The Student Room Group

Costume design BA - Wimbledon or AUB

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 10 months ago)
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 preservation 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 10 months ago)

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