Degree in Animation

[MrsSchadenfreude]

What are the chances of getting an unconditional offer? DD2 is likely to get an A* in art, and scrape Ds in her other two A levels if she is lucky. All she wants to do is animation. She spends all of her spare time doing it, and is apparently very talented according to her art teachers. But what if she really messes up the other subjects?

[fluffyhamster]

Well of course unconditional offers are becoming unpopular/ frowned upon, so who knows?

However there's no reason why she shouldn't be able to study animation somewhere with ADD. A lot of the non-Russell group unis look at UCAS tariff as well as A levels.

According to this WhatUni tool she may get into a whole load of possible places: www.whatuni.com/degree-courses/search?subject=animation&entry-level=a-level&entry-points=1a-0a-0b-0c-2d-0e&rf=g&sort=empd

It's worth calling up the Admissions departments and asking then what her chances would be with those predicted grades. Also try to find out where had clearing places (and at what grades) in 2018?

[Iwantedthatname19]

My impression was that for art courses generally, universities are really most interested in the portfolio, so may not ask for particularly high 'points' but as fluffy suggests the best thing may be to contact the universities and ask?

That is an interesting list on the website. When a course has an employment rate of say 90% does that just mean 90% have a job of some kind within x months of graduating, or does it mean that 90% have paid work in animation? That seems high! (I tried to find the explanation but couldn't!).

[fluffyhamster]

If you look at the Unistats explanation it says "number of students in graduate jobs" so it means higher level jobs for which a degree is necessary I think, but not necessarily animation ones?

I think that's right about the portfolio being the most important factor. Also, if it's based on UCAS tariff, is that always across three A levels or would extra points from e.g. music exams count?

[Iwantedthatname19]

Oh yes that's a good point op - worth looking at whether points from other activities may count towards the UCAS tariff. Again you (your dd I mean!) may need to e mail the admissions people to check.

When is dd thinking of applying - is she in Yr 12 at the moment or has she already applied?

[MarchingFrogs]

I think Bournemouth University was the one mentioned by the HT of DD's school in his 6th form open evening speech - it was actually on the context of RG universitoes not necessarily being what you should be looking at, depending on what you want to study. (It's a grammar school, so he probably lost half of the potential applicants, or at least their parents, at that point. In my estimation, however, he actually redeemed himself here).

For the BA(Hons) Computer Animation aart and design, the requirements are

Required subjects:

A creative subject such as Fine Art, Graphic Design or Photography

Entry requirements:

For 2019 entry:112-128 tariff points including a minimum of 2 A-levels or equivalent(including 32 points in a required subject). BTEC Extended Diploma: DMM in a required subject.

So with 56 points from the A* in Art, she would need at least a C and a D (possibly two Cs) from the other two A levels, unless she has some other UCAS points-bearing qualification (EPQ? Drama or music exams?).

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Thank you. She has set her heart on one of the universities in London that offers Animation, and had an interview with them last week. She said they weren't very interested in her portfolio (despite asking her to bring it), although they will have already seen the animation that she sent in earlier. Fingers crossed that they liked this and didn't want to see any more.

She doesn't have any other extra curricular stuff. She sells a lot of her art online and gets around £200 a month from this!

[Iwantedthatname19]

that's amazing to sell so much mrs sch - your dd must be so talented! Does she sell via instagram?

I expect if your dd had already sent in some animation to the place in London (a UAL one?), they may have wanted to use the interview to explore other questions. The interview format does seem to vary from place to place - group/individual, discuss portfolio/leave portfolio with the tutors, and so on. What does their website say about likely offers - any hints about what grades/points they may require?