UAL Art and Design Extended Diploma

[savehannah]

Does anyone know anything about this qualification?
Dd 15 insists she only wants to do Art next year. She has always been academic and "should" get decent GCSE grades but says she can't think of three subjects she'd be willing to do at A-level let alone 4 which is what her grammar school would want. She's totally obsessed with art (only in the past couple of years or so) and says that's what she wants to do in life.
So I'm looking and there are very few options to only do art locally. Local college offer UAL Art and Design Extended Diploma. Supposedly similar UCAS points to three Alevels but presumably only if you want to do an Art degree. Grade requirements to get on the course are extremely low plus a portfolio. I can already hear my mum saying she's too bright to do a course where you only need 5 x grade 4 GCSEs.
Does anyone know if she would still have to do an Art Foundation year before an Art degree if she specialises early with this course?

I'm also worried what happens if her obsession moves on to something else and she is left doing a course that specialised. Surely then she'd have to go back and do A-levels before she could move forward.

The short answer is that the UAL Level 3 Extended Diploma does indeed carry the same UCAS points as 3 A-levels, so she wouldn't need to do an Art Foundation. She could apply to any uni course which has tariff-based admission (mostly "new" universities) and doesn't require a specific subject. Most art schools don't require a Foundation but will accept students straight from Year 13 if the portfolio is any good.

Is there anywhere she could do, say, two art/design A-levels plus one more academic one, to hedge her bets?

Some very knowledgeable people have appeared on this thread and would probably be happy to give advice, although it's not been active lately.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/highereducation/4795276-art-and-design-at-university-for-past-present-and-future-students-and-parents

(For what it's worth, my DD did Art A-level plus 2-and-a-half "academic" ones that she enjoyed, got decent but not outstanding results, and is now happily in the second year of an art course without having done a foundation first. If your DD does follow that route, be aware that art/design at uni tends to exist at a whole range of places that are never otherwise on the Mumsnet radar!)

Following as DD is in a similar position but wants to do the creative media diploma. She is capable of A levels but I think she has exam fatigue (already) so is looking for coursework only options. I’m concerned that it’s too specialised and she won’t have enough options should she change her mind afterwards but on the other hand art is the one subject that she really puts her all into…

Slightly different perspective, but if your daughter wants to become an artist, her practise may benefit from studying additional subjects for A-level. For example- Politics or History, to get a better understanding of the world and an increasingly political art world. Philosophy, English Literature or Psychology, to build her confidence and ease reading complex texts that may be on the syllabus at some courses. DT, Photography or IT to gain practical skills she could apply in Art. A language if studying abroad is ever a possibility.

I think your daughter would be able to get into an Art course without a Foundation having done this alternative course, as a PP says, it is mostly portfolio based (so not saying she definitely will, only if her portfolio stands out).

However, you could reframe A-levels as not being simply achieving high academic grades but about studying additional subjects that will enrich her artistic practise and potential.

@TheYear2000 That is the approach my DD took! She took an essay subject and a science subject simply because she enjoyed them (plus another AS). They have definitely inspired her art. Luckily the gamble paid off, and well before she reached exams she had an unconditional offer to a good art school on the basis of her portfolio, so the exam pressure was off. (She still showed up and sat them!)

As someone else suggested, is there anywhere locally where she could do two Art A levels and one other to keep her options open, to broaden her education and to give her the understanding of the world that would give depth to her artistic expression?

My DC just finished A Levels at sixth form college (Photography, Graphic Design and a more traditional academic ‘enabling’ subject ie that would allow them to study something academic at uni if they changed their mind re direction). First two had lots of coursework. Textiles was also offered. The college don’t recommend 3 art based A levels due to workload. For graphic design, at a recent open day we were told that about 50% of students did the foundation , so not essential, for Fine Art more needed I think. Foundation is free, if they are under 19 when they enroI.

I agree that A levels would keep more options open. My DS did Art and 2 sciences. His science has informed his art during foundation. This year in year 1 of a Fine Art degree he is doing a lot of research around architecture and the political landscape during the brutalist period to inform his work.
Art is not just art! They need ideas and inspiration. There is also a fair bit of writing (artists studied and critical analysis of own and others work).
He did a Foundation last year and quite frankly would have been lost without it this year. He needed that year to learn to structure his own practice, obtain strategies for how to start, and have the time to develop a better portfolio. But Fine Art tends to be more 'off you go' than other art disciplines.
BTW he never needed anymore than to pass his Alevels (for Foundation) and pass his Foundation (for degree).
So grades in art are not really as key. Portfolio is everything.
My DH and other family have found this hard to understand! He did v well academically but that is no where near enough for art. It's a tough subject requiring lots of self motivation and discipline and plain hard work!

Oh and be careful not all Foundation courses are free for U19s

This is interesting. We went to our local college open day today mainly to look at the art and dedication digital art and animation diploma, again because DS is tired of exams. It sounded really interesting and coursework based, but I was worried about the specialisation. However, he is not predicted amazing GCSES (mainly 5's), and I'm not sure whether he would have more chances of high grades on the diploma than doing A Levels. We really liked the A Level programme, and he'd get in, but getting in isn't the endgame if he can't do the course or scrapes poor A Levels after 2 years.

Lots of great advice here from everyone including @PhotoDad & @Lottsbiffandsmudge (hello both!!). I'd echo their experience - art courses tend not to be obsessed with A level grades unless you're looking at somewhere like Ruskin I suppose.... but portfolio is everything. Some are ready to go from Yr13, some want or need another year to mature/develop..... whatever, and that's where a foundation course is useful. My DD did 2 academic and 1 arty A level then art foundation and is now at Uni doing textiles. Taking 2 creative A levels may seem an easy option but the volume of work needed in the last term is huge and not to be underestimated.
The threads @PhotoDad refer to are incredibly useful and definitely worth reading through! Don't get sucked into looking at Times or Guardian league tables for these subjects either as I just don't think they're useful. Do research, visit art foundation courses and ask the admissions tutors for advice and recommendations for Uni as they're usually much more knowledgeable.

There are also BTechs in Art & Design designed for 16 year olds for the post-GCSE years.

Many colleges which offer Art Foundation Diplomas - especially universities and colleges for adult learners - would not accept a 16 yo on an Art Foundation Course, on grounds of age. They often expect you already to have a Level 3 qualification of some kind, even if just one A Level.

A local college might be different, but really the AFD is designed as an addition to other qualifications - most people do one after A levels or some other 16+ qualification.

I know someone who was seriously considering the course you are talking about - her mother went to art school (did the year long art foundation post A levels first) and she was really keen to just go for it post GCSEs. It would have required her moving through as it wasn't offered anywhere near her. So in the end she didn't and did the IB and is now.... doing a Business degree at Royal Holloway! She just changed her mind as she matured from 16 to 18.
My own daughter was set on Animation for years, went to a few open days, did a week long intensive course at Central St Martins, got on an Art Foundation course... and is now applying to do Sociology at various unis (she's still doing her Art Foundation, which not only has the benefit of allowing her to mature, but also lets her try out different pathways - she'd never really done sculpture or printmaking before, plus she's now applying with grades in hand which is far less stressful). She too just decided that it was a more secure career to get an academic degree.
My point is that doing the Extended Diploma will definitely narrow choices down. She can still do Art A level, and maybe ask if she could do an artefact EPQ rather than fourth A level (don't see the point of doing one unless FM), and still go on an Art Foundation course or straight to a university to pursue art if still keen. Or do something else - maybe not uni at all - but with A levels that are recognised by more than one narrow field.

@savehannah my daughter is similar to yours. She really only wants to study creative subjects. She’d stay onto her school sixth form to do two creative academic subjects a plus art history. The grade requirements are very high and while she’ll hopefully get them there is doubt. If she doesn’t then the other local options do art or product or photography but not two together. No where else does at history and media studies or film studies plus art plus a..n.other doesn’t fill her with joy.

what has your daughter applied for in the end?