Drama Colleges

What are the best performing arts universities in Australia?

After I get my general education here in America, I want to get a Bachelors in performing arts (particularly acting) and I'm not sure which schools would be best for that.

Public Comments

1. NIDA in Sydney. But its quite hard to get into.
2. There are three top universities: NIDA in Sydney, WAAPA in Perth and VCA in Melbourne. However, they are extremely difficult to get into without a lot of prior experience and/or training and they generally don't take people who have just graduated from school. And that's the ones who actually live in Australia. I don't know how difficult it would be to get in from overseas, but my guess is just as hard. However, there are also other universities and TAFEs (a TAFE is a practical university, like for hairdressers and plumbers, etc.) that offer courses here in acting. They are infinitely easier to get into and generally offer much the same things. Some of them are straight acting courses, which means you only do acting; some do acting and technical things (design, playwrighting, etc.); some you can major in acting and minor in other subjects. If you would like to find a course, check here: http://www.theatre.asn.au/book_page/courses I also recommend heading to www.theatre.asn.au, a forum for Australian theatre, and see their FAQ. There is a whole article about finding work if you are coming from overseas. You also need to consider: it may sound wonderful coming over here, but generally speaking, international students pay as much as 10 times the fees to attend than an Australian citizen. You also have to consider living expenses, accommodation (coursees are usually as full time as attending high school, in terms of hours, and can last two to three years), etc etc. That and the acting market here is tough, so once you graduate you still have to work hard to get professional work. Not trying to be a downer, it's just practical to think of this stuff ahead of time. If you are planning on heading to Melbourne, I can recommend a few good courses.
3. The three schools listed are very selective - they take about 20 students a year each, but they have some very famous grads - Mel Gibson, Cate Blanchett etc but they are not "straight out of school" places. They are more for the mid20s people who have been performing for a while and want to improve their art. Acceptance is by audition only - and you have to audition to get the audition (the board only looks at the best applicants who have been whittled down by previous auditions).