SCABs

How To Get Into SCA – By @MadStandish

By Maddy Standish

How To Get Into SCA

 

There have been a few SCABs in the past detailing what happens in an interview day and how to be ready. Reading them massively helped me to feel less scared, more prepared. Here are my two cents on how to ace your day. It’s an amalgamation of handy tips, advice and some actual cheats.

  1. Do your presentation on literally whatever you want to do it on. You really into dogs? Dinosaurs? Diggers? Show us. Make it big. Make it well. Make it unforgettable.

  2. Get us involved. We love theatrics, free stuff and being a part of it. We’re the best audience you’ll ever have. Use it

  3. Make us laugh, cry or think.

  4. Don’t panic about the 4 minute time limit. Aim for it. Practice it. Be concise. But no one will be sitting with a stopwatch ready to shut you down for going a few seconds over. For some reason, I thought this would be the case and it scared me shitless.
  5. Come early.

  6. Eat something even if you’re nervous. Maybe bring a snack so when the butterflies are gone you don’t starve to death.

  7. Bring enough snacks for everyone.

  8. Don’t judge the school by its toilets.

  9. Make friends. It’s not necessarily a competition between you and the other people in your interview day group. We’re all unique and have different personalities which make us us. Plus, you’ll feel more confident during your presentation if you’ve got allies in front of you.

  10. Come to the pub after. Or at least hang out in the studio if you can.

  11. If anything goes wrong, style it out. The conditions in the pit will be different from rehearsing in your bedroom. We wanna see you, so if something goes awry, work with it.

  12. Be prepared. Read the SCABs. Check out Twitter. Do the research.

  13. Try not to panic (too much). We’ve all done it. Most of us had never stood in front of people and put on a show like that but we were all successful. You’ll get better at presenting once you get in. I was a shaking, sweating mess and it felt brilliant. After.

  14. If you don’t succeed, try again. Marc isn’t always right and things don’t always go the way you wanted them to. Come back and nail it.

  15. Bring some questions. We do a Q&A (with beers) at the end of the day where you can ask anything you want. Have a think about what you really want to know (the darker the better) and ask us. We (I) get real loose after approximately 1 unit of alcohol on a stressful day, so we’ll give you all the juicy, honest answers you could want.

  16. We’re busy so make it worth our while. This sounds harsh but I promise you’ll feel the same. We will be stressed, panicked and most likely close to a deadline. When we’re downstairs watching, you have our undivided attention and you’ve got to pack a punch.

  17. We don’t know you. Don’t assume we’ll care about your life unless you make us. This, again, sounds cruel but it makes sense. Get us invested and make us want to be your best friend.

  18. Remember some good ads that you’ve seen lately. This will be important.

  19. Do the scholarship competition. If you get in, you’ll have to do it anyway as a brief. You may as well try to get £16,500 out of it.

  20. When Marc tells you about the past presentations which have been good, don’t let this scare you. You can do something absolutely fresh and fantastic.

If I did it, then so can you.

If you want any more insider advice or the gritty details that Marc doesn’t want you to know, get in touch. My twitter’s @MadStandish and email is madstandish@gmail.com.

We’re all rooting for you. Good luck and don’t fuck it up!

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