to all with your journeys sometimes i think its more stressful for the parents than the kids
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