Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Higher education

Talk to other parents whose children are preparing for university on our Higher Education forum.

Flip

Original poster

UAL or Kingston? - Interior Design

16 replies

Uniagain · 04/04/2022 09:21

My DS has offers from both UAL (Chelsea) and Kingston for Interior Design. He submitted portfolios to each but wasn't required to interview.

He is finding it difficult to decide on his firm choice so I'm hoping you can share any insight to studying at either university or the interior design courses themselves? Thanks

OP posts:

Original poster

Uniagain · 04/04/2022 19:49

Anyone?

OP posts:

BasiliskStare · 04/04/2022 20:17

On a practical note - will he live in student accommodation or commute - in which case not much of a muchness. ? Do either of the courses do more of what he wants or is good at . I will PM you .

Original poster

Uniagain · 04/04/2022 21:21

@BasiliskStare

On a practical note - will he live in student accommodation or commute - in which case not much of a muchness. ? Do either of the courses do more of what he wants or is good at . I will PM you .

Will be living in student accommodation. Both courses have content that will suit him well, he thinks the Kingston course is quite architectural and has seen comments that the UAL course is more 'abstract'. The facilities at both are very good. Thanks for your reply

OP posts:

jimpamdwight · 04/04/2022 21:36

I was at Chelsea but studied graphic design.

Where are you based currently? Will student accommodation be available for your son because I know when I went it was very restricted to how far away you lived! I didn't get student accommodation and lived about 50 minutes outside of london!

Personally I thought the facilities at Chelsea were poor, they have good reputable teachers and well know people lecturing but they ride on their reputation. I wanted to go there for their reputation and it being one of the best universities for design, but it was a struggle because there isn't much space, there just wasn't great facilities.

The social aspect is also tricky because there's no campus so to speak and everyone is dotted around London. Looking back now I'd choose Kingston out of those two, but I also understand wanting to choose UAL for its status and reputation, which is what I did!

(For what it's worth, I graduated in 2011 so a while back!)

Original poster

Uniagain · 04/04/2022 22:10

Thanks jimpamdwight, that's really interesting and definitely something to think about. He was already wondering about the social aspect and if Kingston would be easier in terms of getting to know people.

We live in the South West so hopefully there would be accommodation available should he choose Chelsea!!

OP posts:

Original poster

Uniagain · 04/04/2022 22:14

jimpamdwight - sorry forgot to ask but I'm curious as to whether you would say that having studied at somewhere with the reputation of UAL has been helpful to you in the long run?

OP posts:

jimpamdwight · 04/04/2022 22:32

@Uniagain
Honestly I'm not the best person to ask! I never ended up becoming a graphic designer and got married young and had children young and have stayed home with them! But I do use some aspects of what I learnt in my own business now, but I could have learnt that anywhere!

But people did do well who did go into that field, as in because of its reputation people found it easy to get internships, we did a lot of collaborative work with well known companies that then took on interns from that, and some that got employed after graduating.

I do wonder how much as changed in terms of facilities as that could definitely have improved, but I do also suppose that with so much done digitally it's not so much of an issue, but stand out things to me that I remember is we never had any set studio space and it was very cramped and I just always wished there was more...!

But yes, socially was the hardest, because I am quiet and not socially outgoing, it was difficult not being in closer quarters with everyone; and again may be different now because the accommodation was mixed between ALL UAL campus' so people were living with people at St martins/camberwell/lcf and so that made things even harder to create bonds!

wonkylegs · 05/04/2022 09:21

@Uniagain there are some good guidance questions on here to help choose a course which might help with making a choice

biid.org.uk/education-cpd/choosing-interior-design-course

I'm an architect but I know quite a few BIID members

Original poster

Uniagain · 05/04/2022 14:35

jimpamdwight honestly that is all so useful, thank you for taking the time to reply. I think that the majority of the accommodation seems to be closer to Camberwell/CSM so I guess that they are still farily mixed in terms of what courses people are on.

wonkylegs thank you, i'll take a look at the link

OP posts:

TizerorFizz · 05/04/2022 19:17

@Uniagain
DD studied at UAL. Not the sane subject big I think it’s a very mixed bag. Some courses are good and others less so. I cannot judge Kingston.

DD is now doing Interior Design at KLC. Privately. It’s very architectural and industry links are very important regarding employability. On her course everyone is a mature student but with varying skill sets. I would very much go for a course that’s closer to architecture. DD has done very little on fabrics and cushions! She is doing a Diploma but doesn’t want another degree. As her first degree at UAL was not suitably linked to employers, I would say this should be a top priority. It’s work that grads need so check out employment very carefully.

PerkyBlinder · 14/05/2022 22:54

The reputation of UAL definitely helped me (I studied graphic design at Camberwell and graduated late nineties). A big publishing company approached graduates from my course for work experience and I started that the week after I graduated and never left and have never been out of work since. Many tutors also taught at RCA and the post grad graphic design and illustration courses had a disproportionate number of students at the time from Camberwell.

Others from my year are now doing some amazing jobs and almost everyone got jobs in graphic design, film, animation or photography.

But the social life was crap (all students living dotted all over London and nothing really went on in college), the teaching in the first year was excellent but we were then left to be pretty self directed after that and tutors weren’t hugely interested unless you were doing work they liked (a lot of big names but zero interest in any student whose work didn’t fit with the Camberwell edgy house style of the time) but the technical staff were amazing and always around to help and I learnt a lot from them.

The best thing was being surrounded by lots of motivated talented creative people. It was daunting as it was the first time I’d been a small fish in a large pond but it was a rich creative environment to be in. I made the most out of it and their reputation made it easy to get work but I’ve wondered if I’d have had a better experience at another uni. I had unconditional offers from everywhere I’d applied to but UAL was my first choice.

I don’t know much about Kingston but we’re looking now for my youngest to study and we’re going to look at UAL, Kingston, Nottingham, Manchester, Edinburgh, and Falmouth.

easyday · 19/05/2022 16:09

But do you think UAL is all reputation? It has terrible student satisfaction ratings (like 54%, compared to Nottingham Trent's 90%). A major complaint seems to be lack of studio space, teachers having favourites and lack of input.
A friend just finishing her foundation year at Central and said it was like doing her GCSESs again.
Kingston is definitely moving up in the creative field.
But to be honest many interior designers in the directories of the big home mags seem to have studied at KLC.

TizerorFizz · 20/05/2022 23:48

KLC is private though and so is Inchbald. Their fees are much higher than a uni resitting so I’m assuming they are not on UCAS. The course DD is doing is interior design. Lots and lots of using computer programs for design of space. It’s not about curtains and cushions. It doesn’t suit everyone. However it’s got the reputation.

EdaYildiz · 21/05/2022 00:03

I don't know if this will help at all but I studied Law at Kingston so I was based at Kingston Hill - I believe your DS may be based at the Knights Park campus?

I loved Kingston! I felt fully supported during my time there by course tutors, course admins etc .. I almost had a breakdown doing my assignment once and emailed my tutor in the middle of the night telling her I wanted to drop out and the level of support and encouragement I got telling me that it's ok and I just need to keep going was just amazing! - I'll never forget this.

Kingston in itself is a lovely area and I loved waking up everyday to go into university, I never felt unsafe and if I had to do it all over again, I'd pick Kingston!

Seaweasel · 28/05/2022 08:56

DD currently at UAL, second year, not interior design. Socially it has been a real struggle although she's averagely outgoing. COVID lockdown in first year of course. I don't think her cohort really recovered. That could have been anywhere I guess. Not blown away by the masses of industry contacts but to be fair it's hard to know if your adult children access everything on offer. Given the amount of debt he will have, am yet to be convinced of the value.

TizerorFizz · 28/05/2022 19:58

@Seaweasel
If he doesn’t earn much, the course is more of less free though isn’t it? It’s not a bank loan which must be repaid. Payments are directly linked to income so if he earns diddly squat it’s pretty cheap. If he earns well, he pays a grad tax every month. Like everyone else. It really isn’t a loan in the traditional sense so why worry?

Flip