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Here is my daughters experience. I will expand on this in another post but as i saw this i thought i would pass on our experience.

My daughter applied last year for 4 acting courses (central, Rose Bruford, BSA and East 15) and 4 MT courses (Blackpool and Fylde, GSA, Mountview, Arts ed and Bath Spa). She came stright from completing and extended diploma in Performing (Musical Theatre) pathway and achived 2 Distinction stars and a distinction the equivalent of 400 ucas points.

And then dithered over which route to take eventually going to rose bruford, BSA and not getting recalls. East 15 where she was offered a Cert he course on acting with a view to preparing her for full auditions at drama schools this year. She was offered places at blackpool on MT BA and Bath spa and lost all confidence in herself and didn't audition and Mountview, Arts ed or Central. I was very very impressed with blackpool. If you get a chance audition. The staff are ex drama school the fees are 6k per year and they give them 30 hrs contact a week....unheard of from a university!

Her mom and i insisted that after wasting all the audition fees she had to go to GSA. Where to her great suprise she was placed on the reserve. Then came the wait to see if the reserve place would translate into a permanent place. In the meantime she accepted East 15 (and student funding via the SLC). GSA didn't offer her a full place but did ask her if the wanted to go on the foundation MT course.

As she had finally decided MT was the right path for her (grrrr! why not sooner and save me all that money!!) she decided with grandparents help to accept the gsa offer.

I can tell you she is a natural actor, good to very good singer and unfortunately dances like her dad! That said they have worked her so very hard. She gets to do over 40hrs of hard graft per week and i can tell you she can actually dance now........so well they graded her a 5b initially (1a being top 6c bottom). At christmas review they gave her a 2a in ballet and a 2b in jazz. The preparation towards auditions is intense and constant. She has applied this year (in order of audition) Italia Conti, Arts ed, Mountview, Urdang, Central and GSA.

Was it worth 9k plus living costs? Only the results will tell but she has had a full offer off Italia, was the only one of 2 from her class who attended Arts ed to make the pm cut and the only one to have been offered a reserve from Arts ed. We have mountview next week and urdang the week after. I know 9k plus is a huge outlay but in my daughters case i would say yes it has been massively beneficial. I will tell the whole story including what we 'learn't' about what/what not to do on the audition circuits when i post again. I beleive from the course content from East 15 that their course is in effect a foundation course specifically designed to get you into acting school. The great thing is it's funded via slc and is the acting equivalent to the gsa course which with their close accociation with surrey uni will i am sure become a cert he course in the future and open the way to a funded pre ba route into MT.

Hope this helps. If you want more info please just ask

That's a really useful insight Wolfie39, GSA obviously has a well established Foundation course, with available information, structure etc. and I am sure works well for some people. I have no doubt that this one too will eventually be fine if you have £25 000 to spare for a year. This one is being set up from Sept 2013, and isn't even mentioned on their website/prospectus!

Me thinks they should maybe have got their act together a little better before asking us to cough up?!

My daughter is on the Urdang foundation course atm and is absolutely loving it. She auditioned for Bodywork, MADD, Millennium and was offered the 3 yr diploma, with 50% funding at MADD. She also auditioned at Urdang and Bird and was offered foundation at both of these. Her singing lets her down sadly. She fell completely in love with Urdang and really wanted to go there so chose to do the foundation course, we were lucky to be able to afford the fees. There are no guarantees of a full time place this year but the improvement in my daughter is absolutely fantastic. They have given her confidence to sing and she now loves it, it was worth the money just for this (although we have had to make sacrifices). Even her dancing which was strong already has improved.
So what will next year bring?
She is now in the process of auditions again, Urdang insist you audition for 3/4 other colleges and suggest where you may be successful considering your strengths. So this year its Bodywork again (my dd also liked this college) Laine, Conti's and Bird, but she really is still in love with Urdang and would love to do the 3 yrs there.The question is though do they like her or have they had enough of my loud in yer face daughter? She has really enjoyed this course, still another 9 weeks to go, hopefully with a positive outcome. Watch this space!

Robsmumma - your dd sounds just like mine - strong dance but not so strong singing, lovely to hear that Urdang have brought out her singing voice, I am worried how much it will count against my dd when there are so many talented students out there
Urdang is one of her top ones to apply to - she was lucky enough to do Panto last Xmas with several ex Urdang students who were lovely - will be interested to hear where your dd is offered places having done the years Foundation course - good luck to her

Hiya, I'm currently on a foundation course and currently in the process of auditioning again at laines, performers bird and London studio centre. Last year all of the students on the foundation all got a place at a dance college, some decided they wanted to go to university too and then obviously some people have changed their mind. But everyone gained a place if they wanted to go.

Fingers crossed that will be the same this year!

Hi I was interested in how you've found LSC foundation course dancer4life? My dd has been offered a 3yr course at Millenium but we're waiting to hera about a dada, prevocational at Performers and waiting to hear about foundation at LSC. It was interesting to hear you say everyone had been offered places at colleges who wanted them as that's what they told me but my daughters dance teachers seem to think there just ways of the college making money. My daughter has only been having singing lessons maybe just under 2 years so has a lot of catching up to do in comparison with some.
Has the course been useful to you and did it prepare you for the auditions this time? I know your still waiting to hear. I would be really interested in anything you could tell me

Hi xdancerx4xlifex I too would be interested to hear about your Foundation year - what college are you at? How old are you? Like Ella I have been told they are a money making exercise for the colleges with no guarantees of a future! My dd will be auditioning for 2014 intake and will be 16 in Jan 2014. She is really keen on Bird at the moment but will audition at a few others. I understand if you don't quite make the grade you may be offered Foundation - but no funding available - I would prefer for her to do A levels and re apply at 18 but wonder if doing the Foundation would increase your chances of getting assistance with funding the following year? Such a hard decision and no guarantee of anything

Thank u xdancer4lifex for your pm. I've tried to send you a reply but not sure if its worked!! I'm new to this!

Looks like DD foundation year has paid off, DaDA at Laine and Bodyworks!

That's good news.

I think sometimes people forget that Education is a business. Loads of quite lowly, small 'performing arts' schools are springing up, and offering nationally recognised qualifications. The cynic in me does wonder if doing a deal with a local college to validate their course is simply a money spinner. The college have to do paperwork and verification - they don't have to provide any staffing or teaching. A good deal. The well known dance schools as listed up the topic a bit offer the BTEC qualification because it generates income, while they would have taught most of the content anyway - at their own expense. Principals of colleges know exactly which other centres are good, but will only recommend those far enough away to not be a financial threat. where I live in Lowestoft, we have 4 places with bus/train commuting distance that people could go to. They're all the best, they tell us. However, they will recommend other colleges if they're impossible to commute to.

You can never, ever think that the reasons to offer or deny a place are fair from the auditionee's perspective. The decision is made on the benefit to the college of having a particular person. The real reason is never divulged. They do struggle a bit when faced with borderline people and too few places. So shifting somebody sideways onto a different programme might work. So never think a place isn't offered because a persons dance, or acting isn't good enough - maybe they've filled the unofficial quota for that particular pigeonhole. At college somebody turned up, having travelled a fair way, on the wrong night. I called a colleague at home and agreed to audition him myself. I actually wrote on his form when he'd gone - Not a chance in Hell!!!!! On the first day of term, there he was. I asked my colleague what happened as he was absolutely hopeless at the audition. Easy - he said, somebody dropped out and all the good ones who we didn't give a place to, had found an offer elsewhere, and I called this guy and he was about to start work at Tesco - so I gave him the place. It is rarely done with the care and morality it should be!

Fab news for your dd Robsmumma - what a relief and to now have a choice - many congratulations