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Architecture University Choices 2014

Hello,

I'm looking for some advice, recommendations or opinions on universities for architecture with regards to my chances of getting an offer. I am current targeted at A*A*A (Maths, Art and Economics) and I've been trying to decide which 5 unis for UCAS. I'm thinking of Bath, UCL, Edinburgh, Newcastle and perhaps sheffield. I'm also thinking of applying to the AA. I've also heard things about Glasgow school of art but they don't' seem to do too well on the rankings.

It'd be great if you could contribute any knowledge or personal experiences you've had with these universities (or others) and their personalities. I've heard that UCL is very artsy and conceptual which I've always liked but I do wonder if it's too much and if you actually learn enough technical skills to get you by.

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Don't worry about the art/tech balance. You learn very little technical skills in any uni at undergrad, UCL undergrads are always highly employable. For AA think about cashflow, it's more expensive and I'm not certain if you get the government loan.

I'd highly recommend you go visit the cities and campuses, you've picked all the top unis so there's not much to say between them, but as you probably already know Bath as a city has a completely different feel than Newcastle - keep that in mind when picking the university experience for you.
Reply 2
I also want to apply for Architecture!!! but my grades won't be A*A*A like yours... so I can't apply to Bath...

but


I went to Sheffield's open day last weekend. So I'll give you some info on that:
Their art tower is a 20 story building with amazing views of the city which is of course very inspiring for an architecture student. I was very impressed by that. They want AAA which is deffo achievable by someone who's predicted A*A*A. The town was quite small but vibrant enough for young students. Their course is very focused on designing and drawing rather than just using CAD. They also offer a combined degree of both Architecture and Landscape which still gives you your RIBA part 1.

I also went to the Kent open day today, and their building only has two floors, but great studios with very high tech facilities.



Also, Bath is more mathsy than the rest of the universities, because they usually give you a BA (Hons) degree for Architecture, whereas Bath's Architecture degree is a BSc (Hons) degree which means they are more physics based.
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 3
Original post by TheMoho
I also want to apply for Architecture!!! but my grades won't be A*A*A like yours... so I can't apply to Bath...

but


I went to Sheffield's open day last weekend. So I'll give you some info on that:
Their art tower is a 20 story building with amazing views of the city which is of course very inspiring for an architecture student. I was very impressed by that. They want AAA which is deffo achievable by someone who's predicted A*A*A. The town was quite small but vibrant enough for young students. Their course is very focused on designing and drawing rather than just using CAD. They also offer a combined degree of both Architecture and Landscape which still gives you your RIBA part 1.

I also went to the Kent open day today, and their building only has two floors, but great studios with very high tech facilities.



Also, Bath is more mathsy than the rest of the universities, because they usually give you a BA (Hons) degree for Architecture, whereas Bath's Architecture degree is a BSc (Hons) degree which means they are more physics based.



Thanks for sharing your experiences :smile: I've been to Sheffield once years before but I think they were under renovations or something because I wasn't too impressed and I didn't get to see the Art Tower. All i remember about it was walking a lot, ahaha. The art tower sounds fantastic.
Reply 4
Original post by GormlessWonder
Don't worry about the art/tech balance. You learn very little technical skills in any uni at undergrad, UCL undergrads are always highly employable. For AA think about cashflow, it's more expensive and I'm not certain if you get the government loan.

I'd highly recommend you go visit the cities and campuses, you've picked all the top unis so there's not much to say between them, but as you probably already know Bath as a city has a completely different feel than Newcastle - keep that in mind when picking the university experience for you.


Thanks for the advice! :biggrin: I'm an international applicant so I won't be able to visit them this year :frown: I have been to all of those cities except for Edinburgh though. Would there be much time to even experience much of university life and fun? I've heard that architecture is really demanding and apparently, there's no 'free time'.
Reply 5
Original post by TheMoho
I also want to apply for Architecture!!! but my grades won't be A*A*A like yours... so I can't apply to Bath...

but


I went to Sheffield's open day last weekend. So I'll give you some info on that:
Their art tower is a 20 story building with amazing views of the city which is of course very inspiring for an architecture student. I was very impressed by that. They want AAA which is deffo achievable by someone who's predicted A*A*A. The town was quite small but vibrant enough for young students. Their course is very focused on designing and drawing rather than just using CAD. They also offer a combined degree of both Architecture and Landscape which still gives you your RIBA part 1.

I also went to the Kent open day today, and their building only has two floors, but great studios with very high tech facilities.



Also, Bath is more mathsy than the rest of the universities, because they usually give you a BA (Hons) degree for Architecture, whereas Bath's Architecture degree is a BSc (Hons) degree which means they are more physics based.


Hi, I'm also applying for architecture. Can you give more information about Kent's open day? How was the campus and the students?
Reply 6
Original post by archcct09
Hi, I'm also applying for architecture. Can you give more information about Kent's open day? How was the campus and the students?


Hi! The Canterbury campus was located around a lovely green area, and was a 15 minute walk from the Canterbury West station with a clear cycle and footpath as well as signs pointing to the university.

When I arrived on campus, everything was there. It's one of those campuses where every facility is in one place. There was a bank, some sports halls, some gyms, lots of different buildings for different departments, a lake, and some cafes etc. I didn't talk to that many students but the ones I did talk to were very friendly and nice. The architecture department has a couple of lecture theatres, spacious studios and a newly built 'crit space' building with a unique outer facade and some cool high tech facilities inside.

I didn't visit the actual Canterbury city centre but my friend who did says it's pretty good and has most of the shops you'd find in London, but smaller.

Overall I was impressed, but then again, I am easily impressed by anything lol
Original post by zw23
Thanks for the advice! :biggrin: I'm an international applicant so I won't be able to visit them this year :frown: I have been to all of those cities except for Edinburgh though. Would there be much time to even experience much of university life and fun? I've heard that architecture is really demanding and apparently, there's no 'free time'.

There is certainly some free time, the nature of the course means you'll have a lot of very difficult weeks near final deadlines, but don't be like most architecture students who like to moan and sit inside on facebook. In first term go out loads.
Reply 8
Original post by TheMoho
Hi! The Canterbury campus was located around a lovely green area, and was a 15 minute walk from the Canterbury West station with a clear cycle and footpath as well as signs pointing to the university.

When I arrived on campus, everything was there. It's one of those campuses where every facility is in one place. There was a bank, some sports halls, some gyms, lots of different buildings for different departments, a lake, and some cafes etc. I didn't talk to that many students but the ones I did talk to were very friendly and nice. The architecture department has a couple of lecture theatres, spacious studios and a newly built 'crit space' building with a unique outer facade and some cool high tech facilities inside.

I didn't visit the actual Canterbury city centre but my friend who did says it's pretty good and has most of the shops you'd find in London, but smaller.

Overall I was impressed, but then again, I am easily impressed by anything lol


Thank you! I'm so confused right now because I got ABD for my AS my grades. They were Art, maths and physics (which I got the D for). Now I'm totally confused if I'll do architecture or interior architecture. (I'm mostly interested in interior but overall I see architecture as a broad way to imply good designs) Because a lot of universities require at an average AAA-AAB for archi & lower ones like ABB for interior. I also got C in my GCSE english which takens me aback to apply to some unis. My predicted grades would be A* for arts, A or B in Maths and maybe a C-D if it comes to worst in Physics.

I tried to get an extra AS Media because UCL requires them. But when I went in the information days, i don't feel like studying there anymore because of their almost 90% art based course. And I see that what they are trying to do is to get experimental as much as possible in architecture. It would be nice to have 60-40 in art and science based... and 80% of the structure are studio based. I know they're supposed to be shaping us for the future but it's also nice to feel like you're learning something new from a teacher not just from yourself/classmates.

After talking to a lot of people, i'm definitely not applying to UCL. I'll drop my media and focus on pulling my Physics to B (or A if theres a miracle =))) . Is there anyone who have the same problem as me? How about you?

Is there anyone applying for architecture and will not apply to the universities in the top of the league table? What are your uni choices?
(edited 10 years ago)
Reply 9
Original post by archcct09
Thank you! I'm so confused right now because I got ABD for my AS my grades. They were Art, maths and physics (which I got the D for). Now I'm totally confused if I'll do architecture or interior architecture. (I'm mostly interested in interior but overall I see architecture as a broad way to imply good designs) Because a lot of universities require at an average AAA-AAB for archi & lower ones like ABB for interior. I also got C in my GCSE english which takens me aback to apply to some unis. My predicted grades would be A* for arts, A or B in Maths and maybe a C-D if it comes to worst in Physics.

I tried to get an extra AS Media because UCL requires them. But when I went in the information days, i don't feel like studying there anymore because of their almost 90% art based course. And I see that what they are trying to do is to get experimental as much as possible in architecture. It would be nice to have 60-40 in art and science based... and 80% of the structure are studio based. I know they're supposed to be shaping us for the future but it's also nice to feel like you're learning something new from a teacher not just from yourself/classmates.

After talking to a lot of people, i'm definitely not applying to UCL. I'll drop my media and focus on pulling my Physics to B (or A if theres a miracle =))) . Is there anyone who have the same problem as me? How about you?

Is there anyone applying for architecture and will not apply to the universities in the top of the league table? What are your uni choices?



For my AS Levels I got very similar results to yours: AADE in Art, Graphics, Physics and Maths. And I had to drop Maths because of the E. But yeah I really am trying to make my physics into a B like you.
UCL is going to be my top choice even though there's a chance I might not get a prediction of AAB.. I still really really want to give it a try and see what will happen. Now it's interesting you say that UCL is 90% art based, because their archi degree is a Bsc rather than a BA honours which led to me thinking it would be more science based than the other unis. But tbh because I did so badly in Maths I'd much rather it be more arty and than mathsy so thank you for informing me about that....

If you want to see how much of each course from each uni is taught in lectures or how much is assessed with coursework/exams, then have a look on the unistats website where it breaks it down for each uni offering architecture. I found it very informative.

My uni choices overall are:
UCL
Kent
Oxford Brookes
UAL
and maybe London Met for my 5th choice but I'm still not sure about that...

Also, I think it's good to just do Architecture for now, because you'll probably be able to go into an Interior Architecture course for your Masters degree if you didn't enjoy it.

And I think it'll be best if we just apply to architecture for now, and if we don't get in, then we can apply to do interior architecture through clearing... right?

There is always a Plan B and a Plan C
Original post by archcct09

Is there anyone applying for architecture and will not apply to the universities in the top of the league table? What are your uni choices?


Hi there,
I'm thinking of applying for archi too and I can't apply to top like Cambridge since I don't have the typical A*AA they require.
So far my choices are UCL, Edinburgh, Cardiff , Leeds and UAL.


Original post by TheMoho


My uni choices overall are:
UCL
Kent
Oxford Brookes
UAL
and maybe London Met for my 5th choice but I'm still not sure about that...

Also, I think it's good to just do Architecture for now, because you'll probably be able to go into an Interior Architecture course for your Masters degree if you didn't enjoy it.

And I think it'll be best if we just apply to architecture for now, and if we don't get in, then we can apply to do interior architecture through clearing... right?

There is always a Plan B and a Plan C


What do you think of the UAL course since its not highly ranked on the league tables? I'm thinking of applying there

Oh can we apply to Interior arch though clearing? How does your architecture personal statement work then?




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Hi,

I've just finished my a-levels and I'm taking a gap year. I currently have ABB (A in economics, B in maths and geography), plus A's in AS World Development and AS biology. I am hoping to retake one maths module and get an A as I'm only a few marks off.

I would like to apply for architecture, but I don't have any work experience in the subject.. how much does everyone think I should have and what sort of things have you done?

I know that my a-levels aren't the ideal subjects, but has anyone else been in this position or could give me some advice on where I could apply or get work experience. Any would be much appreciated! :smile:

Georgia
Reply 12
What do you think of the UAL course since its not highly ranked on the league tables? I'm thinking of applying there

Oh can we apply to Interior arch though clearing? How does your architecture personal statement work then?




I've been to their Chelsea College building and I was impressed with their MA Spatial Design and Fine Art stuff. And I have teachers who studied/know people who studied in Central St Martins and they were quite positive about it overall, since it's a well known uni where well-known designers like Vivienne Westwood or Alexander McQueen studied.
They may not be high on the rankings because perhaps they live on their name rather than amazing teaching or something, but yeah my main reason for applying to UAL is because of the fact that they are in London, and London is the capital. Also their requirements are ABB which is quite nice.
Overall, UAL may not have the highest rankings but they are still better than the other London universities on the archi league table...

Oh, and about the clearing thing... I hadn't thought of personal statements at all :s-smilie: I will need to ask my teacher about clearing
Reply 13
Original post by georgiadeane
Hi,

I've just finished my a-levels and I'm taking a gap year. I currently have ABB (A in economics, B in maths and geography), plus A's in AS World Development and AS biology. I am hoping to retake one maths module and get an A as I'm only a few marks off.

I would like to apply for architecture, but I don't have any work experience in the subject.. how much does everyone think I should have and what sort of things have you done?

I know that my a-levels aren't the ideal subjects, but has anyone else been in this position or could give me some advice on where I could apply or get work experience. Any would be much appreciated! :smile:

Georgia


I think for someone who doesn't have Art, they will definitely ask you for a portfolio. So maybe you could work on making a portfolio..
Original post by TheMoho
I think for someone who doesn't have Art, they will definitely ask you for a portfolio. So maybe you could work on making a portfolio..


What sort of things will they expect in a portfolio, what do you do for it?


Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by georgiadeane
What sort of things will they expect in a portfolio, what do you do for it?


Posted from TSR Mobile


Use this as a guide :smile:

http://www.shef.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.93083!/file/portfolio_guidance_K100_KK13.pdf
Original post by TheMoho
For my AS Levels I got very similar results to yours: AADE in Art, Graphics, Physics and Maths. And I had to drop Maths because of the E. But yeah I really am trying to make my physics into a B like you.
UCL is going to be my top choice even though there's a chance I might not get a prediction of AAB.. I still really really want to give it a try and see what will happen. Now it's interesting you say that UCL is 90% art based, because their archi degree is a Bsc rather than a BA honours which led to me thinking it would be more science based than the other unis. But tbh because I did so badly in Maths I'd much rather it be more arty and than mathsy so thank you for informing me about that....

If you want to see how much of each course from each uni is taught in lectures or how much is assessed with coursework/exams, then have a look on the unistats website where it breaks it down for each uni offering architecture. I found it very informative.

My uni choices overall are:
UCL
Kent
Oxford Brookes
UAL
and maybe London Met for my 5th choice but I'm still not sure about that...

Also, I think it's good to just do Architecture for now, because you'll probably be able to go into an Interior Architecture course for your Masters degree if you didn't enjoy it.

And I think it'll be best if we just apply to architecture for now, and if we don't get in, then we can apply to do interior architecture through clearing... right?

There is always a Plan B and a Plan C


I kinda got the same results aswell - but because of maths and physics my art & product design grades suffered badly :/

BBDE in Art, DT, Physics and Maths respectively, with predicted AAC..

I'm also thinking of Kent, alongside Huddersfield [love it!], Queen's Belfast, Newcastle, GSA and maybe Northumbria -

I have a few questions/topics that could be raised and I appreciate it if someone would shed some light on their thoughts

1. Newcastle is on my list, and K100 is AAA.. I emailed them and they have said that due to my predicted C I'll definitely be disadvantaged - so I found that they have a new K190 course this year, and after 1st year you go into either K100 or Urban Planning, providing that you meet the requiements - has anyone else heard about this/know more than I do? I couldn't make it to the open days and can't go this Saturday either :/

2. Kent is pretty good in the league tables for the entry requirements, but everyone I've asked [architects, teachers, connexions advisers, some people on TSR - on the other Architecture 2014 thread etc. ] haven't a clue about this course - what do you guys think? I'm definitely intrigued by the grants they have!

3. In your opinion, is it better to have a better known uni/city to study in? Careers in Architecture definitely requires, I guess, a good University name.. I'm planning on doing at least Masters so I'll probably go to a different uni for part 2 if I choose a small city/uni for P1. - I'm looking at you, Huddersfield
so.. do you think that it's important?

4. Has anyone started on their portfolio yet? Are you going to include AS artwork? [if you did AS art]
Reply 17
Original post by georgiadeane
What sort of things will they expect in a portfolio, what do you do for it?


Posted from TSR Mobile



I can't say exactly, but they generally look for ability to draw free-hand sketches skillfully, works that show your creativity, works that demonstrate your thoughts and style, maybe some 3 dimensional pieces which show your ability to see shapes in 3 dimensions. But usually they don't just want cliche drawings of buildings, they want more than that. They want to see your personality and artistic ability shine through.

I may also suggest that you have a look at different uni websites and on their archi entry requirement pages, they usually briefly mention what they want out of your portfolio and if you contact them they can probably give you more info. So definitely have a look at university websites.
Original post by TheMoho
I've been to their Chelsea College building and I was impressed with their MA Spatial Design and Fine Art stuff. And I have teachers who studied/know people who studied in Central St Martins and they were quite positive about it overall, since it's a well known uni where well-known designers like Vivienne Westwood or Alexander McQueen studied.
They may not be high on the rankings because perhaps they live on their name rather than amazing teaching or something, but yeah my main reason for applying to UAL is because of the fact that they are in London, and London is the capital. Also their requirements are ABB which is quite nice.
Overall, UAL may not have the highest rankings but they are still better than the other London universities on the archi league table...

Oh, and about the clearing thing... I hadn't thought of personal statements at all :s-smilie: I will need to ask my teacher about clearing


Yeah exactly why I am applying there too; well I haven't been able to visit any of its building or London itself since I'm am international student but CSM has always been my dream school.
I'm applying to UCL as well though.

now I really have to work a lot to present a decent portfolio to CSM since the work I already have is not much of a good level. Have you started compiling your portfolio yet ?

oh okay, if ever you have more information about clearing would you mind sharing? thankyou :smile:


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Reply 19
Original post by gherkinsnolives
Yeah exactly why I am applying there too; well I haven't been able to visit any of its building or London itself since I'm am international student but CSM has always been my dream school.
I'm applying to UCL as well though.

now I really have to work a lot to present a decent portfolio to CSM since the work I already have is not much of a good level. Have you started compiling your portfolio yet ?

oh okay, if ever you have more information about clearing would you mind sharing? thankyou :smile:


Posted from TSR Mobile


I haven't started compiling my portfolio yet, but my Art teacher is going to help me through it and she's the one who's gonna tell us when to do it so I'm putting all my trust in her :P

And yes sure okay I will try and gather some info :smile:

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