Is Drama School value for money?
There are always plenty of articles in the national press about the cost of Higher Education and students understandably want to know what they get for their money. With most creative courses at both University and Drama School costing £9000 it is essential that you check you are getting value for money.
What I find interesting is the scrutiny under which Drama Schools are put under when it comes to how many contact hours there are during the course, how many professional performances and whether there is a good London showcase at a prestigious venue (to be fair, none of which are cheap to provide). What is interesting in comparison is that there are a number of University BA courses in a variety of subjects that have as little as 6 hours contact time a week and no showcase opportunities of any type but still cost £9000 and the student is expected to spend the rest of the time in self directed study.
On the face of it it is quite clear to me that there is value in most drama training in comparison to a lot of other BA subjects, but it is important to remember just how hard it is to get in to Drama School in the first place. The same issue of value for money can be raised when looking at acting foundation courses. The key things to look at are what training hours you are getting and what the outcome of the course actually is. Some courses run at 9 contact hours a week and charge the same as a courses that run at 19-20 hours a week so you need to really look at what you are getting for your money.
The Dorset School of Acting’s 1 year Foundation Course in Acting & Musical Theatre is based on the first year of a BA Acting and prepares it’s students for all the aspects of auditioning for accredited Drama Schools. The 2 year accelerated course in Acting & Musical Theatre commences September 2015. Check out the course at:
