Degree/Apprenticeship/Alternative (and career) advice please for DS (Y13) - I’m clueless.

[HeadsAShed]

Considering the following degrees

• Art
• Illustration
• Architecture
• Physics

The ideal degree

• physics and art joint honours (but these don’t seem to exist)

Interested in technical illustration (all those pictures you see in physics textbooks, biology textbooks or engineering textbooks). Or maybe architecture but doesn’t look like he’ll get the grades for that. Or maybe some sort of design engineering where he just gets to draw designs all day but he’s not keen on doing the actual engineering work behind it so probably not the best idea.

Basically, he just wants to draw but wants it to be physics/science related as he loves all things physics and learning about how it all works. His current Art portfolio is full of drawings of physics-y things (which are totally beyond me, but think atoms made to look colourful and beautiful, and, detailed electronics diagrams with a twist so they look abstract and like sci-fi. He’s made made some really beautiful mesmerising works of art from physics/science themes. He’s also very good with drawing the details of technical things such as buildings. He did some work on dimensions and buildings.

Another thing is, are there alternative routes? Apprenticeships that might fit, or alternative college courses, or training schemes?

Already has (confirmed grade) from Y12:

EPQ - A*

(He called it ‘The art of physics and the physics of art’ it was all about how physics is just art but art is just physics and had physics equations mixed with some art work.)

Predicted A-Level grades:

• Art - A/A*
• Physics - B
• Maths - C

At this point he’s considering not applying as he’s so unsure (but equally unsure as to what to do if he doesn’t apply), which if that’s what he wants to do I fully support him, but I’ve also convinced him not to give up yet as he still has until January.

Not within my sphere of knowledge at all, but I'd have thought a BA in illustration then Masters in Technical or Scientific illustration. Or BA in Architectural Design. I suspect it's too niche to be an undergrad degree or apprenticeship.

I would agree with Titchy. I don’t think you’d want to look at pure Physics with a C in Maths, so the art route and then specialise. He can keep up with science via societies. Does he have any artists doing what he wants to do? He could explore their career path.

This definitely wouldn’t be a degree apprenticeship though.

Random googling - https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/study/courses/postgraduates/art-in-science-ma

May be worth an email to these bods asking for advice?

I work in student recruitment and if I spoke to your son, these are some subjects I would tell him to consider beyond your list -
Architectural Design & Technology
Product Design
Animation
Prosthetics & Orthotics (if he wanted to work with people)

Some universities do offer options where you essentially mix and match from a list of courses, they'll be listed as joint or combined honours degrees - don't search for physics and art as you'll never find it.

He can still apply post January, that's just the equal consideration deadline (important for competitive courses/unis) - better to submit a strong application late than a wishy washy one on time and face rejection straight off.

Can highly recommend the forums on The Student Room for information gathering, as always you need to take some of it with a pinch of salt, but it's worth a look through the subject boards for inspiration!

He should still be able to get into architecture if that’s what he wants?

Also, his Physics and Maths are definitely strong enough for some courses - and there's always Foundation Year routes if he's willing to do an extra year.

Take a look at these. Very medical based but all about medical illustration so has the science link there

www.imi.org.uk/resources/education-cpd/accredited-university-courses/

Some excellent thoughts and suggestions. This is why I love MN! Always so much help and suggestions which I wouldn’t have known existed otherwise.

School sixth form have been pretty rubbish in all honesty, but what can you expect from a really rubbish school (but that’s a whole other story and DS has done well despite it)

@titchy good spot. Thank you. Yes, it does seem very niche but it does make a lot of sense to try and figure it out now and what’s available rather than diving into something he won’t particularly enjoy. Something slightly not perfect I think he wouldn’t mind as long as he can see the career path. We just realised there was a difference between architectural design and architecture so definitely something to look into. I think architectural design sound more up his street.

@Bunnyannesummers great suggestion to explore artist career paths. I don’t think he’s really that interested in doing a pure 100% physics degree, it’s just not him or what he wants but an idea that we’ve been throwing about just to cover all bases as he would like to do it if it was a joint honours or a 75:25 mix, but only with art so looks like that’s a no go.

@alisonofagun great to hear from someone in student recruitment. Thanks for the additional list of things to look at. That’s invaluable and certainly some on there I didn’t even know existed. Yes, we have looked for physics and art. Probably spent quite a bit of time on it search every joint honours course from every university but never mind. We tried. Good to know about the post January option. That will take the pressure off a bit and probably make DS a little bit more enthusiastic/less stressed to keep looking. Will take a look at other forums and investigate foundation years.

@OrangeApples wow, thank you for that list. That’s really brilliant. Can I ask, are you in the medical illustration game?

www.imi.org.uk/careers-in-medical-illustration/