Fashion Media at Solent

Hi Cala,

Firstly, thanks for your application, I hope you get a good offer!

Now, I've got in touch with a couple of current students to get an insight into the course. (I studied Marketing so my experience wouldn't have been as relevant.)

I must warn you one of the responses is a tad long, but very insightful and it's full of useful stuff... I sent Erin (first year Fashion Media) a couple of questions about the course and this was her response:

What do you like about the course? My favourite part of the course is definitely the designing elements. I’m a very creative person so this is my strong point. Also, working as a part of a team is great. This course was very different from others I'd researched as you learn almost on the job. Our 'platform' is Carbon, a magazine directed at young creatives. We established the concept, decided how we wanted it to look and got straight to work. We all have dedicated professional roles within the magazine, for example I was the features editor, so I had control of what features were going to be in the magazine. This is something I’d never done before and was a bit daunting but the team are extremely supportive and helped us all through the process. If I was set the challenge again I’d be so much more confident in what to do and can now share my experience with the feature's editor of the next issue. Another plus is that we have to contact and interview everyone ourself. This, again, can be scary but each time it gets a bit easier and is amazing to meet some fascinating people and share their stories. We also had to contact people to interview for the magazine, I managed to get into contact with a major YouTube sensation who granted me an interview which was so great. Which units are particularly good and why? Fashion Editorial has been my favourite so far (this is the unit in which we plan and create the content for various platforms) but all units in the first year feed in to the same outcome but giving you different skills of roles from across the fashion media industry. I am excited to start Fashion PR, Branding and Marketing next week as I haven’t ever studied anything like that before, but I am interested in that area of the industry as a potential career path after uni. What's great is you get to sample all areas in your first year and then start to specialise and refine your professional skills as you move through the three years. What do you not like about the course? It is not that I don't like it but there is a lot of writing from day one. For example we write most of the features and have a few essay based tasks. I’m not very confident with my writing skills but our course leader is a journalist and magazine editor and is really hands on in helping us to improve and other lecturers and guest speakers from industry are really there to help out and build your confidence with each task. I’m definitely becoming more confident in my writing and each week is very different which is brilliant as it isn't what I thought university would be like. But it isn't all writing, we've done photoshoots, filming, social media campaigns and page design - all in the first semester. What do you like/not like about the city? I absolutely love the city, the shops are amazing which is a must for a fashion student. I was also pleasantly surprised with the nightlife. Southampton has everything from your classic club night to drum and bass, jungle, house and techno - there really is something for everyone. and the people are really friendly Any other relevant information: Before you come to Uni be prepared. Start a blog about anything you love to write about (doesn’t have to be fashion related) and start writing a post regularly. Our course leader says to post a 200 word post ever yday but I do struggle with this but can see how writing more frequently has benefitted me and helped improve my confidence. Prior to starting the degree I would post maybe once in a while but if you are thinking of joining us I would definitely post at least twice a week to get you ahead of the game. Becoming familiar with existing and up and coming social media platforms would also help you in the first year. We are not just producing a magazine here but digital, video and photographic content and you don't have to have experience in these areas but knowledge and ideas of what works would help you stand out. Overall, I love the uni and the degree and am so glad I picked Solent.

I also asked Olivia and she said:
I like how it's different everyday. I feel like we are treated like professionals and our ideas count. The course leader and tutors are so friendly and have your best interests at heart always, lots of opportunities, learning something new every day. I'm so glad this was the course I opted for. I was undecided until the last few weeks but it has been the best start to university. A particular good unit is creating the magazine Carbon as we all get to work as a fashion media team, creating fresh new ideas and learning about each other's strengths along the way. we get to use all the industry software and it's not boring tech classes but live workshops designing content for real people which makes it much more exciting. So far there's nothing I really dislike on the course! Maybe the early mornings but on the whole I have had a brilliant time and am really proud of what we have achieved as a team in such a short space of time. I love the city, love the people and the nightlife. The clothes shops are so good too which is ideal as I love looking around and buying clothes. I dislike the rumours about that the city is unsafe as this really isn't true. I've made some fantastic friends and am excited about the next semester.

I hope this has been helpful and please let me know if you'd like anymore info.

Thanks,