Official University of Salford Interviews, Portfolios and Auditions Thread 2023

Welcome to the official thread for all things interviews/portfolios/auditions for the University of Salford for 2023 entry!

You're welcome to use this space to meet other applicants, and speak to us (your lovely Reps) about interview, portfolio and audition processes! Obviously this thread is here for you, but please don't post detailed information about what your interview involved if you've already had it - we want everyone to have the same chance to succeed in interviews! Interviews and portfolios can seem daunting, but we promise they aren't there to trip you up. We put these in place so we can get to know you as an applicant, and see who you are!

For those of you who are yet to interview, we definitely have some tips and tricks to help you do your best in interview! A big one is preparation - re-read your personal statement and make sure you know what's in it. Bring a copy of it with you if you'd like! This might sound really simple, but sometimes you might be asked to elaborate on certain things you've mentioned in your statement, so you want to make sure you know what you wrote all those months ago. Make sure you know how your interview is taking place too - if its in person, do you know where you're going? How long will it take you to get there? Aiming to arrive early is always a smart idea, because it gives you extra time if anything goes wrong with your journey. If your interview is online, make sure you know how to access the platform its taking place on, and you're ready and logged on in advance of the start time given.

Reading around your subject area is a good idea too - if you're interviewing for Physiotherapy (as an example) do you know the daily responsibilities of a physiotherapist? Are there certain characteristics good physio's have? Are there any new developments that interest you within the field of physiotherapy? Some of these can be answered by getting some experience shadowing a professional in your field, but you can do a lot with google and google scholar!

When it comes to the actual interview, the way you conduct yourself is also important. We always get questions on how to know what to wear (we've even been sent links to outfits before!), but the best answer is to dress appropriately - if you're interviewing for something health related, dress smartly like you would for a job interview (unless instructed otherwise on the interview instructions!). Arts courses have a little more flexibility - I'd still say dress smartly, but let your creativeness flow. If you're applying for fashion, then show your style! If you have pieces you've made and are proud of, what's a better way to show them off than wear them?!

If you're not interviewing at all and are submitting a portfolio, there are still plenty of tips to be found in this post! Make sure you're aware of any deadlines and are confident you understand the brief (if you've been given one). If you're not sure, email us! We're always happy to clarify anything you've got queries on.

You might be wondering how to structure your portfolio, and the best advice we can give is keep it tidy – make sure your pieces are well laid out and formatted properly (watch out if you’re converting files to PDFs – images can decide to go in all different directions sometimes!) - cluttered portfolios with lots of pieces on the same page can look messy, so get someone to take a look at it after you've put it together to get a second opinion!

Discussing your work is something that our tutors love to see in portfolios - obviously pictures/physical pieces are great, but what inspired you to make them? What do they mean to you? What journey did your creative process take (and do you have any drafts you can add in to show this)? Annotations help our tutors understand your work, and also helps show us you know how to talk about the work you've created, which will be a big part of your assignments at university.

Now we've got all that serious advice stuff out of the way...ask any queries you've got! We like a good challenge, so don't be afraid to throw us some difficult ones :biggrin:

as mentioned above, you're welcome to use this space to chat about interviews, but keep it spoiler-free!

Best of luck to you all - we're all rooting for you! :rave: