SCABs

Online school Vs Face-to-face school – By @Holly_Georgious

Online school Vs Face-to-face school 

Pt 1 Online


Pros:

  • Cheaper (quite substantially, it’s worth noting you pay term by term so you don’t need it all at once but it helps)
  • You get to work from your bed, sofa, garden where ever you choose (massive plus)
  • NO TRANSPORT (MASSSSSIVE PLUS, get to get up later)
  • Easy to meet people who are high up in industry (as it is easier for them to login instead of going to Brixton)
  • Less distractions (SCA can be a loud place, with people all over the place, being online definitely has fewer distractions)
  • You can do more on your lunch break (exercise, walk your dog, you name it your home is your oyster.)
  • You can live in lounge wear (the novelty of this will wear off after a while)
  • Less stress (this is a pro and a con. It is not that there is any less work, if anything you work longer days, but it feels less stressful. You don’t feel the intensity or stress of the studio like you would in person. This is good because it makes you less stressed, but bad because it makes you less stressed. People ask if you slack off at home and you don’t because you can’t, there is too much to do and you don ‘t have time to. But feeling the stress of others in the room gives you a good gauge of how hard others are working and pushes you to do more.)

Cons:

  • You’re less stressed (see above)
  • You don’t get practise presenting in the same way (although you still present online, you are doing it from the comfort of your own room). At school you have to stand up and present to everyone 3 or 4 times a week. And as horrible as it sounds it becomes second nature and is great practice for the industry.
  • I don’t know how close you’ll  be  with each other you still get to see each other and you will definitely make friends, so I wouldn’t worry about that. Would you be as close when studying remotely as you would be if you were all together … I imagine probably not. 
  • I don’t know how close you will be to the mentors (you will see the mentor just as much as you would in the studio, and get just as much help so contact and teaching wise there is no issue. But there is something to be said for face to face. You just know each other more, you can talk rubbish and talk about their trousers and it’s just more…real.) 
  •  The experience is different (not worse just different). At school you feel everyone’s emotions, you can sing Disney songs and drink wine together while you’re franticly trying to finish your book. You can discover the sandwich shops, see when each other is sad or having a hard day and hug them. You miss any of the random things that happen  because you see it all online it’s not like that. You do, however, have the ever updating student chat, on Slack, where you can all talk, bitch, joke and talk as much random rubbish as you desire. The benefit of online is that you often have a running student commentary on whatever you are watching which is always funny.)
  • No Friday drinks 

It’s worth mentioning that all the cons of online are speculative. Having been both in school and online I obviously come with some biases. Having been in school I obviously prefer being in school. Having been, already formed our close bond face to face with the mentors and our cohort there was no difference in our socialising or closeness now we are online. Having said this is there are some people who I and others have only met online. One person on our course has a partner from outside the school and they have never met in person, only ever online, so it is definitely possible to get close to people online. I guess it is just that you’re not there in the same space together. That’s all. But you are still going through things together. If you can’t afford the London course, or you don’t live in London, or can’t access the London course then the online course is great. The teaching is just as good, the experiences are just as good and the social aspect is still there. 

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