Higher Education Options
Status update involving UCAS
To start of with I researched into the following universities that I saw myself wanting to go potentially after my last year of my level-3 media college course. The first university that I looked into strongly was first of all, Sunderland University. They offer two variants of a course that I show interest in getting into, the 'BA (Hons) Film Production/both part time & full time' and the 'foundational degree' that offers a 4 years of study at full time rather than 3 year. I am leaning more towards the 'Foundational' version of the course as I know that one entry requirement in particular correlation with the course is maths. Already know and understand that maths is not my strong suite and never well be, which is something that I've always been striving to improve upon since the GCSEs.
The structure of the course would be taught through via lectures, demonstrations, workshops, seminars, screenings, group & induvial projects, and independent work/learning. Seminars have the function of bringing together small groups for recurring meetings, focusing each time on some particular subject matter. These a very beneficial as everyone present is encouraged to participate and can gain networking skills etc.
The foundational year does the basic studies of Art, Design, performance and simple production, which is overall worth 40 credits to the entire 4 year course. Everything else from accordance to the website, are all worth full 20 credits. That includes essential study skills, foundation project, practical numeracy skills and the introduction to the creative practice unit.
The reason why I choose Sunderland University as my first choice in total was because the BA(hons) film production degree that they offer has an overall 92% satisfaction rate (from the national student survey) and both of their Film Production/Photography courses are ranked 14th in the UK. They also have their very own leading production company that they are very proud of called 'Fulwell 73' which where the makers of 'Sunderland 'Til I Die'. This has managed for them to launch a new regional office with 'David Putnam' media Centre. The building is the media hub for the university, combining 'world leading' academic research with 'award winning' student productions. It's the home of the Centre for research in media and cultural studies.
I then ended up attending the opening day on the 17th of march as to find out more information and knowledge about the university that I wanted to apply for. I learned a lot from the event and the lecturers that i talked too give me lot's of guidance and detail in regards to the course requirements. I learned that course is over 60% practical and only 30% theory, this was great news as I set out with the objective of finding a higher degree course in what I wanted to peruse but was slightly put off by the world of academic research. However, I learned that this is not the case and I'm pleased to say the climate of universities changing in regards to how they value their practical based courses. I also collected useful knowledge in regards to the foundation and what support spefically the university could give to me. I was very happy of the event that I went too and give me a far better conscience to what I wanted to do in the future. This has encouraged to move further onward with my UCAS application and has influenced me to double down on the ideology of university.
My second choice of university was Teesside. They offer a very similar type of course degree with an eligible £2,500 in scholarship which is a great bonus for me as they reward students based on outstanding academic achievements within the years of course time that you put in, the more effort you push, the better the results of that said scholarship will be. They offer both part-time and full-time course rates both exactly the same to Sunderland University (3 years & 6 years) with an annual fee of £9,250 a year for full-time, and £4,500 for part-time which has a worth of 120 credits in total. They also (just like Sunderland University) offer a integrated foundational year if anyone (including me) don't quite meet the full qualifications/spefications standards, to be fully launched into the fully fledged degree without any previous experience in the background. However, the only disadvantage with this particular university that i have chosen is that it very further a field to I live.
It would take an 1hr 30 mins on public transport (Buses & Trains) and would take even longer on foot or bicycle (3hr 13 mins to 3hr 26 mins) This is not very practical for me as since I don't quite have my full driver's license yet and have yet to take lessons sometime in the near future. Although it is only a 39 minute travel time by car, the obstacle of not quite having my license and the finance of having my own car to drive is a massive problem which not be very easily solved. Therefore this is something to definitely keep in mind with my options, which is something that I didn't really think about on the first hand. This has helped me to gain better locational and spacional awareness of my avidablities. However, a bright positive is the fact that they offer work experience for an extra year, involving both the foundational and the fully fledged version of the degree. This will would be incredibly beneficial since it would be a great alternative to push on to my CV for future job applications as work experience is just as valuable as previous employability experience beforehand.
My third choice is Newcastle University. Interestingly however, they do offer a slightly different alternative to a film production course. Instead of a 'BA Hons' film production degree option they offer a subject matter called 'digital arts' This particular degree offers a broad experience of the overall 'arts' industry with access to first-class, industry standard facilities and software such as cinema 4D (used for 3-d workflows and efficient with motion graphics, game design and complex rendering) and VR headsets. In addition, access to green screen techonigly and illustration workshops are also supplied. The course is taught primarily through independent study, group work, lecturing, seminars and practical activities and will be assessed through portfolio work, progress dairies/files, and final show exhibited to the industry. The grand total tuition fee is £9,000 per year for a full time 2 year version of the course, the biggest disadvantage of this particular university however, is that they do not offer foundation alternatives to many of their media courses. This is a negative as it limits my options on how to get into the University, and narrows my route into the industry which is something to keep in mind when potentially applying.
Personal Statement &Pre-Planning
Before I created my draft statement I used an organization tablet, to bullet point the sentences and information to what I was going to say. I did this because jumping in head first into writing a personal statement with not knowing how to start one, or to structure one, would've been a not so great idea as my paragraphs would be unstructured and be complete un-organized mess. This would not make a good impression towards the universities that I'd apply for as appearance and prensation within a statement is everything. And would most likely lead to them ignoring or even worse throwing way my application, which something that i do not want. This method of planning also helps refrain me from writing to much all at once on a personal statement as their is an overall limit of (character letters) allowed on the UCAS website page. The maximum being 4,000 In length.
Here is the link to my pre-planning for my statement draft...
After a little slimming down and tweaking my rough statement plan I created my actual 'First Draft of the Personal Statement.
Draft-2
Final Statement
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