WAAPA or NIDA (Music Theatre)?

congrats on being accepted to both! first of all let me say that both courses are great and have produced first class graduates. without knowing your personal circumstances, i will give you a few snippets of info and advice that will hopefully help or at least give you some insight into the situation. i'm an SDA graduate (06). i did the course straight out of school and easily regard it as the best year of my life. i had never even considered doing the course and auditioned at the last minute - my expectations were fairly limited in terms of the resources and amount i would learn. to be honest, i looked at the year as time in which to improve for my next waapa audition as i was hellbent on going there! but the year was amazing. i really feel like i have all the knowledge i need to continue in the industry (i'm probably not as polished as some of the waapa grads- but i'm also younger than they are when they graduate too!) a few things you may or may not have thought of in regard to SDA *having to multitask is actually a good thing - you learn straight away how to juggle working, rehearsing, going to class, friends etc. (although friends will probably disappear for awhile :P ) after being at waapa and having a timetable set out for you for three years, im sure some grads find it a bit of a shock to suddenly have to do this themselves. *smaller class- you'll be about 12-14ish *being in sydney and being able to see shows and attend classes(both those organised by nida and those outside) as well as having pretty much all your teachers currently working in the industry - the insight (as well as the gossip :P) is great!. i've been to waapa(to visit a graduating friend) and in terms of facilities(i'm mainly talking theatres, i didn't see too much of the rehearsal facilities) they're about the same. NIDA is prettier and newer to look at(well the new section) but the theatre spaces i saw were fairly similiar and used well. one great thing about nida is that other companies and artists are hiring out the facilities all the time - theres always something new and different to go watch and learn from(as well as get free tickets-make friends with laurence!) one last thing to leave you with - one of my coursemates had the same predicament. waapa was all she'd ever wanted and then after lots of pondering and talking to avigail, she decided to come to nida and hasn't looked back. she's 22, and about to start rocky horror. you're obviously very talented, and if you're willing to apply yourself 250% for a year, its quite possible you could fasttrack your career. but if you feel you need more time than that - waapa might be for you. sorry this was so long, hope it helps in some way!