Auditioning for 2021 entry

[dancelifemum]

Make sure you still message all the landlords and ask them to let you know if anything comes available. We had this problem when dd did pre-voc at Performers (finishes this time last year), couldn’t find anything and has got to the point where we were considering a host family, something dd didn’t want as she was 18 and wanted to live College life! We were literally about to book one when a landlord rang us back and asked if we were still looking as someone had dropped out, turned out to be a lovely house too. They have pre-vocs who hang on to their house until they’ve decided whether to stay at Performers or go elsewhere (like my dd did) and students who still move around and then their room comes free so things can still come free.

Thanks, yes I have done that.....ideally though she has a friend going so two rooms are less likely than one!
TBH there were only about 40 free rooms as most listed '3 bedroom house, 2 existing students remaining...one room available etc'.....then over 150 people phoning these landlords!

My daughter is 1st year at Performers and we had similar issues last year. We found her house on Rightmove. Lots don’t take students but worth persevering. She is in 6 bed house in Basildon, £525 per month all bills included and furnished. She is staying there this year..think they have a spare room - have a look on the Facebook student page as this is where spare rooms will be advertised. Don’t worry all do find accommodation..it’s just a stressful process

[Dancemum11]

Yes totally agree, daughters rented house is all Performers. She found the house , messaged a couple of others on the Facebook chat and initially there were 3 who took out the contracts. Within a few days after posting on the group chat the house was filled with Performers students. Just acted as guarantor for my daughter. Good luck with the house hunting

[Dancemumstress]

Hi new to this so apologies upfront. Mum to DS who has auditioned for LSC, Performers, Bird and Laine. He has been offered places at all of the above but I am interested to know whether the degree at Bird or the diploma at Laine is the path to follow please?

[Theboysmum]

Performer house hunting parents- not sure if your aware but the college has asked ones struggling to find accommodation to email accommodationpc@performerscollege.co.uk

[anastasia79]

Hi new to this so apologies upfront. Mum to DS who has auditioned for LSC, Performers, Bird and Laine. He has been offered places at all of the above but I am interested to know whether the degree at Bird or the diploma at Laine is the path to follow please?

Congratulations to your DS on all his offers ! If it was my DS I would first think about which one financially we could afford. The Laine diploma would need private funding unless he’s been awarded a DADA. As the DADA’s are means tested your contribution to his fees will depend on how much your household income is. For some a DADA is great but for others financially it doesn’t add up. If he is not local to Epsom or can travel in daily you’ll then need to fund his accommodation and living costs.

Bird with the degree offers a student loan and a maintenance loan to help with his living costs. I would then think about what type of performer he’d like to be, and which of these schools would be the best place to train him. Laines and Bird are both excellent but will appeal to different people. If he hasn’t yet had a chance to visit I would recommend that you arrange a tour at each for the both of you. As well, take a look around the local area to get a feel of things. This should help to give you a better idea and he might know on the spot once he’s visited which one is right for him.

Good luck in the decision making and let us know what he decides

[anastasia79]

Performer house hunting parents- not sure if your aware but the college has asked ones struggling to find accommodation to email accommodationpc@performerscollege.co.uk

Thank you.

[Dancemumstress]

Thank you Anastasia for your response. He has been offered a DADA at Laine but we need to look at how much accommodation costs now. With Bird you do of course get a student loan to help with accommodation. More research to do!!

[lawn]

Hi new to this so apologies upfront. Mum to DS who has auditioned for LSC, Performers, Bird and Laine. He has been offered places at all of the above but I am interested to know whether the degree at Bird or the diploma at Laine is the path to follow please?

Well done to him. As well as the finances already mentioned, you may wish to take class sizes into account. There's a thread on here that talks about them, I believe Laine is mentioned, not sure about Bird.

[Grace03]

Hi new to this so apologies upfront. Mum to DS who has auditioned for LSC, Performers, Bird and Laine. He has been offered places at all of the above but I am interested to know whether the degree at Bird or the diploma at Laine is the path to follow please?

I’m not sure if this will help but we started with finances. The diploma, even with funding, would have been very difficult for us so we decided straight away that any diploma course would be ruled out unless there were no other offers.
Then we wrote a long list of pros and cons.
We included accommodation, type of training / timetable, living costs, transport links, graduate employment- anything at all that we could think of.
This really helped to narrow it down and we are now left with two options. Making a decision between the last two though is proving very difficult!

[Elysée69]

This place is so helpful.

After mulling all pros and cons we have decided DD will be declining her EDA btech and Conti Diploma as we feel at only just 16 she is too young to go 400 miles away. Decision is to sit her next exams and audition for 2022 and pray she still gets offers.

Places she can audition for next year with her age/qualifications (she'll have sat highers so can try for degree at)

Diploma/degree at
EDA
URDANG
CONTI
BIRD
CHICHESTER

she is acting singing strong but dance is not far behind. Anyone able to rank these in terms of course/employability record?

Thank you

[StartingLate]

Elysee69 we are in same boat, and hoping it was right decision and that she gets offer(s) when she applies again.
In our case DD will not audition until Autumn 2022 for Sept 2023 start.
It sounds to have been a competitive year with many more people auditioning online, so fingers crossed for your DD and my DD when they audition again.

[icantdance]

This place is so helpful.

After mulling all pros and cons we have decided DD will be declining her EDA btech and Conti Diploma as we feel at only just 16 she is too young to go 400 miles away. Decision is to sit her next exams and audition for 2022 and pray she still gets offers.

Places she can audition for next year with her age/qualifications (she'll have sat highers so can try for degree at)

Diploma/degree at
EDA
URDANG
CONTI
BIRD
CHICHESTER

she is acting singing strong but dance is not far behind. Anyone able to rank these in terms of course/employability record?

Thank you

Hi Elysee69, I'm not an expert in these but from a quote somebody put on here earlier it is true that it is talent which will decide how successful you are, wherever you end up. My DS turned down 2 diploma offers when he was just 16 and Bird, in particular, were keen to see how much he'd improved over the 2 years. Although that is my only experience, the students are not competing on the basis of age so your DD will have been on a level footing with 18 year olds at the auditions. This means that if she develops and improves then she'll almost certainly get offers at the same places next year. For degree funding I believe she would need to be 18 so I guess she'll be auditioning for diplomas again next year.

If I'm honest I was expecting DS to have offers this year, as he's developed and matured massively in the last 2 years, and if he was good enough then, he's certainly good enough now.

All the best for next year (and having to go through this again which hopefully will be in person next year)

[icantdance]

Re Laine. No call for DS but I emailed Sarah Carroll to find out where he was on the list and got a very prompt response. He's definitely going to Bird..... until he is offered a DaDA at Laine..... And then who knows!!

[dancelifemum]

Re Laine. No call for DS but I emailed Sarah Carroll to find out where he was on the list and got a very prompt response. He's definitely going to Bird..... until he is offered a DaDA at Laine..... And then who knows!!

Hi it is kind of the same decision for us...but as we would be entitled to minimum dada the thousands to fund it and not leave with a degree has swayed her....but it wasn't easy! I think weighing up what 18k gets you that a 'free' degree with student loan doesn't for 9k? It depends what type of course he would prefer too, contact hours etc..... it is all very personal

[dancelifemum]

If it makes anyone feel better....just heard Urdang are continuing online first round auditions next year too!
They have realised it's easier (prob cheaper too) to get a panel to view auditions at home rather than arrange audition days....so waiting a year wouldn't make any difference it seems. I also think its a big money spinner as they had over 2k auditionees...much more than if they held in person all paying £45!