PROS & CONS

The Pros and Cons of going to university/drama school

WHY DRAMA SCHOOL

Going to drama school is choice that an actor in training has, it’s a good place for someone how wants to pursue acting as a career. Drama school spends all its time focusing on the one main subject which in this case is drama and acting, it’s the next step for someone to work with other people and learn different techniques and skills that can help them advance into the industry. Drama schools are like universities as they offer you a degree in acting the only difference is that they normally have an independent building and only study drama related pieces. In my opinion I believe that going to drama school is the next step to take as they focus their whole time into it, although there is a lot of work and hours that go into it, I feel that its beneficial ad it really helps you progress and develop yourself into a better actor. In drama school you take the more practical approach, you have the same number of years 3 but they are split into sections. In the first year you start your training, you start learning about the different techniques and skills that can benefit you and can develop you into a better actor, you can also learn about breathing techniques as its especially important for an actor. In the second year you will still be training until you reach the third year. In the third year you will then use all the training that learned from your two years and apply it into full plays that you will be working on throughout the whole year. A good thing about a drama school is that you put on plays in actual theatres and there is a 95% chance that you might get an agent.

There are pros of going to a drama school

· You get the most valuable degree you could ever get in Performing Arts

· You get the best training any actor could get

· Agents that can lead you top paid acting jobs (which you meet when performing in your final year)

· Opportunities to meet professional people that made it in the industry where you can create very good connections that could help you 

However, there are cons to going to drama school

· You get a lot of work to do and your schedule is extremely busy

· You have to be focused on this full time, (you don't have time for part time paid jobs)

· It costs a lot to get very good training

· It may be difficult to even get accepted as thousands and thousands of people apply but only a handful/few get chosen/accepted

There is an advantage of you going into drama school instead of university, you spend about 30-40 hours invested in the subject whereas in university you spend about 18 hours on subjects that focus on acting.

WHY UNIVERSITY 

University has the program of Performing Arts this is broken down into different subjects linked to that are linked to the program. They have something that offers acting or working in theatre same as any drama school would, they provide students with the same degree of a BA after 3 years just like drama schools do, although the difference between the two are that drama schools offer the highest of training and their degree is far more valuable than one that is from a university because it's considered more rigorous. From my knowledge of studying acting in a university I know that its split into different classes and focuses on more specific things than a drama school does. For example, in a drama school you would focus on Acting studies, Voice Studies, Movement studies and speech in your training, universities offer different classes which breaks down those subjects and you have to choose 5 classes from those and focus on them throughout the year, which in my case I would deem to be harder for an actor as they don't get the right amount of training they need.

 There are pros of going to a University

·  Your schedule isn't that busy meaning you have time for other things 

· You can search for acting jobs as you’re not busy

·  It's much easier to get accepted 

However, there are cons to this as well

· The degrees are considered less valuable than ones from a drama school

· You don't have as many opportunities

· You don't have as good a chance of meeting important people from within the industry

· In the final year you might not get as good a chance of getting talent scouts or agents coming to watch you and wanting to represent you

· You pay the same amount as a drama school but don't get the same amount of training as a drama school

· You might have to do some extra training  

In my opinion, I would recommend going to a drama school if you really want to pursue acting as a career and become an actor. It's more effective and gives you the training you need to advance into the performing arts industry. It also opens up so many opportunities for you in the future and gives you an advantage of having a future within theatre/acting.