2023 uni applications for those pursuing art and creative routes

[Duchessofmuchness]

The other thread discussing Uni applications for RG and academic routes isn't so relevant for DS. He's considering Art Foundation year or direct entry to uni for fashion design.

Anyone care to join a thread on similar creative paths. (Not just fashion!)

He's looking at art foundation at Kingston, Central St Martin's, UCA,

For Fashion BA looking at Central St Martins, London College of Fashion, Manchester Met, Nottingham Trent, Liverpool John Moores, Leeds Beckett.

Most seem to accept without art foundation but he would need one to Central St Martin's so if he wants to try for that will need foundation.

Lots of open days coming up and hopefully school will give him some more advice next week. No start on his PS yet!!

Sorry @Bratnews , my smart was meant to be in reply to @PhotoDad .

@Wbeezer thx! Completely agree with you. HNC/HND option is great for Scottish kids, as you say it’s v tough to create a portfolio when trying to get through AH at the same time.

@Wbeezer @Bratnews Got you. I'd missed that you were in Scotland! DD happened to have a bunch of portfolio-ready pieces outside of schoolwork through having done illustrations on commission for a website for about a year (which was pure luck, a friend-of-a-friend kind of thing), and a separate photography portfolio built up over years as a hobby. She definitely couldn't have done it from scratch for the application.

She is off with a course-mate this afternoon to sketch animal skeletons at a local museum. I always used to wonder who the folk with sketchbooks in big museums were, and now I know!

@Localher0

Considering one of the short courses at Kingston for DS at half term. Did your DD do the Foundation prep? Did she find it useful?

Several years ago DD decided not to do foundation for similar reasons you mention @PhotoDad . She wanted a gap year, wanted to do a 4 year course with a placement year and had a strong enough portfolio for her chosen course without foundation.

It's definitely horses for courses.

@Bratnews DD only doing AH Art and one other Higher. Independently doing a portfolio course & a course in Sketch Up. U r right tho, AH Art is heavy going!!!

@Duchessofmuchness yes she did the foundation prep course - I think it was over 3 Saturdays in December last year. She loved it and they were challenged to think differently and found it really helpful. I don't know if it helps with applying for the course there but I guess they might recognise a name when they review portfolios....

Thank you. Hopefully it might help him understand what they are looking for to fine tune his application.

My DD did art foundation at her local college and has just started at CSM. It's free for under 19s to do the foundation diploma at college and she found it to be a really great year. She really enjoyed it and it helped her decide what she wanted to do at uni. 4 students on her course all got into UAL and she had offers from all 5 unis she applied to.
She got unconditional offers from NYU, Leeds Arts, Man Met and Bath Spa and UAL was conditional on passing her Foundation diploma so it definitely helped her.

The Guardian league tables came out a few days ago - looking at them sort of emphasizes all the experiences we have been talking about on this thread. I just can't work out the logic of some of the groupings - for instance Loughborough tops the "Design & Crafts" table and when you look at the course breakdown it includes 4 biological sciences courses. If you search for "textiles" then you get results in 7 different tables which are all totally different.
I haven't really got a point to make (except what we already know - these tables are useless when it comes to creative routes) and I needed a bit of a rant.... Also DD is totally mystified as to how Lboro scores so highly - she absolutely hated it and thought their facilities were second rate.

On another note - does anyone have experience of costume design degrees? For some reason the course at NTU is lumped in with the drama & dance table at number 24 and 18 on the design table. On discoveruni.gov.uk it gets an 87% student approval rating.

Absolutely, @Localher0. Even within a uni, lots of courses get lumped together. A particular small course could be excellent but swamped by others at the same place. "discoveruni" is the only site which goes down to individual course level.

My dd wants to do an Art Foundation course before going on to further study in Art. Her areas of special interest are animation and sculpture. We are looking at Kingston, Bournemouth, Oxford Brookes, City and Guilds and UAL. She has now mentioned WM College to me. Can anyone comment on the course there? I thought it was aimed at mature students so was surprised when she mentioned it. On reflection though it might be a good fit for her - she has ASD.

I am a late joiner to this thread but am finding it hugely useful! DD is currently in her foundation year at Leeds and thinking about next year - very sure she wants to do Fine Art. Her preference is for a degree course with a higher theoretical/analytical component (she really enjoys this element as much as creating her own work) and is currently considering applying to the Ruskin, which means her UCAS form and portfolio need to be submitted very soon.
Does anyone have experience of the application/interview process or any insights about studying art at Oxford? The advice from her tutors has been fairly generic although they are going to look at her PS. Other choices (at the moment, still time to decide) include Camberwell, Slade, Goldsmiths and "tbc".

She did initially apply for a degree course starting this year and received offers from all her courses before deciding to do a foundation instead, but this round has decided that she wants more of an academic component. Any advice gratefully received!

@olafolaf My dd went to the Oxford open day at The Ruskin and really liked the course. The art is split over two sights and the department is surprisingly small. We got the impression that they were looking for students who were fairly traditional, no ceramics, very independent and it's slightly more theory based than some courses.

The me for this thread. It’s been so useful. I’m not sure what I can add but it’s great to get others experiences.

I have heard of the course at the Working Mens College in Camden but don’t know of anyone who has chosen it over other options.

We are going to anglia Ruskin Cambridge site tomorrow for illustration and primary education - not a clue on parking so will have to plan it soon. Am getting a bit bored of open days!

@OneFrenchEgg You can park at the Grafton Shopping Centre and it's then a five minute walk. Not cheap but there are likely to be spaces, which is a big thing in central Cambridge!

@olafolaf my niece did the MA Art/History of Art at Edinburgh and loved it. Would it have a more academic component to it??

@PhotoDad oh brilliant thank you. They've said about a park and ride but it's such a long drive I just don't want to faff about in the cold

Park and ride is really easy in Cambridge. I wouldn't go into the centre unless you really need to!

@Lottsbiffandsmudge, @OneFrenchEgg Agree that Park and Ride is also good! I think it depends on weather and timings. Do let us know how it went (DD is loving illustration at ARU, although she's only 3 weeks in).

Oh that's good to know. He loved AUB when we went, really small campus, lovely intro talk. Interested to see ARU.

@OneFrenchEgg Although it's too late for DD, I'd be really interested to hear your thoughts on ARU versus AUB. ARU was at the very southern limit of our range (we're Oop North). ARU is a small and friendly art-school within a larger university, which is just what DD wanted. Of course, everyone is different.

The big selling point of ARU Illustration is that they do a lot of traditional drawing with pencils on paper. I gather that this is a bit 'marmite' in the art world.

Yes of course - he loved ARU for the small campus, links with other opportunities and the inspiring tutor I think as well as some of the examples.

@OneFrenchEgg Assume you mean AUB there!

My car's SatNav somehow hadn't registered that the A14 and M11 have both been re-routed and renamed recently. Top tip: follow actual signs to Cambridge until you are very close! Unless you want a tour of Peterborough's suburbs.