How important is it to go to an 'accredited' school?

[bop2thetop]

I'm guessing this might be quite a controversial question but I'm interested to know how students have got on if they haven't gone to an accredited school. Have they mangaged to get an Agent? Did their school do a Showcase to Agents at the end of their course? How important is it to have 'accreditation' ? The reason I ask is because I know some people are of the opinion that to go to an accredited school is a must, but there are so many young people going to lots of other non accredited schools so what happens to them? Are they wasting their time or has it worked out just fine?. My DD is very lucky she goes to GSA but my DS will be auditioning soon and I wondered whether he should just audition at accredited schools or try lots of other places too. Some of his friends have got offers for Musical Theatre degrees at LCM and Chichester etc and they are more than happy about that. But what happens after the course? What are their chances of getting work? It's something I've been thinking about for a while and I just thought I'd throw it out there and see what you all think. It would be lovely to hear of some people experiences.

Thanks very much everyone

[2dancersmum]

Training could well be equally good at a non accredited school and providing the school has the agent showcase in the final year, chances of getting an agent must be pretty good. It may well be that less agents accept an invitation to attend the showcase but then again who is to say the members of staff do not have their better contacts of their own. It really is a guessing game.

For me personally there are a few advantages to an accredited school. The qualification received is a recognised qualification and if at some stage in the future the student wishes to upgrade a diploma to a degree or do a post graduate degree or diploma, then they have a recognised qualification as entry to that course. There is also the fact that the college as a whole is answerable to another party to keep its accredited status. I would hope that this may offer some reassurance not just of quality of training and care but also perhaps financial. I remember last year reading about someone who had paid several thousands of pounds term fees to attend a non accredited college that had been in existence for 15 years, only to get a letter at the end of August (before due to start in September) that the college had gone into liquidation and that they were unlikely to get their money back.

[theMTAonline]

Time are absolutely changing around accreditation - my blog will help you out a bit about major recent developments http://althomasmd.blogspot.co.uk/2016/0 ... -that.html, this blog might also help you a bit: http://althomasmd.blogspot.co.uk/2016/0 ... rents.html The landscape is changing so quickly it's hard to keep up, and as the recent article in The Stage clearly demonstrated Drama UK actually don't know which way to go. You can get recognised qualifications in a load of colleges that aren't accredited. You can also provide a healthy CV along with a 'worthless' qualification (diploma) and still find a track that can get you onto the teaching route. So in other words all these myths clouds people's judgements.

My big advice would be to check that the standard of training at wherever your DS goes is recognised by Spotlight (and a simple phone call to them would sort that out)....as actually the biggest issue young performers are having at the moment is qualifying at a place that Spotlight doesn't recognise, and that is causing them serious problems.

I hope that helps a little bit (I know that it's confusing)

[pg]

I agree. DramaUK accreditation is not as useful as it used to be as an indicator of likely "usefulness" or acceptance by employers as practical training for the profession. That is to say, I think the courses that remain accredited are likely to provide practical quality training - but there are plenty of non-accredited courses that do that too.

A number of very well established and well respected schools have withdrawn from accreditation - at least for the time being. It's a bit of a mess.

I agree with the Spotlight check (that's an important thing you need to know) - otherwise, it's a case of trying to find out what the course provides, what qualification you get at the end of it (because that might influence your choice, and the availability of funding) and what the employment record of graduates is.

[woody]

For dancers, particularly contemporary and classical, where you did your training is more important than ever these days. The majority of dance companies now hold closed auditions, and you need to apply to attend.

One of the things they look at when deciding whether or not to call you for an audition is where you trained, and these companies can afford to be picky.

[yorshiremum]

My DD is at LCM at the moment and is more than happy with the standard of the course. It is hard to tell from a fairly new course what the chances of getting a good agent and work are, but they have recently had someone in The Book of Mormon and the leads in pantos and European tours. I believe they are being assessed for accreditation anyway, but there's nothing stopping you gaining an agent and joining spotlight etc.. and they do have an agent showcase in central London. It does seem less important at the moment to need to be accredited with Rada, Lamda, BOV etc pulling out. I haven't any first hand experience of other schools, but I've seen many students from non-accredited schools such as PPA, LSMT and MTA gaining agents and work in the west end or on tours. There are obviously schools that are currently regarded as the 'top' ones, but things can change over several years. I'd say do some research and ask lots of questions before starting!

[oscar]

There will always be someone to argue each side of this subject. A strong performer from any school stands a good chance of getting an agent and employment . Look at as much info as you can and let yours and dc gut feelings help you make your choice.

[bop2thetop]

Thanks so much to everyone who has commented on this thread. I took theMTAonlines advice and emailed Spotlight to ask them who could join Spotlight when they graduated and they emailed me back and said...

"Currently the graduate directory includes all Drama UK and CDET accredited courses and here are the links to both of these organisations http://www.dramauk.co.uk and http://www.cdet.org.uk " They also said that due to changes at Drama UK it's a good idea to keep a close eye on their website.

So I am not sure but I *think* that only graduates from the courses belonging to Drama UK and CDET can use Spotlight. That's the impression from the email anyway. Because it's *still* not very clear I'm going to email them back and ask if someone from a course that is not one of these courses can still join Spotlight. For example PPA , Chichester or LCM. I will report back when I have a reply.

Thanks 'yorshiremum' , it is encouraging to know your DD is enjoying LCM and I've heard the facilities are very good there too. My DS's friend may be training there from this September. I told him to find out if they did a showcase for agents when he went to his audition and it's great that they do. I wish these places would do a check list on their websites, a bit like insurance companies do, to say what they include. Answering the usual questions. Like 'Do you do a showcase to Agents?' 'Can you join Spotlight and Equity on graduating?' And information on how their Alumini are doing etc. Wouldn't that make life easier whilst traulling through which course to audition for. I'm sure some of them do but I wish they all did.

Also, I don't know about you but some of the advise given to these young performers from their teachers is quite misleading. I actually think I know more about it than they do, and that's saying something. I think it's because my DD has been through the auditioning process and so have a lot of her friends and now my DS friends are going through it. This forum helped me when my DD was auditioning and their are a lot of very helpful people on here prepared to give their advice which is great. The teachers I've spoken to are definately out of touch and that does worry me because they must be misleading some students that haven't got anyone else to ask. It doesn't help that it's all a bit of a mine field though.

[yorshiremum]

So agree with you. I feel almost an expert on the subject after going through the audition process with my DD last year! I believe the deal with spotlight is that only graduates from DramaUK/CDET colleges can join the 'graduate' programme, but the others can join the normal spotlight which is slightly more expensive.

[oscar]

Also, I don't know about you but some of the advise given to these young performers from their teachers is quite misleading. I actually think I know more about it than they do, and that's saying something. I think it's because my DD has been through the auditioning process and so have a lot of her friends and now my DS friends are going through it. This forum helped me when my DD was auditioning and their are a lot of very helpful people on here prepared to give their advice which is great. The teachers I've spoken to are definately out of touch and that does worry me because they must be misleading some students that haven't got anyone else to ask. It doesn't help that it's all a bit of a mine field though.

I couldn't agree more. Before auditioning ds was given soo much bad advice from teachers e.g. Never change any part of a song for auditions, wear something unusual to stand out, audition for as many as possible ... The list goes on. I vet singly found great support on here during the process. It is such a stressful experience as a parent and can be very isolating. Other friends think it's an easy option. Little do they know that the chances of getting into Oxford or Cambridge are higher than getting in to some schools. Rant over !!!

[bop2thetop]

So agree with you. I feel almost an expert on the subject after going through the audition process with my DD last year! I believe the deal with spotlight is that only graduates from DramaUK/CDET colleges can join the 'graduate' programme, but the others can join the normal spotlight which is slightly more expensive.

Ahh that makes sense yorshiremum, thank you. So I wonder what advantage it is to show up in the 'Graduates' part of Spotlight (apart from the slight financial one). Have they a better chance of getting work? Or does it make no difference? It seems you have one question answered and there's always another one. Sorry folks. Haha

[2dancersmum]

If you join Spotlights in the 'Graduates' section the cost is a little over half of what it costs to get Spotlight membership otherwise. Spotlight run a number of classes/workshops for graduates and other events , for those who wish to attend and they distribute a Spotlight graduates book to agents and industry professionals in February each year. So I guess the advantage is extra help and publicity when just starting out. Graduate showcases are also detailed on their website. The graduate also appears in the normal Spotlight book. Applying to Spotlight you have to have either recognised training or approved experience in order to get membership. There is also the fun of choosing a new name if someone with the same name as you is already a member - but that's a whole new story!

[oscar]

Thanks for that . Very interesting .... I had to laugh abou the name thing.

[theMTAonline]

So agree with you. I feel almost an expert on the subject after going through the audition process with my DD last year! I believe the deal with spotlight is that only graduates from DramaUK/CDET colleges can join the 'graduate' programme, but the others can join the normal spotlight which is slightly more expensive.

Ahh that makes sense yorshiremum, thank you. So I wonder what advantage it is to show up in the 'Graduates' part of Spotlight (apart from the slight financial one). Have they a better chance of getting work? Or does it make no difference? It seems you have one question answered and there's always another one. Sorry folks. Haha

Allow me give a definitive answer to some of these queries. Spotlight accepts applicants from other colleges (I guess if they feel that the colleges are reaching the correct standard). Absolutely check though if an unaccredited college is accepted on their books, as quite recently a few graduates from colleges have asked my advise because they're training hasn't given them access to Spotlight. Quite frankly this is a major handicap for any performer. It really doesn't matter whether they're in the main book or the Graduate book. Remember that Spotlight is much more than a catalogue of faces and personal statistics, it is also a great resource for proactive job hunting too.

As for the question about can graduates from unaccredited colleges get off to a good start, again it depends on the college I think. If the college is industry respected then I don't believe that it makes any difference at all. Obviously I'm biased but if you go onto our website you'll see a table of our stats compared to the last available public declaration from Drama UK. Based on the Drama UK criteria and information we are actually doing better than them...according to the available information out there (now that might have changed as they haven't declared any stats for 3 years).

Finally I'm really intrigued by your idea of a tick list of what you would like a website to say. Please give me that list as it might be something that I'm able to provide on our website at least...and I'm sure that other colleges would be interest too, after all it's in our best interest to give you the facts to make an informed decision.

I hope that helps a little bit, and puts things into perspective for you

[funnygirl]

For dancers, particularly contemporary and classical, where you did your training is more important than ever these days. The majority of dance companies now hold closed auditions, and you need to apply to attend.

One of the things they look at when deciding whether or not to call you for an audition is where you trained, and these companies can afford to be picky.

Woody (or anyone else with knowledge of dance!) are you able to say which schools are seen to be most prestigious for contemporary and classical when it comes to gaining an audition?