Royal College of Art 2017 applications

I've been watching this thread for a while, but just joined TSR to post an update on my experience. I applied to the RCA for Animation (new Narrative Pathway) in January before the priority deadline. I had a Skype interview on 14 March (I'm applying from the US), and have not heard anything since then. I think my portfolio is really strong and I had a great letter of recommendation from someone well-known in the field, but the interview was not stellar - it wasn't terrible but I think I could have done a lot better - so I am assuming that since I did not hear by the 12 April, when RCA website said all results would be sent, that I did not get in. However, I really want to know for sure, so on Thursday I emailed the department administrator, and received an auto-response that the college is closed for Easter holidays and she will be back in the office next Wednesday. Really annoying! If they have set a date then they should stick to it, and if they are running behind they should send out a notice saying that, instead of leaving us in limbo for an extra week!

Has anyone got an acceptance OR a rejection for Animation? I only see a few people here that have applied and it seems like we're all still waiting, unless I missed something?

Hi, I applied for the same programme and the same pathway.
I only heard one person who got an offer, but I have not heard back yet. I assume they are late because Animation department began their interviews on March, which I think is almost the last programme of all ( I haven't heard any other program later than March ), maybe that's why their process is slower than other program. I didn't receive any e-mail inform me they'll delay neither, but I heard some programmes do send delay notice to the candidates...

The person who received the offer letter was on 12th April, so I guess they'll send out the results soon, maybe just after the holiday.. and it's only 2 days left! just have to be more patient cause it's UK...

I have received my official offer (textiles: weave) weeks ago. Last week the department of textiles have sent a letter to all the textiles applicants, saying:
"As a result of the removal of the application fee, this year the Royal College of Art has received the highest number of applications in the College's history. This has created an unprecedented workload for our colleagues in Registry who are working hard to process applications and the results of interviews across the College. We have been notified by the Registrar that the outstanding official interview result notifications for the MA Textiles programme will now be processed after the Easter College closure (13 - 18 April 2017 inclusive). We appreciate your patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused by the delay in processing your result."

Well they never seem to be able to send out all the offers before the deadline every year...

Hey, do you think textiles and fashion give notice of rejection and offers at the same time? i have applied for fashion and still waiting a reply- im assuming its a rejection since i havent heard.

my only confusion is that those who got into fashion (have they heard then?)

thanks

Hi, I applied for the same programme and the same pathway.
I only heard one person who got an offer, but I have not heard back yet. I assume they are late because Animation department began their interviews on March, which I think is almost the last programme of all ( I haven't heard any other program later than March ), maybe that's why their process is slower than other program. I didn't receive any e-mail inform me they'll delay neither, but I heard some programmes do send delay notice to the candidates...

The person who had received the offer letter was on 12th April, so I guess they'll send out the results soon, maybe just after the holiday.. and it's only 2 days left! just have to be more patience cause it's UK...

I've been watching this thread for a while, but just joined TSR to post an update on my experience. I applied to the RCA for Animation (new Narrative Pathway) in January before the priority deadline. I had a Skype interview on 14 March (I'm applying from the US), and have not heard anything since then. I think my portfolio is really strong and I had a great letter of recommendation from someone well-known in the field, but the interview was not stellar - it wasn't terrible but I think I could have done a lot better - so I am assuming that since I did not hear by the 12 April, when RCA website said all results would be sent, that I did not get in. However, I really want to know for sure, so on Thursday I emailed the department administrator, and received an auto-response that the college is closed for Easter holidays and she will be back in the office next Wednesday. Really annoying! If they have set a date then they should stick to it, and if they are running behind they should send out a notice saying that, instead of leaving us in limbo for an extra week!

Has anyone got an acceptance OR a rejection for Animation? I only see a few people here that have applied and it seems like we're all still waiting, unless I missed something?

There's a Narrative Pathway for Animation? I did not see that in the application form. I hope we'll hear from them soon. Have you applied to any other programmes for Animation?


I'm applying for MA in Animation as well. Where are you from in the US?

The Narrative pathway is new - I had selected Experimental Animation when I applied, but when I was contacted for an interview they told me they've added this new track starting this year, and I would have to let them know in the interview which one I wanted. Basically, Narrative is still experimental, but more focused on storytelling, whereas the Experimental pathway will lean more towards 'expanded cinema' type of work, abstract animation etc. But there is still a lot of crossover and you're not limited in your work whichever one you choose.

I live in Chicago. I grew up in South Africa, but have been living in the US for the past 9 years.

I know some people who already got an offer for fashion, and also some people who haven't got any notification from textiles(mixed media). So I think different pathways have different schedules as well.

cool thanks for telling- do you know if a lot of people applied for fashion this year? i mean considering it says its the highest volume of applicants this year- then i wonder if you have any statistics?

and also your friends that got offers- did they find out soon after their interview? (if so i think im out then lol)

Hey!
I've been looking at this forum for a while but haven't contributed much but I've definitely gotten helpful information from others so I'd love to do the same for future or current applicants. I applied to the design products program by the priority deadline. I had my interview mid february and didn't hear a peep until April 12 5:52pm London time. I'm an international student and 2 days ago received the actual physical letter. I don't have an art or art related degree and applied right out of college. If anyone is in a similar situation I hope they don't get discouraged to apply! (Also shoot me a message if you want to chat more about this).

I also thought I dropped the bomb in my interview. I was interviewed over skype (~30 min) by the head of the program and a current first year student from the program. The questions were mostly general and some were specific, "Tell me about some work you've done", "What do you want to do in graduate school". "What if the projects you work on aren't related to the field you want to design for?", "What does it mean to design with new materials?". "Would you be willing to improve on XYZ skill to catch up if you were admitted?". I was incredibly nervous (at one point he stopped me talking so quickly because I was so nervous) but I felt that my answers were satisfactory. One tip I have is to research the program really well, even the small details. I was critical of the fact that there were almost no female instructors and questioned why that was. I also asked the current student a question about his studies.

In terms of my application, I didn't know we had to write an artist statement until 20 minutes before it was due. Mine was incredibly short and not specific. It was something to the effect of "I've worked in XYZ mediums and I hope something here interests you". I also had almost no written explanations for any of my work. However I spent a good deal of time on the letter of intent. Also my reference never submitted something to the school. So this is all to say getting in for my was quite the long shot. I also intended on applying again if I didn't get in this year. Hope this helps!

New update: After I didn't hear back from the Animation department after the College reopened after Easter break, I emailed Admissions querying the status of my application, and got no response. Despite being 99.9% sure that I had been rejected from the programme, especially after seeing the recent posts on this thread saying that some Animation applicants did receive offers on 12 April, I emailed the Animation administrator again yesterday, saying I need to make some major life decisions, and have had to put my plans on hold until I find out whether I have a place at the RCA or not. This morning she emailed me back apologizing that I had not received a response yet, and said that she would have the Registry office contact me ASAP. She also mentioned that there have been several power outages that have affected work across the campus. Many hours later (10pm in London - they must be working overtime), I got an email from the Registry office saying they sincerely apologize for the delay and..... I GOT IN!!!! They wrote that the delay was due to the fact that the new Narrative Pathway is not yet validated, but it will be in a few weeks time. I'm not sure if that, or the power outages really have anything to do with me having to wait 2 weeks for a response, but I'm just so glad the waiting game is over. It was excruciating.

They emailed a PDF of the official offer letter, and all the forms I have to fill out, and said they put the original physical copy in the mail today. Now to figure out all the details of moving to London!