College student numbers

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zoorangerman
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College student numbers

Post by zoorangerman »

Are some colleges just too big? I have just seen that Bird College is getting it’s third year students ready for their agent showcase films, all 195 of them!!! Yes 195!!! Ok that’s probably both diploma and degree students, but that sounds rather a lot to me. Are other colleges this big. I’m sure Urdang is similar as others may well be. Are colleges money making machines, the more students they have the more money they get in, is it only how they can financially survive.

I appreciate the more places a college has, the more chance applicants have of being successful but are there not negatives of being that size? Will they spend their 3 years as a number and not a name. Can staff really get to know their students. Is it not so much harder to stand out, to get decent parts in end of year performances. Is there not part of being successful taken away when there are so many.

What happens after college. If you’re one of those 195, what’s it like trying to standout to get a decent agent. The top 10 or 12 colleges must literally be producing hundreds of graduates each and every year. Even in normal non covid times surely only a fraction of these can get industry work.

I know the industry is tough, but maybe I hadn’t appreciated how tough it really is.
amo185
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Re: College student numbers

Post by amo185 »

It's a really good point Zoorangerman and infact a question I asked on here recently. Bird has a reputation for being huge but it seems Perfomers is now even bigger and Urdang is catching up. It seems to be the dance colleges that are increasing their numbers whereas the more singing/drama based ones are remaining somewhat smaller. But every college seems to be growing. When I was told that 10,000 new PA students graduate each year looking to go into the industry I balked and really didn't believe it. We were told to check the opportunities in the third year and visit showcases and shows etc but that just hasn't been possible due to Covid. Nothing is normal. However, regardless of the size we think it's the quality of the training that counts most. It's certainly not easy decisions - and given that I've just seen on Unistats that the average salary of a PA graduate is 10k in their first year and after 5 years is about 18k I'm really not sure it's the right road at all. But hey ho - we're all on it and our kids love it!
islandofsodor
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Re: College student numbers

Post by islandofsodor »

There are 28 Musical Theatre and Dance diploma graduates at Hammond this year. I'm not entirely sure about the degree course (which is more of an actor singer with some dance course) but I think there are roughly about 30 of them too.

It's one of the reasons my dd chose to go there.
Harry2003
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Re: College student numbers

Post by Harry2003 »

zoorangerman wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 8:23 pm Are some colleges just too big? I have just seen that Bird College is getting it’s third year students ready for their agent showcase films, all 195 of them!!! Yes 195!!! Ok that’s probably both diploma and degree students, but that sounds rather a lot to me. Are other colleges this big. I’m sure Urdang is similar as others may well be. Are colleges money making machines, the more students they have the more money they get in, is it only how they can financially survive.

I appreciate the more places a college has, the more chance applicants have of being successful but are there not negatives of being that size? Will they spend their 3 years as a number and not a name. Can staff really get to know their students. Is it not so much harder to stand out, to get decent parts in end of year performances. Is there not part of being successful taken away when there are so many.

What happens after college. If you’re one of those 195, what’s it like trying to standout to get a decent agent. The top 10 or 12 colleges must literally be producing hundreds of graduates each and every year. Even in normal non covid times surely only a fraction of these can get industry work.

I know the industry is tough, but maybe I hadn’t appreciated how tough it really is.
I completely agree with your assessment - yes, some colleges are too big, some have classes where they know that those students won’t really stand a chance of making it a career but they pay fees and keep the college afloat for the more talented ones, they are training far too many students due the number of jobs ...... the list goes on. But, all of the colleges have successful students and if a student works hard enough and it is their destiny they will make a career out of it - just pick you college wisely, one that you know your child will thrive at, some will love a large environment with many many people others would shrink at the thought. There is a place for everyone but you must go in with your eyes wide open and learn to go with the ebb and flo, have a side hustle and enjoy the journey. Who knows where it will lead?
MygirlsloveMT
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Re: College student numbers

Post by MygirlsloveMT »

This was a big deciding factor for my daughter. She did Pre-Voc at Performers and last year was offered a degree place at both Performers and Wilkes and liked them equally. However, Performers numbers increased massively this year whereas Wilkes, despite this being the first year for the degree, is still relatively small in comparison. She didn’t want to just become a number and she said she definitely made the right decision to move. She was told at Performers that when they start the degree they’re not allowed large numbers for the first 2 years which is why Performers grew so massively last year (the 3rd year of the degree) so maybe Wilkes will grow too in a few years, who knows?
jacsrab
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Re: College student numbers

Post by jacsrab »

islandofsodor wrote: Tue Mar 09, 2021 10:45 am There are 28 Musical Theatre and Dance diploma graduates at Hammond this year. I'm not entirely sure about the degree course (which is more of an actor singer with some dance course) but I think there are roughly about 30 of them too.

It's one of the reasons my dd chose to go there.

My daughter is at the MTA where they have about 18 in each of the two years. It means that they all matter and all get opportunities to be in everything. It's also been very well managed through the pandemic. They did the whole of the October term in the studio and this term has been Zoom until a few weeks ago when they started rehearsing their performance. Being so small, the director was able to move the term dates around so that they will be performing in the theatre in 10 days time and the recording will be streamed. It's really impressive.
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