MA Publishing: UCL or UAL????

I currently have offers to study a masters in Publishing from both UCL and UAL. I know UCL is a better-known university, but which course is better? I would really appreciate any feedback :smile:

Reply 1

jemfr1

7

UCL is known to have an excellent publishing course, so myself I would be tempted by that. But obviously it depends on what kind of publishing you want to go into. My mum's friend studied art at uni and went on to work at CUP so obviously you can get in with a more artistic degree, and this may give you an advantage if you want to work with book covers or maybe children's picture books as you can blag the visual literacy side!

Would say if you want a more creative job then UAL may be better, but for more traditional and possibly easier access to jobs (not necessarily though) UCL could work.\

I would advise just thinking about what job you want before deciding and take into account what undergrad you did (if you did art maybe go to UCL, whereas if you did history go to UAL as this shows you can do both)!

Congrats on the offers though thats amazing!

Reply 2

Converse&Roses

OP

13

Original post by jemfr1

UCL is known to have an excellent publishing course, so myself I would be tempted by that. But obviously it depends on what kind of publishing you want to go into. My mum's friend studied art at uni and went on to work at CUP so obviously you can get in with a more artistic degree, and this may give you an advantage if you want to work with book covers or maybe children's picture books as you can blag the visual literacy side!

Would say if you want a more creative job then UAL may be better, but for more traditional and possibly easier access to jobs (not necessarily though) UCL could work.\

I would advise just thinking about what job you want before deciding and take into account what undergrad you did (if you did art maybe go to UCL, whereas if you did history go to UAL as this shows you can do both)!

Congrats on the offers though thats amazing!

Thank you! I did my undergrad in English and Linguistics.

At the moment I'm leaning more towards UAL because they have a final year project while UCL just has a dissertation, and also because I've heard that the UAL course is more practical. I am more interested in working in editing though, so maybe UCL could be a better option for that...

Reply 3

University of the Arts London

Official Rep

11

Original post by Converse&Roses

I currently have offers to study a masters in Publishing from both UCL and UAL. I know UCL is a better-known university, but which course is better? I would really appreciate any feedback :smile:

Hey @Converse&Roses
Congrats on your MA Publishing offers, that's fab news!
I can only speak for UAL, however I can highlight some key points that stand out for me regarding this course. Particularly aspects that make it different from other unis. Hopefully this helps with your research:

- As UAL is an arts university, naturally this course includes a lot of hands on creative work both with print and digital methods. This includes collaborating with other creatives on projects and understanding production as well as the business side of publishing.

- The course is packed with live projects with industry, recent collaborations include Penguin Random House and the Royal Academy of Arts. Many publishing courses have exercises based on real projects but they don't actually collaborate directly with industry - it's good to keep this in mind if you're looking for experience in the industry.

- There is an opportunity to work on global projects in another country at the International Residential Summer School (great networking opportunity outside of UK).

- There is quite an emphasis on entrepreneurship in MA Publishing at UAL. Encouraging students to produce work based on their interests and choose industrial and networking experiences that compliment these interests within the context of publishing.

If you want to have a look at the facilities in London College of Communication, where the course takes place, you might want to check out our virtual tours: https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-college-of-communication/student-life-at-lcc/facilities/virtual-tour

Hopefully this helps in some way :smile:

Good luck with your studies in whatever you choose to pursue!

Olivia
Student Recruitment Officer

Reply 4

nochugif

Hi! Congrats on your offers! Can I ask when you applied/had an interview and received your offer for UCL? :smile:

I applied for the same course and publishing isn't talked about much on here so it would be really helpful!

Reply 5

Converse&Roses

OP

13

Original post by nochugif

Hi! Congrats on your offers! Can I ask when you applied/had an interview and received your offer for UCL? :smile:

I applied for the same course and publishing isn't talked about much on here so it would be really helpful!

I had my interview on April 28th and got my offer on May 11th. Hope that helps!

Reply 6

gec04

1

Hey, I've got an interview for Publishing at UCL this week and was wondering if you could remember any questions that were asked? Thanks

Reply 7

Lily58966

3

Original post by Converse&Roses

Thank you! I did my undergrad in English and Linguistics.

At the moment I'm leaning more towards UAL because they have a final year project while UCL just has a dissertation, and also because I've heard that the UAL course is more practical. I am more interested in working in editing though, so maybe UCL could be a better option for that...