Costume design BA - AUB or Wimbledon?

I am trying to get views on the relative merits of AUB and UAL Wimbledon. My oldest child has offers for the costume BA at both. They are currently living abroad, and managed to make it home for the AUB offer holder day, but are unable to attend the Wimbledon one.
The really liked AUB, but believe that Wimbledon is more respected in industry (this might not be accurate).
We think AUB might give more full student life (lots more clubs and societies on doorstep, halls of residence close by, cheaper, beach etc) but Wimbledon has proximity to London (though not much seems to go on around the college itself outside the courses).
UAL doesn't tend to get great student satisfaction results, but we are aware that there is a wide variety of colleges under that umbrella, some with a bad reputation, others not.
Both courses now offer a year in industry, which is a positive for us.
It would be great to hear from current or former students of AUB or Wimbledon about:
How good student support is? My child has autism and ADHD, and while fine most of the time, can find loud environments overwhelming.
How rich is the student life?
How expensive is it to live there (in halls or in rented accommodation in later years)?
If you are studying, or have studied Costume at either Wimbledon or AUB:
How good are post course employment prospects?
How much contact time do you have, and what are teaching staff like?
How much of a fight for facilities is there? i.e. is the course overcrowded?
Any advice on environment or course would be much appreciated.

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 1

Arts University Bournemouth – Uni Rep

Official Rep

6

Original post by emsie17

I am trying to get views on the relative merits of AUB and UAL Wimbledon. My oldest child has offers for the costume BA at both. They are currently living abroad, and managed to make it home for the AUB offer holder day, but are unable to attend the Wimbledon one.
The really liked AUB, but believe that Wimbledon is more respected in industry (this might not be accurate).
We think AUB might give more full student life (lots more clubs and societies on doorstep, halls of residence close by, cheaper, beach etc) but Wimbledon has proximity to London (though not much seems to go on around the college itself outside the courses).
UAL doesn't tend to get great student satisfaction results, but we are aware that there is a wide variety of colleges under that umbrella, some with a bad reputation, others not.
Both courses now offer a year in industry, which is a positive for us.
It would be great to hear from current or former students of AUB or Wimbledon about:
How good student support is? My child has autism and ADHD, and while fine most of the time, can find loud environments overwhelming.
How rich is the student life?
How expensive is it to live there (in halls or in rented accommodation in later years)?
If you are studying, or have studied Costume at either Wimbledon or AUB:
How good are post course employment prospects?
How much contact time do you have, and what are teaching staff like?
How much of a fight for facilities is there? i.e. is the course overcrowded?
Any advice on environment or course would be much appreciated.

Hi there,

Congratulations to your eldest on their offers! Amazing to hear they were able to attend an Offer holder Day, we hope that was insightful – there’s nothing quite like seeing our campus in person!

Our Costume course is certainly well respected in the industry. In 2017 we were awarded the prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize (https://aub.ac.uk/latest/aub-awarded-queens-anniversary-prize-2017) recognising AUB as a centre of excellence for degree level education in costume design.

More recently, our alumni have worked on some of 2023s biggest films, with Sophie Canale winning the Costume Designers Guild Award for her work on Saltburn. Fellow alumni Eleanor Bull won an Acadamy Award and BAFTA for her work on Poor Things. The course also leads to careers in theatre, stage and conservation – we also offer an MA in Historical Costume with a focus on developing the skills in traditional and historical design and making that can also be explored on the Costume course.

According to the National Student Survey (https://www.discoveruni.gov.uk/course-details/10000385/BACOS/FullTime/) 85% of graduates go on to work and/or study15 months after graduation and 88% say the course has developed the knowledge and skills they think they’ll need for their future. The NSS also breaks down student satisfaction with teaching and resources, scoring between 70 and 90% for all. We’d really recommend checking out the full report as there’s probably too much to include here!

Regarding Student Support, a third of our students have disclosed disabilities, especially neurodivergence. Our disabilities team work very closely with applicants who disclose a disability, offering a significant level of 1:1 support during the pre-arrival stage. The best port of call would be to contact the Senior Disability Advisor, Leighton on [email protected].

As far as student life goes, Bournemouth is famous for it’s vibrant night life as well as emerging culture of artists, makers and independent shops. We offer student halls both on campus and in the heart of town, depending on the student’s needs/preferences. Bournemouth was also recently ranked the most affordable UK city for students by NatWest(https://www.natwest.com/life-moments/students-and-graduates/student-living-index.html#:~:text=Bournemouth%20is%20the%20most%20cost,taking%20the%20crown%20in%2022.).

Hopefully this has answered all of your queries, but if there’s anything we’ve missed or you’d like to know about let us know and we’d be happy to answer over here. Alternatively you can get in touch with one of our current students on UniBuddy – (https://aub.ac.uk/unibuddy).

Hope this all helps,

AUB ☀️

(edited 11 months ago)

Reply 2

Anonymous #1

I’ve also got offers from both and am definitely leaning towards AUB, it seems to me that they’re much more well renowned in the industry and I just liked the whole vibe of it more than Wimbledon personally. Out of interest did you attend the offer holder day yesterday? I wasn’t able to attend but would be super curious to hear about it!!

Reply 3

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

I’ve also got offers from both and am definitely leaning towards AUB, it seems to me that they’re much more well renowned in the industry and I just liked the whole vibe of it more than Wimbledon personally. Out of interest did you attend the offer holder day yesterday? I wasn’t able to attend but would be super curious to hear about it!!

Hi Anon1
Are you able to tell me what you are basing the AUB being more renowned in the industry comment, please? Wimbledon being in Hollywood Reporter's top ten costume courses would argue the other way. Though I agree with you about the vibe. Wimbledon seemed quite small. Is that what you meant?

Reply 4

Anonymous #1

Hihi, when it comes to size I actually felt the opposite! My understanding of Wimbledon was that the course can have up to 60-70 people on it whereas AUB Performance Design was more like 20-30 which I prefer as it means there’s more one on one focus, less competition for work placement opportunities, etc. I believe that they’ve also got a lot of alumni working in really good positions now! Though UAL has this huge reputation, I just felt personally that the style of the bournemouth course was better?

Reply 5

Anonymous #2

Original post by Anonymous

Hihi, when it comes to size I actually felt the opposite! My understanding of Wimbledon was that the course can have up to 60-70 people on it whereas AUB Performance Design was more like 20-30 which I prefer as it means there’s more one on one focus, less competition for work placement opportunities, etc. I believe that they’ve also got a lot of alumni working in really good positions now! Though UAL has this huge reputation, I just felt personally that the style of the bournemouth course was better?

AUB have told us that they had 37 on the course last year and expect 42 this year, and that the biggest class would be 20, but with two staff members. Wimbledon have not responded, but I have been told by current first year costume students that there were 120 on the course this year, and because of staff shortages one of their classes (corset making) had 40 students in it.

Reply 6

emsie17

OP

8

Original post by Anonymous

I’ve also got offers from both and am definitely leaning towards AUB, it seems to me that they’re much more well renowned in the industry and I just liked the whole vibe of it more than Wimbledon personally. Out of interest did you attend the offer holder day yesterday? I wasn’t able to attend but would be super curious to hear about it!!

Hi
No they weren't able to make it to the offer holder day, which is a shame. It's a tough decision to make without an in person viewing.

Costume design BA - AUB or Wimbledon?

Quick Reply

Related discussions

Articles for you