Part 2: Continuation of 2023 uni (and other) applications for those pursuing art and creative routes

[Duchessofmuchness]

As requested transferring us all over hear for the continuation of the 2023 journey. Have so enjoyed the company and support of all on the first thread. Link to original thread copied below (I hope!)

2023 uni applications for those pursuing art and creative routes www.mumsnet.com/Talk/higher_education/4626697-2023-uni-applications-for-those-pursuing-art-and-creative-routes

DS going to work all day/night on it tomorrow. Today he wanted to finish a piece he wants to include.

I'm interested in the point about the structure of the programme and whether it might be more taught more rigidly. DS definitely needs to stay away from anything that might be like A levels in teaching style or output. He's been happy doing his FAD this year but not doing A level!

We didn't get to Edinburgh so if he gets the portfolio in and got an offer we'll have to go visit. I went with DD 5 years ago and she loved the city and I I but not the course.

@Cp2324 and @franticfeb DS was interested in Sculpture, I think, at Glasgow but neither of us could navigate the Web pages to get to the bottom of the entry requirements.

He's out at the moment but life drawing sketches still missing in action. They're either in college or we accidentally threw them away. Or we'll come across them on Friday after Thursday's portfolios have gone.
I've booked us into a life drawing evening class tomorrow evening so he can draw some more.

I did suggest doing a FAD and doing portfolios next year 🤷🏻‍♀️

@HannahDefoesTrenchcoat oh so sorry they haven't turned up yet! Fingers crossed in college and will find tomorrow. That's too much stress to add to an already full on process

I'd definitely recommend a FAD. Takes away alot of stress as he'd have his qualifications in hand and a broader Portfolio

It all depends what happens in the next two days 😬

I'm very grateful we don't have the stress of imminent A levels along with all this, but DC has so much Foundation work it's hard to be selective and cut it to 10-20 slides.

That's a good point. More pieces might make it even harder.

Good luck for tomorrow to Edinburgh applicants

Has anyone else's child applied to the Slade? Dd has a screenshot of a pop up saying she's submitted her Portfolio media and will get an automated email confirming her submission within 24 hours. She's yet to receive this despite submitting it on 3rd Feb and is now worried.

The Slade tel no for admissions is saying it's not in operation any more.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/slade/about/contact/

I would probably check spam folders then contact some of these emails.

i can’t believe their general email address is checked weekly! How mad!

It is mid day and I am in need of strong drink! DS submitted his Edinburgh portfolio in the nick of time. The email confirmation says 1159!

He's at college today so I had no idea how things were progressing. He went in at 9 with 5 pages still to do on Context section, needed to get 20 image files in right format and size, upload to Edinburgh portal and write 255 characters for each of the 20 images. He was so chilled about it all and 100% confident it could be done. I could see all the things that could go wrong ... thank goodness it didn't as he's spent hours pulling it all together.
I don't think it truly reflects what they are looking for - with more time he'd have been able to fine tune it. However he really hated having to do it by assessment criteria headings. Like @Cp2324 DC it's rather put him off Edinburgh and made him wonder if he would like the course.

If anyone in future years is reading this and is ever considering applying for Edinburgh, be aware that they have a fixed date for the portfolio and all the details are on their site. Unlike some of the other unis , if you are applying at end of UCAS deadline, you need to have your portfolio ready to go - there really is no time to do it full justice if you apply at UCAs deadline and then need to pull together in a rush.

Fortunately Edinburgh is currently DS's 5th choice so in some ways glad it was first one and he's had the experience and stress of pulling it together. I'm hoping it may make the process for the others go more smoothly.

LCF next on Sunday night!

The Slade tel no for admissions is saying it's not in operation any more.
As I understand it this was the helpline number given on the email / web - which is really shabby.
Similarly there was a link to "help" on the Edinburgh website which didn't work, got a code 404.

@franticfeb Yes, my DC got a confirmation email from the Slade less than 24 hours after submitting the portfolio so something must have gone wrong for yours. Good thing they got the screenshot though

I think our kids (or anyone) fail to understand just how long the admin part of it all takes. It took my DD much much longer than she anticipated to get her images sorted, (which ones to go to which place according to their individual requirements), photographed, get it all uploaded in whatever format they wanted, all notes written and finally sent. Argh! Back in the day all stuffed in a big folder and you talked through it!

She eventually got through to the UCL general admissions number who basically gave her the defunct Slade number, and when she explained that was no longer in operation, they just told her to email, which she's done twice now through different links. They don't appear to be replying to emails either though. So frustrating.

I am interested in hearing people's opinions about the interview my dc had recently. So they were asked to talk about their portfolio which was pretty much a mixture of A-level work, life drawing and stuff done in spare time. In my opinion a pretty normal portfolio. The lecturer who interviewed said we will be giving you an offer but I don't think this place is the right place for you because your portfolio is too commercial and we do a lot of experimental stuff here. This is despite the fact dc mentioned they were interested in this course as they wanted to explore and try different things and that some of the work in the portfolio were commissions so yes paid commercial work. This was for the animation course. DC is a bit flummoxed (& upset) about what happened yet they have an offer. I'm flummoxed as the subject talk with Head of department highlighted industry links and how they prepare you to work in the animation industry.

@Okisenough that sounds tricky.
I guess it depends on the tone,

"Based on your interview and portfolio we'd love to make you an offer. When you are making your decision maybe keep in mind that we have an experimental leaning here which might not be your thing given you've already had commercial success?"
Vs
"I'm making you an offer but I don't think it will be a good fit."

@Okisenough I remember when I did my graphic design degree being told we had to be practical in our work so it would lead to a job - so if designing a perfume bottle, it couldn't be too outrageous as it would be too expensive to produce, and we needed to demonstrate that we could be creative and cost effective.
It's all well and good saying they like to 'experiment', and there is value in exploring and pushing one's creativity, but at the end of the day an animator, at least for the first few years, is not going to be doing their own stuff or style at all, so there should be a balance - learning technique and hard skills as well as finding their style. The head seemed to say exactly this.
One thing that put my DD off UAL is that the year end show was so experimental as to be unusable and just seemed that students tried to be the most 'out there' - their skill level didn't match their imagination and it just ended up looking amateur.

Obviously they think your child is talented to make an offer. I've always suggested prospective students look not only at the school in questions graduate show reels but also the teachers show reels to see if they are a within a similar mindset.
You would have thought the interviewer would understand that a portfolio from an 18 year old is going to be largely from class assignments with definite restrictions, and not necessarily an example of 'them on a page (or reel)' so often touted by admission guidelines. They are at the beginning of their journey in to the field, that's why they need to go to uni - to find out how to put themselves into their work. Being judged is hard to take, and often whoever doesn't actually listen to what is being said. But he/she spotted talent and potential, that's what your DC needs to take away from it.

From what dc said, I think it was somewhere in between. I really don't understand as it wasn't as if dc had an advert for crisps in their portfolio and is running a marketing agency on the side, I would honestly class it as a pretty normal portfolio with some animation included.

@mondaytosunday I totally agree with what you say, especially with animation, it's great to win awards for short films and push the boundaries etc but you also do need to help your students find employment and pay back their student loans. I don't know what she saw in dc to feel the need to say this. This was the first time they've met! This person was not at the open day. Was it personal? Were they annoyed dc already had a lot of animation in their portfolio so wasn't a beginner? Did they not think my dc had read the course description and knew exactly where they were applying? No idea.

I am wondering whether once all offers are in to suggest dc contact the Subject Head and ask for clarification on this matter. The whole thing has left me a bit paranoid about this choice now, the university's feel and student community is right up dc's street but.....would they be just left to get on with things as staff concentrated on students they felt were more to their own taste? FFS!!! Writing this has made me angry, my dc has had a difficult time of late and I feel something that should have been so procedural has turned into another thing to add to their stress. Sigh!

That's all really odd! I hope that your dc gets a range of offers and isn't too put off by that experience.

I still remember the examiner after my driving test. "Well, you're not a very good driver. You have some way to go to become one. But I'm afraid you've passed. Well done." (!!!)

@PhotoDad Thanks. It is annoying as up to this point, it was one of the favourites! I am trying to sell it as a nudge from the Universe saying maybe something else would be more suitable, especially as all the other choices are ranked higher in this subject!

Probably just have to chalk it down to experience. Sometimes strange things just happen.

In other countries, finally spoke to my DD who has been in Lisbon since Monday. A change to her original placement, she's now doing the social media pages for both a women's cooperative... art group? Movement? Society? and the organisation that runs the work experience scheme in Lisbon. So she has to go around and vídeo interesting parts of the area plus go to each placement and interview the kids working and then edit and upload it all to the websites. She says she's very busy with that and the socialising! Tonight all contributed to taco night -15 of them cooking and eating together. Totally out of her comfort zone! She will have to retreat to a dark cave for a week to recover from all the socialising when she gets back.
Still waiting to hear from Bath and she's added LSE as the wild card just before the deadline.
@HannahDefoesTrenchcoat what happened in the end? Did the sketches resurface?

No! So weird.
He's included other sketches and some life drawings done this week.
He's sat by me adding his comments to two portfolios due in tomorrow.

One says 11.59 am
The other says by 9th February. Do we think that's today or tomorrow?

We should do a top tips that appears at the beginning of every thread

OMG just submitted x2 portfolios after having something of a meltdown over an unexpected 5MB limit on the one. It's done now!
2 more to go but they have to be easier right? 😆

Perhaps naivety but I, for one, didn't expect Portfolio uploading to be so time-consuming. It would have been easier if programmes could have agreed on size of pdf/if comments wanted/whether or not they needed an additional 500 word summary on top of the usual Personal Statement. For sone programmes, this isn't even the end of the process as they then have interviews.

Dd has now submitted three Portfolios. No responses yet. Two left to go. Hoping to get those off by the close of the weekend. It's all been a bit mad.

Can I ask what happens if dd gets no offers? Am assuming she can't reapply through clearing to those same unis? Do clearing unis also ask for Portfolios?