Auditioning for 2023 entry

[islandofsodor]

Mine was involved in showcase & Chess

[biscuitsneeded]

Hello to everyone who has posted. Lawn, thanks for detailing all your DD's experiences. Fingers crossed it's third time lucky for your DD this year! It must be so hard when they get recalls and Foundation offers that prove they have the talent, but just haven't quite hit the jackpot of the degree offer yet.

Courage and loads of luck to all our brave and talented DC! Please keep updating!

[Alro]

Hope you are all getting on well settling back into the term. We are hoping DD will get most of her auditions out of the way before christmas if possible so are trying to get everything in order for that to happen here. She hasn’t applied anywhere yet but hoping to start filling in actual forms and dealing with paperwork over the next three weeks and have as many applications as possible in for the start of October. I feel she has some momentum now but already the balance between school work and work needed to get ready for auditions is starting to become a juggling act. It’s going to be a long year ahead!

[Louisedunn]

Hi everyone, I have a DS wanting to go straight into 3 year training, which means he will need a scholarship of some kind! He has an audition booked for EDA, but not keen, which is a shame but doing a 6th form course as well as diploma/degree would obviously mean five years of training and he’s not willing to do that He’s too keen to get started I have a dd doing a degree at a pa college so been through it before! Good luck to everyone x

[Gymmom]

Good luck everyone. It is a stressful time but our DC take these things in their stride. We were on the reserve list until 26th August before being offered a place. It’s a hard year but so worth it. The experience of auditioning gives a real idea of how tough this industry is. Before the late offer it really made my DD even more determined to go again.

[biscuitsneeded]

Hello to those who have joined us!

@Alro, I am sure your DD has the right idea to get organised and audition early. Sadly DS, although very keen, does not really do 'early'. He's in a show in half term, and juggling rehearsals and schoolwork, so every time I suggest maybe looking at some monologues or researching some colleges he says he will do that in November! He may regret that later but I expect it's all part of the learning process. We managed to have a conversation about strategy; whether he should use this year to go all out for the 'big hitter' colleges like RADA, Guildhall etc, just to see what happens, since a place is unlikely at 18 anyway. I think he would take even a recall as an encouraging sign that it was worth another go in the future. Or he might choose purely on the strength of the course, which could put some lesser known but very interesting possibilities into the mix. But that's a risk when you don't know the track record for graduates because the schools are recent, or small.

How many colleges are people applying to? It makes sense to use the 5(?) UCAS places and then any conservatoires can be applied for separately, and then there are a couple that you apply to direct who have their own systems. But I don't want DS to feel completely overloaded, and although the audition fees seem reasonable-ish in isolation, you could very quickly end up spending £500 before you factor in any travel for any possible in person auditions. We've already discounted any schools where he wouldn't be eligible for full tuition fees paid by student finance, because we wouldn't be able to afford them anyway.

[biscuitsneeded]

@Gymmom That's brilliant news for your DD! Are you allowed to say where she's off to?

[Gymmom]

@Gymmom That's brilliant news for your DD! Are you allowed to say where she's off to?

Thank you so much. She started today at Mountview (BA Acting) She did not apply until after Xmas. Tbh we didn’t expect an offer this year as she only turned 18 end of August, this cycle was about gaining some experience. DD got lucky. She loved the MV audition.

[Louisedunn]

Hello to those who have joined us!

@Alro, I am sure your DD has the right idea to get organised and audition early. Sadly DS, although very keen, does not really do 'early'. He's in a show in half term, and juggling rehearsals and schoolwork, so every time I suggest maybe looking at some monologues or researching some colleges he says he will do that in November! He may regret that later but I expect it's all part of the learning process. We managed to have a conversation about strategy; whether he should use this year to go all out for the 'big hitter' colleges like RADA, Guildhall etc, just to see what happens, since a place is unlikely at 18 anyway. I think he would take even a recall as an encouraging sign that it was worth another go in the future. Or he might choose purely on the strength of the course, which could put some lesser known but very interesting possibilities into the mix. But that's a risk when you don't know the track record for graduates because the schools are recent, or small.

How many colleges are people applying to? It makes sense to use the 5(?) UCAS places and then any conservatoires can be applied for separately, and then there are a couple that you apply to direct who have their own systems. But I don't want DS to feel completely overloaded, and although the audition fees seem reasonable-ish in isolation, you could very quickly end up spending £500 before you factor in any travel for any possible in person auditions. We've already discounted any schools where he wouldn't be eligible for full tuition fees paid by student finance, because we wouldn't be able to afford them anyway.

Hi biscuits needed , my DD applied for 7 degree courses, was offered 4, plus a foundation offer. My DS (he will be post 16) is applying to 2 colleges for BTEC, plus 4 colleges for a diploma. He wants to audition Jan-March period, we feel it’s getting late after that!

[biscuitsneeded]

@gymmom Wow! What an amazing achievement. You call it luck, I think your daughter must be very talented to get in for acting at 18. Huge well done to her.

[biscuitsneeded]

@louisedunn Sounds like your DD did very well when it was her turn. Was that for MT? Good luck to your DS. I can understand why he feels he just wants to get training now and not do sixth form as such, but people we know who have been through Emil Dale 6th form have managed to get into some very impressive post 18 courses. Perhaps he'll feel differently when he gets there to audition. Otherwise, where can he go that offers diploma from 16? I know of Italia Conti and Bodyworks, but I'm sure there are more!

[Gymmom]

@gymmom Wow! What an amazing achievement. You call it luck, I think your daughter must be very talented to get in for acting at 18. Huge well done to her.

Thank you so much. I honestly think choice of audition material is vital and she spent months reading plays to find the right contemporary piece. She chose a piece that was a similar age to her. Be prepared to be directed. For acting they didn’t award places as they went. Final recalls were all at the same time and offers made. We were reserve and had made plans for a gap year.

[StartingLate]

Hello everyone
Dd2 will audition this year. She will have school exams in June, with Mocks in Feb, so she needs to get organised early!

I have a question from DD2 regards monologue and song requirements, I wonder if any of you can help.

When she reviewed audition requirement from Wilkes and Performers, it seems just prepare a monologue and a song. She didn’t find anything regards maximum length of time or anything else specific.
Is her understanding correct? (For degree courses)

And a question from me:
If she applies for degree on UCAS (and sometimes also to the college), does she also need to apply separately for Diploma? She has a preference for the degree, but would also be happy to get diploma.

It should be an exciting but nerve wracking year!

[Ditzi]

Can someone clarify for me please, if the college doesn’t qualify for student loans, only for dadas, does that mean that you can’t apply for a government maintenance loan? I know you can get some maintenance loan with a dada (up to £30000 income), but what happens if you don’t qualify for that?

[amo185]

Maintenance loans are only for first degrees. DADAs can be awarded for the Trinity Diploma. Not everyone however is awarded one and for the majority of people, a student loan with a maintenance loan is far more desirable - hence people opting for student finance at places like Mountview and ArtsEd (which offer both the diploma and the degree qualification) rather than accepting DADAs, or students choosing degree courses over diploma courses. Funding remains a minefield so it's worth checking all the additional costs at each college separately. Some now charge top up fees. Other colleges give access to the Advanced Learner Loan - the criteria and college list changes but it's another one to check. Good luck!