Welcome from your Head of School
The creative world is changing. Creative practice is no longer just about making work or telling stories, it is about understanding the market and developing our identity and brand.
As a creative community with great heritage, our School is preparing students for this new landscape through the provision of education, knowledge and choices. Arrive here and the first thing we will ask you is what do you want to do when you leave? We are opening up an entire world that takes you on a journey. You will be empowered, challenged, developed. You will discover your voice. Everyone wants to employ people who can think.
We are excited to meet you at one of our upcoming interview days, see examples of your work and hear the ideas that inspired it. In turn, we hope that you will feel inspired by our creative community.
Angus Pryor, Head of School of Creative Arts
Your interview
Our first tip is to start getting your thoughts together now. We want to hear about your influences and inspirations and what makes you tick. We want to see a broad range of work in your portfolio – not just coursework, but work initiated by you as this will demonstrate your ability to think for yourself. Good luck.
Essential information
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Our Interview Days are designed to offer you a snapshot of what it is like to study at the University of Gloucestershire, so it’s not just about the interview we want you to view our facilities, get involved in a workshop, interactive session or lecture, meet with our academic teams, chat with current students, tour the campus and visit the accommodation you may be living in.
On the day, you’ll have the opportunity to meet some of the current students and spend time with them looking at their work and sharing your work and ideas with them. You’ll be able to ask the students as many questions as you like both before your informal interview with the course team or afterwards if you’d like to re-join the students. Students will be working on their own work whilst you are there, so feel free to get involved and see what they are doing.
Your informal interview will last 20 to 30 minutes and will be with one of the course team and a current student, who will be on hand to help and support you, and to answer any student related questions you have, from a student point of view.
The format is a very relaxed chat about your photography, your portfolio, why you are so passionate about the subject and what you love about photography.
Most importantly, remember that this is an opportunity for you to find out more about the course, its staff, equipment and the philosophy of the course. In fact, anything that helps you decide whether or not this is the right course for you!
We love questions from the people we interview, and there is no such thing as a silly question. Don’t forget, if you’re returning home and you suddenly remember a question you forgot to ask in the interview, we will be more than happy to receive emails and answer any burning questions.
You will be sent an email with important details and information about your interview. Please read this through carefully.
If you have any questions or require more information about your audition, please contact our admissions team on 03330 141414 or email [email protected].
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We want you to show us your ideas, enthusiasm and potential. Do your research – so that you can try to be prepared with some knowledge about the subject.
We will look at your portfolio of work and yes, we DO read those personal statements.
Remember, you are the most important part of the interview. We don’t just want to look at what you’ve created, we want to get a feel for how you communicate and think. Importantly, we are interested in how driven you are to be a professional photographer and story-teller through both photography and video.
What we may ask you?
• Why are you passionate about what you do?
• Tell us about your aspirations and motivations
• Are you prepared to give us your full commitment to achieve your dreams?
• Are you comfortable showing your photography to other people?
We’ll also want to find out about your work:
• What photographers has influenced you in the last year?
• What are you passionate about that you could photograph?
How do you prepare your portfolio?
We would like to see a portfolio of your photography, this can be made up from your school or college work and, we would like to see projects that you have produced yourself.
You could perhaps shoot a project just for the interview that reflects your passions? Are you passionate about your local community or a local charity for example? Why not shoot it and select 8-10 images for your folio. It could even be a hobby that you really love, or simply, your family. The point is, shoot the things that make you most passionate!
Make a considered and edited selection for your portfolio (up to 20 images maximum) from the images created by you whilst studying on your current or past courses and/or your own self-initiated photography project(s).
It is worth noting that:
We are particularly keen to see self-initiated photographic projects, i.e. a set(s) of photographs that you have produced outside of any formal course requirements that inform us about something that interests or concerns you.
Evidence that you have engaged with the challenges and experience of photographing people, places and society would also be beneficial to include in your portfolio.
Any offer of a place on the course is heavily influenced by the quality of the portfolio you present to us at the interview, the potential you demonstrate and your commitment to this subject area. Consider your general presentation of the photographs and how you show them, (for example, we would suggest that for printed images, you might like to print them in a matt finish, to reduce finger marks).
You should be prepared to talk about your work as well as your inspirations and aspirations. We want to know more about you, what you’re passionate about and why you want to study photojournalism and documentary photography and work in this particular industry.
Anything else that you can talk about in terms of your ideas, influences, aspirations, etc. will be of interest to us.
We love talking about photography, so we always enjoy our interviews.
How to prepare your portfolio?
You are welcome to use any method you choose to share your portfolio with us, but we suggest that your images are no bigger than 10” x 8” in size, you’ll feel far more relaxed if you don’t have too much to carry around with you.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that ‘bigger is better’, its only more for you to carry and will give you more to worry about on the day. Fifteen to twenty 10” x 8” images in a portfolio book or in a print box, which you can buy cheaply online, (and you can later use for the course), is more than enough.
Less is often more, so we would suggest a minimum of 15 images and 20 as an absolute maximum.
Alternatively, you can share your website with us, or send images via email to the course team ([email protected]) before your interview.
We would prefer that you do not use Instagram to show your portfolio. You are also welcome to show your portfolio on a tablet or on a laptop on the day if you prefer.
However, do make sure you have internet access via a mobile phone hotspot as we do not have open access Wi-Fi on site.
It would also be useful to see one workbook showing your research around your photographic projects at School or College, but certainly not essential.
With less to carry and think about you’ll be far more comfortable and the interview process will be far more enjoyable for you.
What should I wear and where should I be?
Dress code is smart, casual and comfortable.
If you have any questions or require more information about your audition, please contact our admissions team on 03330 141414 or email [email protected].
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Visit www.ucas.com/hub and sign into your UCAS Hub to confirm the date and time or to reschedule your interview/audition.
If you have any questions or require more information about your interview, please contact our admissions team on 03330 141414 or email [email protected].
Integrated Foundation Year Degree
Essential information
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All Integrated Foundation interviews are held at Park campus. During your time with us you will be introduced to the wider campus and shown around some of the facilities that the you will use whilst on the course. You may also have the opportunity to meet and talk with some current students.
Your interview will include an individual meeting during which you will present and discuss your portfolio of work, some guidance for the content of your portfolio is provided below. This meeting is a chance for you to get to know us and ask questions about the course, as well as a chance for us to get to know you and discuss how the course can support you in achieving your long-term goals. It’s an open, informal discussion and an opportunity for you to share your work. This interview will be approximately 30 minutes, so we encourage you to prepare your portfolio accordingly and make a note of any questions that you would like to ask.
We very much look forward to meeting you.
You will be sent an email with important details and information about your interview. Please read this through carefully.
If you have any questions or require more information about your interview, please contact our admissions team on 03330 141414 or email [email protected]
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We would like you to share a selection of your creative work, whether completed as part of a course or not; sketchbooks, rough visuals, and projects demonstrating your range of ideas and skills, both in direct relation to your chosen area of practice as well as any broader creative exploration that you have undertaken. We also want to know more about you as an individual, what you’re passionate about and why you want to work in this particular field.
Most importantly remember that this is an opportunity for you to find out more about our course, its staff and philosophy. In fact, anything that helps you decide whether or not this is the right next step for you!
What we may ask you?
• Why do you want to go to university?
• Tell us about your aspirations and motivations. Do you aspire to be a famous photographer, fashion designer, landscape architect? What has influenced this desire? Have friends, or family suggested university or are you inspired by someone in particular, a famous artist, designer or creative?
• How do you think our course could help you achieve your goals?
We’ll also want to find about your work:
• What has influenced you in the last year? Have you visited an art gallery recently, seen a good gig, been to an interesting place? All these will help your interview, make it flow. Whilst, we will have already read your personal statement and reference you might have more to add.
You might want to bring an object, something of significance. We have had students bring hand-made boxes full other objects collected and cared for. Don’t think your knitting will not be worthy of a showing!
How to prepare your portfolio?
There are a number of ways you can present your portfolio of work; perhaps a physical portfolio is best to show off your work, including your original artwork or photographs of the work, sketchbooks or prints, or you may choose to present your work digitally either on a tablet or laptop of your own. Some students may prefer to showcase their work through a website, in this instance we request that it is able to be viewed offline if on your own laptop or tablet to avoid issues with connecting to Wi-Fi.
Laura a current student advises, “the atmosphere was informal, come prepared to say who you are and what you want to achieve”
What should you wear?
Dress code is smart, casual and comfortable
We believe that meeting our applicants and giving them the opportunity to mix with our staff and students, as well as explore our facilities, is the best way to help them make the important decision about their choice of university. But if for any reason you are unable to travel to the University for this event please let us know and we will arrange an online interview.
If you have any questions or require more information about your day, please contact our admissions team on 03330 141414 or email [email protected].
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Visit www.ucas.com/hub and sign into your UCAS Hub to confirm the date and time or to reschedule your interview/audition.
If you have any questions or require more information about your interview, please contact our admissions team on 03330 141414 or email [email protected].
Your UoG Promises
The 3 promises ensure you’ll get the most out of your uni experience.
We promise lifetime career support, global connections with over 4,000 placements and trips each year, and guaranteed accommodation.
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