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Drama and Creative Writing

Entry requirements


A level

A,A,A-A,A,B

Where an applicant is taking the EPQ alongside A-levels, the EPQ will be taken into consideration and result in lower A-level grades being required. Socio-economic factors which may have impacted an applicant’s education will be taken into consideration and alternative offers may be made to these applicants. Required: A Level Grade A in an essay based Arts and Humanities subject. For a full list please see our website https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studying-here/applying/undergraduate/entry-requirements/creative-writing-requirements/

Access to HE Diploma

D:30,M:15

Pass with at least 30 level 3 credits at Distinction and the remaining level 3 credits at Merit. All level 3 Arts and Humanities essay based units must be passed with Distinction. The Access to Higher Education Diploma is only acceptable if you have had a considerable break from education.

Applicants with the Cambridge Pre-U are strongly encouraged to apply to Royal Holloway. Offers will be made on the basis of equivalent A-Level grades as can be found on the Royal Holloway website.

GCSE/National 4/National 5

We require at least five GCSEs at grade A*-C or 9 - 4 including English and Mathematics.

International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme

32

6,6,5 at Higher Level including 6 in an essay based Arts and Humanities subject with a minimum of 32 points overall

Leaving Certificate - Higher Level (Ireland) (first awarded in 2017)

H2,H2,H2,H3,H3

H2, H2, H3, H3, H3 at Higher Level including H2 in English Literature or English Language & Literature

Pearson BTEC Diploma (QCF)

D*D

in relevant subject plus A Level Grade A in an essay based Arts and Humanities subject

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Diploma (first teaching from September 2016)

DD

in relevant subject plus A Level Grade A in an essay based Arts and Humanities subject

Pearson BTEC Level 3 National Extended Certificate (first teaching from September 2016)

D

Plus A Level grades A, B including A in an essay based Arts and Humanities subject

Scottish Advanced Higher

A,A,A-A,A,B

AAB including A in an essay based Arts and Humanities subject

Scottish Higher

A,A,A,B,B

Including A in an essay based Arts and Humanities subject

Requirements are as for A-levels where one non-subject-specified A-level can be replaced by the same grade in the Welsh Baccalaureate - Advanced Skills Challenge Certificate

UCAS Tariff

136-168

We've calculated how many Ucas points you'll need for this course.

About this course


Course option

3years

Full-time | 2024

Subjects

Creative writing

Drama

By combining the study of Creative Writing with Drama, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how theatre performance and creative writing interact - whether you specialise as a playwright, or choose to take the poetry or fiction options in creative writing.

Choosing to study Drama at Royal Holloway will put you at the centre of one of the largest and most influential Drama and Theatre departments in the world. You'll create performances, analyse texts, and bring a range of critical ideas to bear on both. On this course the text and the body, thinking and doing, work together. There's no barrier between theory and practice: theory helps you understand and make the most of practice, while practice sheds light on theory. By moving between the two, you'll find your place as an informed theatre-maker, and by studying a variety of practices, by yourself and with others, you'll get knowledge of the industry as a whole, and learn how your interests could fit into the bigger picture.

We are top-rated for teaching and research, with a campus community recognised for its creativity. Our staff cover a huge range of theatre and performance studies, but we're particularly strong in contemporary British theatre, international and intercultural performance, theatre history, dance and physical theatre, and contemporary performance practices.

Studying Creative Writing at one of the UK's most dynamic English departments will challenge you to develop your own critical faculties. Learning to write creatively, you'll develop your own writing practice.

Course units are taught by nationally and internationally known scholars, authors, playwrights and poets who are specialists in their fields who write ground-breaking books, talk or write in the national media and appear at literary festivals around the world.

- Complementary disciplines for the aspiring playwright.

- Explore creative skills including dance or puppetry.

- Assessment through performance and coursework.

- Specialise in different literary forms: poetry, playwriting or fiction.

- Build a portfolio, creating, critiquing and shaping your own artistic work.

Modules

Please refer to our website for information:
https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/drama-theatre/drama-and-creative-writing.aspx

Assessment methods

Your course will be assessed by a combination of examinations and in-course assignments in the form of essays or presentations.

Tuition fees

Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:

Channel Islands
£9,250
per year
England
£9,250
per year
EU
£23,800
per year
International
£23,800
per year
Northern Ireland
£9,250
per year
Republic of Ireland
£9,250
per year
Scotland
£9,250
per year
Wales
£9,250
per year

Extra funding

https://www.royalholloway.ac.uk/studyhere/undergraduate/feesandfunding/bursariesandscholarships/home.aspx

The Uni


Course location:

Royal Holloway, University of London

Department:

Drama, Theatre and Dance

Read full university profile

What students say


We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.

82%
Creative writing
75%
Drama

How do students rate their degree experience?

The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Creative writing

Teaching and learning

97%
Staff make the subject interesting
100%
Staff are good at explaining things
92%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
77%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

72%
Library resources
79%
IT resources
78%
Course specific equipment and facilities
69%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

84%
UK students
16%
International students
15%
Male students
85%
Female students
94%
2:1 or above
8%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
B
A

Drama

Teaching and learning

80%
Staff make the subject interesting
89%
Staff are good at explaining things
85%
Ideas and concepts are explored in-depth
78%
Opportunities to apply what I've learned

Assessment and feedback

Feedback on work has been timely
Feedback on work has been helpful
Staff are contactable when needed
Good advice available when making study choices

Resources and organisation

68%
Library resources
88%
IT resources
82%
Course specific equipment and facilities
51%
Course is well organised and has run smoothly

Student voice

Staff value students' opinions
Feel part of a community on my course

Who studies this subject and how do they get on?

80%
UK students
20%
International students
26%
Male students
74%
Female students
90%
2:1 or above
9%
First year drop out rate

Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)

A
B
B

After graduation


The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.

Creative writing

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£20,000
high
Average annual salary
93%
med
Employed or in further education

Top job areas of graduates

17%
Sales, marketing and related associate professionals
14%
Sales assistants and retail cashiers
12%
Media professionals

The jobs market for this subject - which includes creative writing and scriptwriting courses - is not currently one of the strongest, so unemployment rates are currently looking quite high overall, with salaries on the lower side. But nevertheless, most graduates get jobs quickly. Graduates often go into careers as authors and writers and are also found in other roles where the ability to write well is prized, such as journalism, translation, teaching and advertising and in web content. Be aware that freelancing and self-employment is common is common in the arts, as are what is termed 'portfolio careers', having several part-time jobs or commissions at once - although graduates from this subject were a little more likely than many other creative arts graduates to be in conventional full time permanent contracts, so that might be worth bearing in mind.

Drama

What are graduates doing after six months?

This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.

£19,000
high
Average annual salary
93%
low
Employed or in further education
60%
high
Employed in a role where degree was essential or beneficial

Top job areas of graduates

15%
Other elementary services occupations
14%
Teaching and educational professionals
13%
Artistic, literary and media occupations

What about your long term prospects?

Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.

Creative writing

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£19k

£19k

£24k

£24k

£30k

£30k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

Drama

The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.

£17k

£17k

£20k

£20k

£26k

£26k

Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.

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This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.

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Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):

We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.

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This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).

This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.

You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.

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Post-six month graduation stats:

This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.

It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

Graduate field commentary:

The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show

Have a question about this info? Learn more here

The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?

Have a question about this info? Learn more here