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!!

Hi - yes it's so useful to go and visit because the vibe and talks etc give you such a good idea for the course, don't they? I'd say Norwich Arts and AUB are on his list (AUB top - it was like a second home!). I need to check accommodation next. We ruled out a few to start with on cost of living grounds so it must be in the affordable range.
I just need one more I think to visit. We've seen four so far.

Yep, you need a city and a course which 'click.' Don't know how far north you could look, but DD thought that Derby had a nice vibe, too.

Good to hear about the visits and courses. DS trying to balance course, city and uni experience. If he had perfect option would be fantastic art foundation, fashion BA and uni experience (sports) in a city with lots of clubbing and music.

Think he's settled on doing art foundation so in that respect trying to encourage him to focus on that this year and he can look at unis next year. He has ADD and just think he's going to get overwhelmed with UCAS uni courses and art foundation applications plus normal school work.

For at foundation -
Kingston
CSM - visiting in Nov
Bournemouth - will visit in Nov
Need to add a few more ... and DS not yet figured out

• Oxford Brookes maybe?

I need to do a bit more research so can discuss with him

For those who need a portfolio but are at school, it is possible if you know what to include.

DD did a fashion degree at LCF after A levels and UAL offer great advice on their web site. You do have to do more than just take in work to show them. DD also went to a portfolio clinic and that was helpful too. It’s got to include your thinking processes as well as work. So sketches, materials, themes, techniques etc all matter more than perfection. Label the creative vision and be able to talk about it. Don’t include too much and be confident about what you do include and know why a piece of work shows your vision, personality and ability. It was very hard work to do the portfolio and 3 A levels of which 2 were creative, but it’s doable for those who know what they want.

@Duchessofmuchness
What do LCF offer in terms of a foundation fashion design course?

I think having been to a couple of talks and watched a video on portfolios it's really doable. Finished pieces, work in progress - if they are drawing / creating for leisure there are lots of ways to demonstrate skills.
I'm being positive - we can't afford to fund a year to do a foundation anyway.

@OneFrenchEgg
I would read all the info available from the universities on what they look for. They do have to describe the processes and ensure they can get across their thoughts. It’s not just putting work in a folder.

@TizerorFizz

Yes, I know. I was just posting that having been and sat through the portfolio prep talks at a couple and watched another's video it's not impossible to enter first year without foundation.

Speak to A-level or BTEC teachers, too, who will have experience of this. My DD went straight to first-year from school, and her teacher was amazing with explaining how to annotate things, the best way to order the pieces, and what developmental stuff to include.

However, teacher suggested that 5 pages of the 15-page portfolio for ARU should be school-work done for A-level. When DD met the course leader, he asked her why she had so much from the same project? She explained and he was, luckliy, amused.

It's a real pain that everywhere asks for different things, though.

DD rather let the two-and-a-half "other" A levels slip once she'd received her offer, but I couldn't blame her.

😂 I'm really having to cheerlead for the boring non creative a level as it is 😂

I do want some practical advice from their teachers on how to actually submit digitally. Plus some guidance on the academic evidence AUB want.

@OneFrenchEgg Each uni wanted a different thing, or so it seemed. The most common was to generate it in Powerpoint (which is fine for puctures-with-annotatins) then save the whole thing as a PDF and either email it or upload it to a site.

DD only got as far as finalising portfolios for her top two choices, because they both gave her offers before the others even replied. But they had quite tight turn-arounds. I, being nervous, wanted DD to submit her UCAS form asap, but art teacher advised to wait until portfolio was ready. Which was... mid December.

Invitations to upload/email portfolios came within days of that, and decisions almost immediately. So, I was wrong... don't submit the UCAS until everything's good to go.

Wow that's a good tip. They say you have 30 days in most of them but that's not long really.

Oh and several have mentioned having instagram for art.

"pictures with annotations." I'm halfway through cooking a roast dinner, and also halfway through a rather nice bottle of Malbec.

DD didn’t let anything slip. She wanted to do well despite a very low offer. I know she liked snd respected her teachers and got A* and A in her art subjects.

The university will say if you upload with Flickr or whatever. It’s not rocket science for a teen. Academic is via ucas surely?

@TizerorFizz I'm being unfair to DD. She tried her best, but was a bit disenchanted with school for all sorts of reasons, and got respectable grades.

Agreed that teens can do this stuff easily. Also, at least one place on her list did ask for extra academic essays in addition to the portfolio and UCAS personal statement. (I think Lincoln and NUA?) That might be what AUB want from @OneFrenchEgg's DS.

UAB talks about showing some form of art history report etc in their guidelines - I remember when I did A level I had to do a study but that wasn't until the end.

I don't think they do foundation. Of UAL colleges , Camberwell and CSM do it I think .

@OneFrenchEgg I've had a look at the AUB site. (Trying to be helpful rather than staker-y, the world needs more illustrators!) Is it this? "Please provide evidence of academic work e.g. art history assignment or report."

The full A-level "project" (which you remember and is still there) won't be written yet. My DD did hers in a rush before the A-level deadline for all sorts of complex reasons. But at this stage, your DS might have already written some pieces about artist references? Check with teacher, but that should be fine.

Yes - thank you, that's a really good idea. I love how friendly and non competitive this thread is; everyone just sharing tips and stuff.
I'm happy to answer any practical questions about parking etc for places we've visited, or what the feel was.

Great thread - really useful. DD3 has been really overwhelmed since the beginning of term with all the pressure from school over personal statements etc, but has finally received the reassurance she needs from her art teachers that she's good enough to do art at uni.

Think she's finally decided on a foundation year first, but still not sure where. We've been to one open day at NUA, which she loved (both the city and the course) and she's going to Edinburgh at the end of the month. We're in London and the one thing she's absolutely certain of is that she wants to get away from London. Think she might look at Bournemouth and Brighton, but not currently sure where else.

UAL offer two foundation courses for home students, CSM and Camberwell. North and South of the river. You can only apply to one of them. If you pass either I think you’re guaranteed a place on a degree at UAL. You don’t get an outright choice I don’t suppose. Wouldn’t everyone want to do CSM Womenswear or Chelsea Fine Art?!

LCF do run foundation courses, but they’re not what you think of as foundation courses, as they’re for international students.

It is expensive to run home foundation courses these days. UAL do accredit their own foundation course so other institutions can run them ( and bear the costs). I suppose you can do their foundation or whatever the traditional one year is, is it BTEC ?

Has anyone a child done the two year art foundation instead of A levels?

Hello @tkband3 and @ArtGarfield! There are some lovely supportive threads on MN amongst all the "LTB" ones.

Which specialities are you looking at, or are DC undecided hence the foundation?

If I had my time again, I might have advised my DD to do a two-year Art course at college rather than sixth-form at her independent school. It wasn't easy for her. But I'm a teacher there so we get a massive fees discounts and that might have swayed me.

Although... she did really enjoy a very very academic A-level she took (Ancient History) so... 🤷‍♀️