I had M smack in the middle of my postgrad at RAM. They made minimal effort to help me out let alone the huge amount of stupid comments I received “oh that’s a shame”, “what a wasted postgraduate” etc. Seriously. I only found out they had a counselling service after I had left – they certainly never offered it to me. I remembered hearing someone on the other side of this door titled “councillor” pouring out their woes and there I was heavily pregnant, 23 and about to be homeless. Happy to take my money and that was it. Screw them though, I got my PG when my son was 10 months old and I made a point of having a photo in my graduation robes with my son on the front steps of the building. Snooty bunch. No one from either of my conservatories made contact with me after that. I was a Mum and therefore not a successful individual- even my peers stopped talking to me eventually. Mother = quitter. That’s the mind set of the arts. I have a gap in my CV, of course, straight from after my studies. If I explain why, I don’t get interest. If I don’t, Im presumed useless. Ive never stopped singing. Its pathetic especially seeing as though my children are not small (secondary school next year) and Im singing like a boss right now ;-P ha! I feel the arts are the worst in their attitudes to mothers. I know it happens elsewhere but one hint that you might have a family and they put you on the liability pile – even if you have a proven track record of excellent work.