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Ravensbourne or Hertfordshire (Undergraduate)

Hey! I've been stuck between a rock and a hard place recently!
With me entering my final year at college I got 2 Universities in mind, Ravensbourne and Hertfordshire.

I want to get into animation (specifically 2D animation" but I don't want to be too limited) and both these universities do my courses.
Ravensbourne does a 3D animation course with 2D as well, which would be good to learn as I don't limit myself once I finish my degree.
Hertfordshire does a 2D animation course by itself, so I wont learn both elements.

My college sent me to Ravensbourne for a private Art and Design tour and explanation so they kinda know me already and I've heard that the reputation here for its courses are brilliant, They're even partners with Adobe! (Free Adobe things! Yay!) I just haven't heard anything for the animation part yet.
As for Hertfordshire, I found out about the 2D animation course through research, and right now not only do people say it's good, but they have a lot more videos of 2D animation around Vimeo and YouTube then Ravenbourne does

This is where the problem hits me, Ravensbourne has more reputation, but for other course, while Hertfordshire can not only "tell" its stories about their courses but they SHOW it more commonly. They even have an entire YouTube channel based on it!
(Not only that but the quality of some of the animations at Herts just look so good!)
As a bonus, I also seemed to mess myself up as I took 3D Art and Design and not Fine Art (I didn't know animation needed specific Art and Design courses) So I'm doing a foundation year at one of these uni's before actually doing the BAs

What would you do? Pick a Uni with good rep for, learn both 2D to a certain point and learn more 3D but take the risk as the course may not live to your hype
Or go with the Uni that does what you love and has a lot of videos of previous students doing so well on it, but could end up limiting you to 2D animation unless you take the time to learn 3D independently.

Sorry for the long... LONG message. But I just needed to get this out before I make another mistake like I did with my college Art course

Reply 1

moid

Thanks for your nice comments about Hertfordshire :smile:

If it makes you feel better, the students on the 2D animation course are taught 3D in Maya in the first year alongside all the other degrees (we have a common first year where all students study almost the same curriculum throughout). At the end of the first year students can switch degrees if they wish, because many discover they have a talent in areas they'd never tried before, and they can just change to that degree for the second year where the teaching is much more focused on just that chosen subject. Even if you stayed on 2D animation no one would stop you from attending 3D classes (as long as they didn't clash with your mandatory classes). And in the third year the students form groups across all four degrees to create animations and games, so there would be a good chance you'd collaborate with students from any of the subjects we teach.

Reply 2

Ravensbourne

Hi TradiGlitch

I am currently a student at Ravensbourne University and also a moderator for our student rooms forum. Thank you for considering Ravensbourne. Our animation course covers both 2D and 3D Animation and is based around learning the principles and practices of narrative-based animation on various platforms including Adobe Flash and Maya and focusing on building links with the industry to help you find work after you graduate. Most students prefer 3D animation which is why it may seem like there aren't any 2D animators here but if you visit the Ravensbourne Animation Vimeo page you'll find some of our students 2D work. Smitten and Day Fly are two of my favourite.

https://vimeo.com/105748224

https://vimeo.com/105747640

Since we are a specialised creative and media university, you will have plenty opportunities to make friends and collaborate with students on similar courses such as Motion Graphics, Film and Photography. Hope all this helps! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask :smile:

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