Any information on the Hertfordshire interview?

Hey, I didn't interview for Hertfordshire but I did interview for Game Art at competitive arts universities. (I interviewed in person at De Montfort, Falmouth and UCA Farnham in 2019/early 2020)
The main thing here is that critique =/= insults. I would generally expect some degree of critique at portfolio review - although it's usually more common and a little more harsh once you're actually on the course - it's a skill to learn to take it as a reflection of your work and not yourself. As artists we put so much of ourselves in our work it can be easy to take critique personally, but with practice it will get easier. They are, to some extent, assessing your ability to take criticism as well as giving you feedback. Learning to identify where your work can improve so you can anticipate some of the critique you will hear certainly helps.
At this stage, i'd be surprised if the critique you receive is significantly more than "It would be good to see more of X type of work" - "You will need to practice X more before the course" - "This area could use more developed tone/shadow/depth". Although yes to some extent this varies from university to university it also really depends on the lecturers as individuals.
Critique will become more in depth and probably feel more personal once you place on a course and see those lecturers weekly and receive critique from them regularly. I definitely got upset after critique sessions at uni on occasion although I think it really improved my ability to take feedback and these days I am much better at it - it helps with other areas of your life too.

Thats great, I can tolerate criticism (my current games lecturer at college can be blunt lol) I just heard some stories of it being borderline unprofessional with the level of criticism they give sometimes. I appreciate the benefit of feedback and received some with my other interviews so this seems far more realistic, thank you

Okay, so I got an interview in the game art course, which is great because I know how hard the portfolio acceptance stage is. The interview itself has enough information out there for me to prepare for so I'm not too worried about that, but I have heard they used more, critical, methods in the past, I appreciate it's an interview tactic to be harsh but I need to know if I'm preparing for an interview or a barrage of insults on my work. I only learnt 3d over the recent year and my 2d only got better recently to hit the portfolio requirements so I don't doubt there's places for criticism. Thank you in advance

I've been running the interviews at Hertfordshire for the last eleven years and that's certainly not something I've seen our lecturers do! We will critique your portfolio because no applicant has a perfect portfolio and we like to give advice on what to improve (it may help you with your applications elsewhere) and also to make you realise that if you come here the lecturers will tell you what you need to fix in your art to make it better (whether you like what they say or not). We want to turn our students into the best graduates in the country / world, and we can only do that if we tell you what to improve. My opinion is that no student deliberately creates poor work; they only do so because they do not realise the work is poor - so they have to be told and then learn from that experience and become a stronger artist. If an applicant is so good they don't need criticism then they should just get a job in the industry; there is no point in getting a degree! (I've never met an applicant that good in over 20 years of teaching, but maybe one day I will )
Many students have only ever had super happy mega positive feedback from their school or college which is pointless and find it a surprise when all the areas of the work that need improving are pointed out to them. This is never done in a nasty way; we want everyone to get better and we always use constructive criticism - that means we tell you what is wrong with your artwork BUT we explain what you need to do to improve it. It is then up to the student to decide if they want to get better or if they are happy being lazy. You can guess which students get hired at the end of the degree.
When I was a student (thousands of years ago) the lecturers used a technique called destructive criticism or macho crit; in which they were as rude as possible without offering any explanation of how to improve the artwork. I hated that experience (having been on the receiving end of it) and so have maintained that we should not be like that ever.
It's possible the stories you've hear are from applicants who have never had anything in their artwork pointed out to them as being in need of improvement, and so the slightest criticism seems like an attack on them. Any student that wants to be employable at the end of a degree needs to be comfortable with not only taking on criticism and actually acting on it, abut also actively asking for more of it - all the best students do this. In the industry you will have daily criticism sessions in which the supervisor / art director / team lead will show you work in front of your team and tell you what to fix. Even if everyhing you do is perfect there will be client notes asking for things to be changed because the client has had a 'great idea' and wants alterations. Every single game and animation and TV show I've worked on has required changes; even when it was incredible looking. You have to get used to being told to fix/improve/change all the time. If you don't want that, then avoid working in a commercial environment... but you can only do that if you don't need to earn money in future.

No problem - one thing that might help you with the games interview at Hertfordshire - whoever interviews you is likely to ask you about your favourite game developers and which ones you want to work at when you graduate - so make sure you know some UK developers; don't say Nintendo in Japan or Epic Games in the USA because unless you happen to have a passport for either of those countries, those won't be your first jobs outside university! (after a few years' experience they could be; we have graduates in both companies). I don't know what your portfolio looks like, but it would be a good idea (if it doesn't currently) to show some examples of your 2D designs - perspective drawings of environments, character deisgns, life drawings etc - if you are stronger on the 3D side you don't need to be amazing at 2D, but we need to know whether you understand which end of a pencil connects to the paper (secret pro tip: it's the pointy end with the dark bit - don't worry, you can thank me later!). And conversely if you're coming from a more traditional drawing route make sure you show us some 3D models in the portfolio. I look forward to meeting you soon!