Auditioning for 2022 entry

[Ditzi]

This is it, we’re not willing to risk it, as we weren’t with eldest dd, was just hoping there was some magical mystery pot of gold dished out that I wasn’t aware of but looks like she’ll have to give these a miss, we can manage a few thousand top up but not nearly £10k unfortunately, wouldn’t be quite so bad if you could borrow £9250! Thanks for your comments, they’re really appreciated x

Is that £10k extra a year or over 3 years? And why can’t you borrow the £9250? Sorry about all these questions, dd will be auditioning for next year so I’ve just started looking at cost. I find it all a bit confusing. Thanks

Every year for 3 years. Course fees for this year for degree £15, 665 for MT. Slightly cheaper at £15,210 for acting and both slightly cheaper in the final year. As said you can only borrow £6K from student finance towards them.

https://artsed.co.uk/course/undergradua ... l-theatre/


I would agree though unless you have all the fees already saved and ring-fenced, it's too much of a risk to take that your circs won't change during the timespan of training.

Thank you lawn, that makes it definitely out of our reach. It will have to be a fully funded course if she’s lucky enough to get in in the first place.

[Ditzi]

Is that £10k extra a year or over 3 years? And why can’t you borrow the £9250? Sorry about all these questions, dd will be auditioning for next year so I’ve just started looking at cost. I find it all a bit confusing. Thanks


It would be nearly £10k a year! Fees are over £15k per year and you can only borrow £6k on student loan for these private colleges, add on uniform and other extras and you’re realistically looking at nearly £10k extra per year, and that’s before you need to contribute to living costs!

Thank you, sadly there’s no way we can afford that either.

[Ditzi]

Providing you qualify and are offered a dada (which I understand are very difficult to get), do you only have to pay the student contribution fees stated on the income scales, or are there other fees on top of that?

[daffodilbutterfly]

Hi any advice gratefully received .. my daughter is currently on a foundation and has an offer for performers and emil Dale . She liked both very much and thought the people were incredibly nice - she has 4 recalls over the next month- but what are the pros and cons of performers vs emil Dale - the extra financial top up plus a deposit of £300 to secure the place I feel is off putting when she hasn’t even done her other recalls .. ?

[MygirlsloveMT]

Is that £10k extra a year or over 3 years? And why can’t you borrow the £9250? Sorry about all these questions, dd will be auditioning for next year so I’ve just started looking at cost. I find it all a bit confusing. Thanks


It would be nearly £10k a year! Fees are over £15k per year and you can only borrow £6k on student loan for these private colleges, add on uniform and other extras and you’re realistically looking at nearly £10k extra per year, and that’s before you need to contribute to living costs!

Thank you, sadly there’s no way we can afford that.

No, same here unfortunately, but at least that’s one marked off the list for us, shame it’s out of reach for so many people x

[lawn]

Providing you qualify and are offered a dada (which I understand are very difficult to get), do you only have to pay the student contribution fees stated on the income scales, or are there other fees on top of that?

That's all you pay for tuition fees. Income brackets here. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... demic-year

You also need to consider kit needed plus there might be other additional costs like headshots or theatre visits during their years of training.
Then there's rent to be paid and money for them to live on. If there are able to have a p-time job too then they might be able to use their wages as living costs, but I doubt they'd afford rent too.

They don't work for us. My husband has a company car plus we don't pay for petrol. These add up as a secondary income we have to include which though we'd manage the fee contribution not also the rent plus anything we had to send to live on from DH's wages. So, I work to absorb these costs and that puts our contribution higher and too near the amount where you become ineligible . Far too much of a risk to take. I'd rather tell DD she couldn't apply somewhere in the first place due to income than risk she had to drop out part way through training due to our finances.

[Ditzi]

Providing you qualify and are offered a dada (which I understand are very difficult to get), do you only have to pay the student contribution fees stated on the income scales, or are there other fees on top of that?

That's all you pay for tuition fees. Income brackets here. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... demic-year

You also need to consider kit needed plus there might be other additional costs like headshots or theatre visits during their years of training.
Then there's rent to be paid and money for them to live on. If there are able to have a p-time job too then they might be able to use their wages as living costs, but I doubt they'd afford rent too.

They don't work for us. My husband has a company car plus we don't pay for petrol. These add up as a secondary income we have to include which though we'd manage the fee contribution not also the rent plus anything we had to send to live on from DH's wages. So, I work to absorb these costs and that puts our contribution higher and too near the amount where you become ineligible . Far too much of a risk to take. I'd rather tell DD she couldn't apply somewhere in the first place due to income than risk she had to drop out part way through training due to our finances.

Thanks lawn, certainly a lot to consider.

[MTDreams]

Hi any advice gratefully received .. my daughter is currently on a foundation and has an offer for performers and emil Dale . She liked both very much and thought the people were incredibly nice - she has 4 recalls over the next month- but what are the pros and cons of performers vs emil Dale - the extra financial top up plus a deposit of £300 to secure the place I feel is off putting when she hasn’t even done her other recalls .. ?

Hi, What kind of course is your DD looking for? Does she want a course that's more dance based or MT triple threat? DD has friends at Performers and they say its definitely more dance focused, they say the dance training is amazing. Whereas EDA consider themselves more focused on triple threat. Also would your DD prefer somewhere smaller? DD's friend said Performers had taken on over 250 in their year last year at one site alone and so will probably do the same this year, whereas EDA as far as I know take a much smaller number of students. They are the main comparisons I can think of! Good luck to your DD for the remaining recalls

[lawn]

Hi any advice gratefully received .. my daughter is currently on a foundation and has an offer for performers and emil Dale . She liked both very much and thought the people were incredibly nice - she has 4 recalls over the next month- but what are the pros and cons of performers vs emil Dale - the extra financial top up plus a deposit of £300 to secure the place I feel is off putting when she hasn’t even done her other recalls .. ?

Hi, What kind of course is your DD looking for? Does she want a course that's more dance based or MT triple threat? DD has friends at Performers and they say its definitely more dance focused, they say the dance training is amazing. Whereas EDA consider themselves more focused on triple threat. Also would your DD prefer somewhere smaller? DD's friend said Performers had taken on over 250 in their year last year at one site alone and so will probably do the same this year, whereas EDA as far as I know take a much smaller number of students. They are the main comparisons I can think of! Good luck to your DD for the remaining recalls

My own view of ED based on my DD's audition experience (the only RL one she did) was that they are more dance focussed despite what it said on their website. Daughter and friend both auditioned on the same day, both are strongest in acting and singing with dance the weakest. They were put in separate groups but both experienced same thing. The interest was only on the dancers. They were all over daughter's friend, an outstanding singer until they discovered she had no dance experience. With daughter by the time it got to her acting, her strongest and the last to do, they didn't even look up whilst she did her monologue. The only offer for degree from those who auditioned that day (they all made a group chat, how they know) went to the strongest dancer - who later went to Bird. Maybe that day they were only looking for dancers, but I came away with a feeling that I wouldn't have bothered for DD auditioning if I hadn't believed the info on their website about being 'triple threat'

Daughter found the best way to found out which colleges are more focussed to which threat, was to ask for the way the classes are weighted in % terms.

[MTDreams]

Hi any advice gratefully received .. my daughter is currently on a foundation and has an offer for performers and emil Dale . She liked both very much and thought the people were incredibly nice - she has 4 recalls over the next month- but what are the pros and cons of performers vs emil Dale - the extra financial top up plus a deposit of £300 to secure the place I feel is off putting when she hasn’t even done her other recalls .. ?

Hi, What kind of course is your DD looking for? Does she want a course that's more dance based or MT triple threat? DD has friends at Performers and they say its definitely more dance focused, they say the dance training is amazing. Whereas EDA consider themselves more focused on triple threat. Also would your DD prefer somewhere smaller? DD's friend said Performers had taken on over 250 in their year last year at one site alone and so will probably do the same this year, whereas EDA as far as I know take a much smaller number of students. They are the main comparisons I can think of! Good luck to your DD for the remaining recalls

My own view of ED based on my DD's audition experience (the only RL one she did) was that they are more dance focussed despite what it said on their website. Daughter and friend both auditioned on the same day, both are strongest in acting and singing with dance the weakest. They were put in separate groups but both experienced same thing. The interest was only on the dancers. They were all over daughter's friend, an outstanding singer until they discovered she had no dance experience. With daughter by the time it got to her acting, her strongest and the last to do, they didn't even look up whilst she did her monologue. The only offer for degree from those who auditioned that day (they all made a group chat, how they know) went to the strongest dancer - who later went to Bird. Maybe that day they were only looking for dancers, but I came away with a feeling that I wouldn't have bothered for DD auditioning if I hadn't believed the info on their website about being 'triple threat'

Daughter found the best way to found out which colleges are more focussed to which threat, was to ask for the way the classes are weighted in % terms.

Its just shows how everyones experiences are different. A friend of my DD got offered the degree at EDA without being a dancer, but he was a really strong actor/singer. He's now at Mountview.

[daffodilbutterfly]

Thank you . Her strength is her singing and acting but is still a strong dancer .. good to have advice - how would you compare Urdang in the mix too ?

[anastasia79]

Thank you . Her strength is her singing and acting but is still a strong dancer .. good to have advice - how would you compare Urdang in the mix too ?

My daughter is in her first year at Urdang. We always knew them in the past to be mainly dance focused, however this has changed over recent years in my opinion. They are more triple threat than say Performers which is heavily weighted towards dance and was another of our top choices. She is a strong dancer and has about the same percentage of singing / acting classes to dance with slightly less acting so far since September. This is perfect as singing is her weakest of the 3 disciplines and she has seen improvements already in her voice. Based on what you’ve said Urdang may be another option for your daughter.

[daffodilbutterfly]

Thank you .. that is great to know . And do they have halls ar Urdang or is it house shares ? Is she happy at Urdnag, my daughter really liked the audition day?

[anastasia79]

Thank you .. that is great to know . And do they have halls ar Urdang or is it house shares ? Is she happy at Urdnag, my daughter really liked the audition day?

There aren’t any halls at Urdang, just house shares and various student accommodation. Some are really close to the school, others are further away. She’s made some lovely friends and is enjoying it. Her body was in shock when she first started as they do have long days of practical and theory classes. All the very best to your daughter and wherever she decides to go. I remember how stressful this process was last year but it will be worth it once everything is confirmed.

[lawn]

Hi, What kind of course is your DD looking for? Does she want a course that's more dance based or MT triple threat? DD has friends at Performers and they say its definitely more dance focused, they say the dance training is amazing. Whereas EDA consider themselves more focused on triple threat. Also would your DD prefer somewhere smaller? DD's friend said Performers had taken on over 250 in their year last year at one site alone and so will probably do the same this year, whereas EDA as far as I know take a much smaller number of students. They are the main comparisons I can think of! Good luck to your DD for the remaining recalls

My own view of ED based on my DD's audition experience (the only RL one she did) was that they are more dance focussed despite what it said on their website. Daughter and friend both auditioned on the same day, both are strongest in acting and singing with dance the weakest. They were put in separate groups but both experienced same thing. The interest was only on the dancers. They were all over daughter's friend, an outstanding singer until they discovered she had no dance experience. With daughter by the time it got to her acting, her strongest and the last to do, they didn't even look up whilst she did her monologue. The only offer for degree from those who auditioned that day (they all made a group chat, how they know) went to the strongest dancer - who later went to Bird. Maybe that day they were only looking for dancers, but I came away with a feeling that I wouldn't have bothered for DD auditioning if I hadn't believed the info on their website about being 'triple threat'

Daughter found the best way to found out which colleges are more focussed to which threat, was to ask for the way the classes are weighted in % terms.

Its just shows how everyones experiences are different. A friend of my DD got offered the degree at EDA without being a dancer, but he was a really strong actor/singer. He's now at Mountview.

Was that for 2021 entry? My daughter's audition was. It took the form of a dancing workshop for a few hours. The singing was turn up at the piano and sing your pieces individually- ok covid restrictions might have affected that. The acting was the same no workshop just turn up and do your monologue individually. This is why it was felt it was more focussed on dance. There are always less males apply though so that may be why they needed a stronger male actor/singer and already had enough male dancers offered places.