So I'm finally back with another post. Today I wanted to share my initial thoughts on University and my experience so far in this first month here. I know it's getting around that time when last minute stresses come about, about thinking and applying for University so I thought this post might help relax a few of you and start getting excited about the thought of University next year. I am also going to cover the interview process and my advice to anyone applying for a design type course.
Lets start logically with Freshers,
these are the days when going out every night begins to feel like normality!! For anyone thats particularly worried about making friends, freshers is a great way to start getting to know and feel comfortable around your flat mates. For us this included drinks and lots of nights out! But don't worry if you aren't heavy drinker, neither am I and this wasn't an issue. I was still able to enjoy nights out and quite often I hardly drunk anything. As well as this within my block/flat we did a few games nights and in the first few days explored in the local town together; so nights out aren't the only part of freshers.
So onto my pros and cons of these first few weeks, as it's clear to see freshers was a lovely experience for me, all my worries of starting University disappeared. As well as this I am loving the freedom of cooking my own meals and organising myself - although this is personal as organisation isn't always everyones idea of fun! As well as this I'm liking the balance of having my own space and socialising. Like now I'm sat writing this or I'd be working, with University I found time to have my own time as well as going out and finding buddies to go food shopping and washing with. Obviously we all have our preferences but I've found that Uni allows you to either. Additionally it's nice to finally be working on something you really enjoy, yes sometimes assignments can be boring or tiring but overall its nice to be finally focusing on something you really enjoy. I found because of this although I have a lot of work I feel more motivated to do the work.
And there isn't a huge amount of things I don't like about Uni but a few to mention is things like cleaning - the thing that you don't necessary think about but also need to be done - and missing home, but you will create a routine quite quickly, you just have to get stuck into things and enjoy the moments you can have with family. You will also get used to a bit more noise. I'm on a student village and generally things are quiet but things can get a little bit more noisy particularly on a Friday and Saturday night, but personally I've got used to it already. Now if you've read my previous posts you might know that I had a few maintenance issues in the first few weeks, to the stage I had no toilet for the first weekend. Things shouldn't always be as drastic as this but be prepared for things to take a while to be fixed. And finally this is a super personal but I didn't particularly get any benefits out of the freshers fayer, I didn't find anything that really interested me and although I tried one thing out it just wasn't for me. At first I thought this was a bad thing but it really isn't, University is such a big thing that there is always going to be something to get involved in or do so you don't have to get suck into the traditions that might not be your kind of thing.
So finally lets talk about the application process - particularly art, design and creative students as unfortunately the process isn't as straight forward... annoyingly. I am studying a Graphic Design course and like most design courses it required an interview. Now most likely you'll get information about what that requires or you would have found out on an open day. But here are a few of my top tips as honestly it's not as scary as it seems. Firstly I would think carefully about what you choose to bring along. my main advice would be to pick projects/ pieces that you were enthusiastic about and are interesting this way you should have a lot of talking points for when asked in interview. Maybe pick things that are slightly unique but also the things that you feel shows you ability, the wider the range of medias or skills you can show off the better! I also suggest doing some personal briefs or any work that is not for your Alevel or collage course, this way you are showing a personal interest.
In terms of how much is required, some Universities have a guidelines but this was particularly stressful for me as I received a range of numbers from 4 to 25 pieces. My suggestion is to bring your best but put them in an order to what you'd want to be viewed first. There is no point in putting your best pieces at the end of your portfolio as there is a chance you won't get round to showing this. In addition to a physical portfolio I created an online website to showcase my work (meganunderwoodgraphics.blogspot.co.uk incase you want to take a look) this way it was an additional form of media as I created the blog page myself but also it is an easy way to access every piece of work and let the lecturers look at their own leisure. But overall the advice would be to be yourself and even fake the confidence if you have to, this way you'll make an impression.
I hope some of you have found this useful, I'll be sure to link this post again around summer for those who would find it useful around then and after my first entire year I'm sure I'll write a few more University posts. I am still trying to write as much as I can, but some post are quite hard to write at Uni when I can't always be trying out new products or don't have a trusty photography assistant (shoutout to the BF!!)
-Megan
Related post: University Room Tour
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