Applying for 2013

[Robsmumma]

It IS an extremely stressful time.
This is my dd third year out there, she has had numerous offers, just not the ones she wanted! Hopefully this is her year! Two auditions and two offers, three more to go. Urdang foundation has really upped her game and hopefully worth the pennies. Only time will tell!
You just have to keep their confidence going and it does pay off in the end.
Good luck x

[GypsyMumNot!]

Chichester - She loved Chi right from the beginning! The head of music there (Ben Hall) went to her school and did a talk to the MT students all about the course and she decided to go to the open day, loved it and was absolutely overjoyed to get an offer.

The 'problem' is that her acting is the best of her 3 disciplines and she has her heart set on MT . She needed to be realistic (we can't afford mountview, arts ed etc) and she needed to apply for places which played to her acting strength while still satisfying her desire for MT .

I am so sorry if I may burst your bubble a bit AlisonB but my eldest DD is just coming to the end of her first year at Chi and is very disappointed with the lack of acting classes they get. Because they all felt the same, a campaign was started to increase the number of hours of acting classes....not sure they are getting anywhere as yet. Thought I ought to let you know before you commit.

[showtunes]

Chichester - She loved Chi right from the beginning! The head of music there (Ben Hall) went to her school and did a talk to the MT students all about the course and she decided to go to the open day, loved it and was absolutely overjoyed to get an offer.

The 'problem' is that her acting is the best of her 3 disciplines and she has her heart set on MT . She needed to be realistic (we can't afford mountview, arts ed etc) and she needed to apply for places which played to her acting strength while still satisfying her desire for MT .

I am so sorry if I may burst your bubble a bit AlisonB but my eldest DD is just coming to the end of her first year at Chi and is very disappointed with the lack of acting classes they get. Because they all felt the same, a campaign was started to increase the number of hours of acting classes....not sure they are getting anywhere as yet. Thought I ought to let you know before you commit.[/quote

Oh dear is that because your dd is on the dance pathway though gypsymumnot? I know you mentioned they are merging them from sep but has the problem this year been because of the type of course she has been on or is this across the board? Students on the triple threat first year we have spoke to seemed quite happy with their classes that's why I ask.

[Welsh Mum]

It was a no from Man Met, emailed them to today and UCAS notification came through this evening, just as DS waiting to see Olly Murs in Birmingham!! They all seem so resilient though which is great and required in this cruel business, just wish these schools would get their answers out sooner especially when dc are told when they will get their results by. He wasn't downhearted and has always thought that he probably will not get in this year as it is his 1st year of trying and not 18 until July, all good experience-if expensive-still has 3 to go.

Well done for the offers Robsmumma and AlisonB, that's great and good luck to all who still have auditions. Completely agree AlisonB, a very stressful time!!

That's a shame for your DS Nigelben,but he sounds like he has a good sensible attitude to all of this audition lark. And just getting a recall there is great in itself. They have to have such a thick skin to cope with all the knock backs. A girl at college with my dd has had 4 rejections so far this year for musical theatre,she has become so upset about it that she has cancelled her final two auditions,dropped her singing lessons and has had a career change completely.Such a shame.
Good luck to your Ds with his other auditions.Onewards and forever upwards!

That is sad for your DDs friend but quite frankly she has made a wise decision - the harsh fact is that rejection is part and parcel of the profession and if she feels like that now then it is not the route for her. One thing that proved to me that my DD really wanted this path was when she didnt get in on her first year of auditions, she just buckled down and got ready to re apply the following year - not easy when other friends all going off to uni etc.

[nigelben]

That is so true Welshmum, if ds doesn't get in this year, he is so determined that he will try and try again. I really admire him and all going through the same process, it's me who gets downhearted when I hear of his friends getting uni places but he knows what he wants and that's to be an actor. In the drama workshop he goes to, so many didn't even get a recall last year (their first year of trying) but this year many of them have had recalls and been given places so that year of life experience obviously really helps. When DS went to Drama Centre he knew already that he wouldn't get recalled as in the short interview he had after his speeches the question he was asked was "now you're very young, what will you do in a gap year?" From Drama Centre, a couple of weeks after he received an email recommending him to go for the foundation course there as they said they were impressed with his speeches, unfortunately we're not in the position financially for him to do a foundation course.

But as you say Welshmum, you have to be so so determined, if not it's probably not the right career pathway for you.

[GypsyMumNot!]

Oh dear is that because your dd is on the dance pathway though gypsymumnot? I know you mentioned they are merging them from sep but has the problem this year been because of the type of course she has been on or is this across the board? Students on the triple threat first year we have spoke to seemed quite happy with their classes that's why I ask.

Its across the board. The request for more acting actually started from the triple threat students......sorry.

[dorothy]

Thanks Showtunes, yes, he is so much more laid back about it than me!! He goes to a really good workshop where the teacher really instills to them that it is unlikely they will even get a recall the first year round and to just take it as good experience, so ds is pleased he has had at least one recall. That's sad about your dds friend, I can imagine how it must feel, ds asked me to look on his UCAS to see what the result was as he was at this concert and when I got on it to see 4 unsuccessfuls out of 5 must be very disheartening, he has one left on UCAS for MT at GSA the other 2 auditions he has are outside of UCAS.

What a shame nigelben. My dd like your ds takes it all very well and although she has 4 unsuccessfuls so far, LIPA which she applied for but then decided didnt really want because she wanted MT rather than acting but in any event was unsuccessful, Rose Bruford she withdrew from for similar reasons, LCM, Central and RCS. She loved the last 3 though and whilst got recalls to the afternoon bits didnt get any further although she was pleased to get the recalls and feels they must have liked something. So only GSA recall now and apparently on the same day as her recall they are also doing first round MT and Acting auditions as well.

It really is frightening the number they see at all these popular places that anyone ever gets a place so congratulations to those that have. There must be thousands of students going for a total of a few hundred places and that includes the private places as well so even less if you need funding. Think it could be a gap year for dd and try again next year. It is a shame that your dd's friend showtunes feels so disheartened by it all. I think I would as well I feel terribly hurt for her when its a no because as I am sure we all feel the same we think our dcs deserve it because they work so hard at it . Luckily my dd is more positive than me and says lots dont get in the first time. Although she felt she was well prepared this year for auditions I think she may try and get some audition technique lessons or workshops and maybe practice classical monologues etc in her gap year as she feels the classical monologues may have let down where they were required.

Oh well watch this space and good luck to everyone

[dorothy]

It's really interesting reading about everyone's experiences so far. My DD has offers from Cumbria (drama performance and musical theatre performance) and Chichester (musical theatre triple threat), has decided not to auction for Colchester (musical theatre) even though she applied initially, got rejected from LIPA after a recall, and has Central in a couple of weeks.

It's all so stressful!

Well done AlisonB for your dd's offers so far and good luck with the rest. Yes it is stressful

[AlisonB]

Chichester - She loved Chi right from the beginning! The head of music there (Ben Hall) went to her school and did a talk to the MT students all about the course and she decided to go to the open day, loved it and was absolutely overjoyed to get an offer.

The 'problem' is that her acting is the best of her 3 disciplines and she has her heart set on MT . She needed to be realistic (we can't afford mountview, arts ed etc) and she needed to apply for places which played to her acting strength while still satisfying her desire for MT .

I am so sorry if I may burst your bubble a bit AlisonB but my eldest DD is just coming to the end of her first year at Chi and is very disappointed with the lack of acting classes they get. Because they all felt the same, a campaign was started to increase the number of hours of acting classes....not sure they are getting anywhere as yet. Thought I ought to let you know before you commit.

Thank you Gypsymumnot - that's interesting. Dd did get the feeling at the audition that they placed less emphasis on the acting (just from things they said).

Dd was just keen to go to auditions that at least gave her the chance to do her monologue or do improv as well as sing!

[showtunes]

Oh dear is that because your dd is on the dance pathway though gypsymumnot? I know you mentioned they are merging them from sep but has the problem this year been because of the type of course she has been on or is this across the board? Students on the triple threat first year we have spoke to seemed quite happy with their classes that's why I ask.

Its across the board. The request for more acting actually started from the triple threat students......sorry.

Keep us posted on the outcome of the campaign then if you will please.
Will your dd still carry on with her course?

[GypsyMumNot!]

Will your dd still carry on with her course?

The jury's still out on that one showtunes......

[Genevieve]

It was a no from Man Met, emailed them to today and UCAS notification came through this evening, just as DS waiting to see Olly Murs in Birmingham!! They all seem so resilient though which is great and required in this cruel business, just wish these schools would get their answers out sooner especially when dc are told when they will get their results by. He wasn't downhearted and has always thought that he probably will not get in this year as it is his 1st year of trying and not 18 until July, all good experience-if expensive-still has 3 to go.

your ds is a young 18 too , and the experiences will set him in good stead for next year, and I do think a gap year is going to be so important in growing up and getting some life experience, which will only work to his advantage and give time to prepare for next year's auditions - he certainly has the right attitude by the sounds of it, so well done mum too

[nigelben]

Well DS had his Bristol Old Vic audition yesterday, he really liked it there and was pleased with how it went. It would be great for him to get in, not only from the excellent reputation but also financially as we live in Bristol!! Again, we're realistic, as I think BOV is notorious for taking older students. Shouldn't be such a long wait from BOV as I think they are pretty quick at getting back to you.
DS has his MT audition for GSA in Cardiff on Thursday, he has mainly gone for straight acting courses as has only recently really found his singing voice. He's in a bit of a dilemma as to which song to sing, he has been having singing lessons at his actors workshop and the singing teacher has said along with many blogs he has read that it is better not to do one of the popular songs. He feels he doesn't connect as well with the couple of songs he has been recommended to do as he does with songs such as "Gethsemane" or Les Mis songs-he knows of a girl who got a recall at GSA singing "On My Own" which I guess must be one of the most popular songs for a girl. I know that most have DDs on here but just wondered if anyone whose DC have gone for an MT audition may have any advice as to what boys have sung there.

Thanks Genevieve for your kind words

[Welsh Mum]

It is true that they tend not to like the very popular stuff - usual advice is stay away from ALW or LM. As there are hundreds more of great MT songs this is not hard.

However - it IS important that your DS is happy and comfortable with what he is singing. So if he really wants to sing something from LM then he should do so - but he must be prepared as I know some panels have said negative comments about song choices even in the auditions .

A compromise would be take his song choice but have sveral others as back up (he should be taking a folder of songs anyway as alternatives - making sure they are contrasting in style/mood/era etc.

Good luck

[dorothy]

Well dd has just done her recall at GSA she said it went amazing but although she said everyone thought she would get an interview she didn't so that's it for this year. Gutted for her. It has been an experience though, and at least she knows what to expect next year. Will keep checking the site to see how everyone's getting on. Good luck to all