Art foundation before non art degree

[Mangoesintoapub]

DD is planing to read languages at uni but she’s sad to be giving up art which she loves.

She has been wondering whether it would be possible to apply for her language degree deferred, then spend her gap year doing an art foundation before taking up her place to read languages.

I wondered whether anyone had any views on how practical this would be? Would she be able to get a foundation course place if she was holding another uni place? Is an art foundation likely to be suitable for her situation?

Or is there another way she could do a year of art as a gap year?

Thank you for any advice.

My DD did an Art && Design Foundation course last year. She was originally planning on doing a degree in animation but she's now at Durham doing Sociology (she applied post A levels while on the Art course).
Yes you can do a Foundation year while holding a uni place as you apply directly to the institution, nothing to do with UCAS. In fact one of my DD's classmates already had a place to do Architecture at Cambridge.
I'm assuming your DD is in Y12 now as many application deadlines will have passed. She will need to show a portfolio and some are very competitive (Kingston probably one of the most), but local FE places maybe not so much. It's also free if under 19 at the start, though not accommodation if moving away to do it. I'd say most people go somewhere local and live at home.
It sounds like a good idea, it's not quite full time so she could work part time too, though they do have a massive final assessment at the end. My DD also made really great friends on her course, more so than any other time in her school career.

Are you meaning a foundation course which is level 3/4, or a foundation year at university? Foundation year at university is not free whether 19 and under or not, there are still tuition fees.

To echo both PP... a standalone "FAD" course at a local college (or some universities) has nothing to do with UCAS and is free (apart from accommodation) to under 19s. It would have no impact at all on applying for something else.

A foundation year that is part of a longer course at a university is a different kettle of fish!

https://www.florenceacademyofart.edu/academics/foundation-program/

I used to teach on a Foundation Art & Design and taught quite a few students over the years who were either already holding places for degrees for the following academic year or arrived on FAD knowing they wanted to apply for a different subject area. FAD can be a brilliant year and arriving on your degree course that bit more resilient is no bad thing in my opinion.

A MFL degree is 4 years. So 5 years and one for pleasure with no obvious gain? I would not say it’s a great idea unless she’s already fluent in her MFLs. I would look into doing art when studying abroad in y3. Or summer schools. It’s a degree that is best not having a gap unless it’s MFL based.

I was talking to my adult DS the other day who did an Art Foundation course- he subsequently went on to do an Art degree, but that's not the point. The point he was making was that the Foundation course( free) was a really good stepping stone between school and uni...he thinks it made the transition much easier in terms of branching out, getting to know people outside of schoolmates, travelling out of the local area across London, managing his workload and dealing with deadlines.
And it's free for under 19s! That extra year of maturity makes a big difference.

Alternatively, an art foundation in one of the two languages of an MFL degree would be killing two birds with one stone, leaving the 3rd year abroad free for a year long immersive experience in the other MFL. But on the whole I think girls in particular shouldn't hang about because most of them will want children sooner or later and need to make headway with their qualifications and career. So any gap year needs to fulfil some kind of skills requirement.

Most universities will want you to go to both countries in third year abroad. Not one. You have to complete a uni module based on that experience. Pre degree doesn’t count. The only gap year I would consider would be MFL acquisition. Not doing that makes dc rusty - it’s like maths degrees - don’t loose momentum.

If you are sufficiently fluent in one language universities are perfectly amenable to your devoting more time to your weaker language. University MFL academics want outcomes (fluency) - they aren't bureaucrats focussed on rigid adherence to process (equal splitting of 3rd year between languages whatever the degree of fluency at the end of 2nd year).

I know this is not your original query but I would not study languages. With AI anything to do with translation for example will disappear.

If she is really into art and design, she might be better off doing a foundation and then thinking about doing a degree that focuses on computer-generated design or an art or art history degree.

Art can lead to many things: curation, teaching, working in museums, art therapy.

I did fine art as for my degree as a mature student and also did an HNC in multimedia design. I work as a Head of marketing and comms using my design skills to do websites, social media, posters/flyers/publications and also run my art practice.

Funnily enough I originally did a language degree and it has been of no use whatsoever in the workplace as I was not interested in going into becoming a language teacher.

@Cattreesea I agree with your post - a very good art education (combining History of Art and art practice) is a far more interesting and applicable degree than an MFL degree. There are all sorts of other ways to learn languages that are more efficient and deeper than a UK university MFL degree.

@Cattreesea Why do you think linguists do translation work? Why do you think an academic Mfl degree is vocational? None of DDs friendship group use their MFLs and never considered translation as that’s been dead in the water for decades. Why on earth did you think a MFL degree leads to being a teacher!? That’s very blinkered and not very ambitious.

Take a look at any academic university MFL department and you will see a myriad of roles for MFL grads. My DD is a barrister. Various barrister friends also have MFL or classics degrees. Her MFL friends work for city firms, the civil service and everything in between. They are universally bright people and can compete with other grads for decently paid roles.

If anyone wants art, do art but a MFL grad will earn more.. When dd was on her year abroad she studied history of art at two universities. That was very enjoyable for her. However never view a MFL degree as vocational. It is not for the majority and yes, a few will teach but many others careers that pay a lot more are available to bright people. You just have to want them and understand transferable skills.

@Ceramiq A few unis might waive one country for year abroad but for standard undergrads, they need both. It’s not negotiable.

It’s also a huge shame that posters keep saying a MFL degree is purely learning to speak a MFL (so can be easily be replaced by another language course) and completely ignore the literature, culture, politics. history and art modules plus the research, essay writing and time taken to learn the MFLs. There are many facets which posters totally ignore that are contained in an academic MFL degree. With respect, it’s somewhat ignorant.

@TizerorFizz I have an MFL degree. I also speak lots of languages that I didn't study at university. I have lived in several countries, as have our children who also speak lots of languages. I am absolutely not ignorant about the abysmal standards of UK MFL degrees. The ignorance is on the part of those people who believe those degrees meet any kind of reasonable academic standard.

One of my FAD students went on to study German at Oxford, applying while on FAD rather than arriving holding a deferred place. She brought her interest in language to her art work and continued to widen her knowledge of German literature and culture while on FAD.

There may have been others who went on to modern languages degrees, unsurprisingly my memory is hazy on who did what and where, but that example is firmly in my mind (not least because the Oxbridge UCAS applications are very early so I had to get to know the student well enough to write a reference in a very short time and liaise with her school to get input from there).

@TizerorFizz

You are misunderstanding my point which was that:

• there are very few jobs these days that are based on language skills (which you sort of confirmed by saying that people with that degree often go into completely unrelated careers...)

• therefore the OP's daughter, if she is keen on art and/or design, might as well study these topics.

This is not about saying that languages degrees are sub-standard.

It is about encouraging her to choose the subject that inspires the most because the outcome of studying either of these degrees is likely to be similar: many graduates will end up working in a field that is not fully related to what they studied.

@Mangoesintoapub I cannot contribute to the MFL discussion above but in answer to your question - yes, plenty of students do an art foundation prior to studying a degree in an unrelated field. I have several friends whose daughters all did art foundation courses prior to a) neuroscience b) business c) marketing d) fashion purely because they wanted a gap year (and are creative). The girl doing neuroscience has a VERY lengthy academic road ahead of her and very much enjoyed her art foundation.

@Cattreesea I do not misunderstand anything! It’s a joke to think art grads make more or even the same as most MFL grads. Do you think an art grad will be heading into the FO or become a lawyer? They are utterly different degrees and only one has academic rigour. Look at the research done by the IFS and see where arts courses are in the earnings charts . There’s no graduate premium. In fact you would earn more if you hadn’t bothered. Saying art has similar outcomes as MFL is ridiculous . The outcomes for MFL grads are substantially better and perhaps look at some research evidence before you say the job outcomes are equal? No evidence supports that.