"I have worked now, and I have accumulated a lot of contacts in China. Is it too late to prepare for art study abroad?", "I will graduate now, and is it too late to start preparing again?", "I want to change my major now, is it too late?", "I don't like the theme of my collection now, but is it too late to start again?" "The interview will be held in two days. Is it too late for me to start preparing?", "I want to change my school now, is it too late?" Is it too late for art majors to meet these problems when applying for studying abroad? Today, we will discuss the situation according to the situation to see whether it is in time.
The first step has not been taken, and it is too late to think
If you have not started art study, you are already thinking about the problem that it is too late, then you will never be "too late". I know many classmates will say that my age is already there. It's really too late. However, when we really understand the overseas art schools, we will find that there are many "uncles" and even "grandfathers" in overseas art schools.
For example, Wei, the graduated senior of LCC, whom we interviewed this year, said that in LCC, many of his classmates are 35 and 45 years old, and this situation is not rare or unique in UAL and other schools. These students will not feel uncomfortable and unable to keep up with the course progress; On the contrary, in cooperation projects, their accumulated work experience and ability can sometimes help team members quickly see and solve problems. (Click for details: Lunyi LCC Service Design Master's Experience of Studying Abroad ）
Another example is that some students are afraid of "delaying time". What time will be delayed? If no application is made to the offer, the application process delays; If you don't go out on the way, it also wastes time; If you fail the language test, it will take more time. Especially for students who have already started to work, they are often more troubled than seniors when confronted with such problems. The focus of such students' entanglement is "I am applying now. If I fail to apply due to any circumstances, then I will lose time and work."
I understand these students very well, so I also want to remind you that once you have the idea of going abroad to study art design, you must carry out preliminary research to understand your inner choice. Is it really true that you want to study art? At the same time, learn about each art school and major before making a decision.
For students who do not have "work tangles", especially senior graduates and domestic graduate students. Yu Bochen wanted to say that it was the same as losing weight. Before he began to lose weight, he was already considering whether he would bounce back and become a muscle leg. In this way, you could never lose weight.
To take a more recent case, in 2018, we met a student Xu, who was a US based finance major. After graduation, he returned to China and worked in a state-owned enterprise for four years. During this period, he not only accumulated contacts and work experience, but also gained marriage and happy family. At the beginning, she was also worried about whether she would not be able to keep up with or "fail" the young students when she went abroad. But after she made up her mind, her family gave her high support, and she also got good results in the application, winning offers from Pratt, SVA, RIT, Massart and other colleges and universities. (Click for details: Students majoring in graphic design study in the United States, and get offers from Pratt, SVA and other universities for interdisciplinary applications ）
Since it was a zero foundation application, the software and basic ability were relatively weak in the early stage. The teacher planned basic courses, creative training and speculative courses for her to help her obtain creative thinking while improving her basic ability. During this period, she often traveled to broaden her vision and cognition, helping her to quickly find solutions and divergent thinking.
In the case of Xu, although there are indeed many difficulties to overcome, due to the accumulation of her original professional finance discipline and years of work experience, Xu also has a high ability of data research. At the same time, the rich experience and planning awareness accumulated during her work in the United States and Beijing have also brought many advantages to her application.
Not only this student got RCA in 2019 Royal College of Art Hu, a double offer student, is also the best example of "never afraid of late". After two years of graduation, I decided to go abroad to study interaction design. In the application, I got the offers of RCA Digital Direction and Service Design at the same time.
The situation of any of the above three students is different, but they all use their own cases or those of their classmates to prove that as long as you decide to study art, there is no sooner or later. But Yu Bochen should especially remind that although it is "in time", it should also be "not blind" and planned.
In addition to the above situations, there are also some situations where it is really too late to think about the problem of "being in time" before starting. These situations are mostly found among students who have already started to apply, especially in the middle and late stages of application.
It's "too late" for art majors to apply for studying abroad
Error in basic application requirements
Needless to say, the error situations include but are not limited to submission format errors, missed application submission time, incomplete submission of works, etc. Once these situations occur, it is absolutely too late. Not only is it too late, but the opportunity for the target is very slim, so we can only wait for another year.
Application accident
In case of application accidents, some application accidents can be recovered. For example, in the following case, Jun's original application major was Creative Computing, but when submitting the application, he clicked Games Design, which resulted in an incorrect application accident.
But in the case of Jun, she quickly communicated with the teacher, who immediately learned about the game design major of UAL, and found that there were many overlaps with Jun's original intention major, and the curriculum was rich and interesting, so it was suggested that Jun should not withdraw the application, and submitted a supplementary application for Creative Computing. And finally, because of this "hand skating", Jun got the UAL double offer. (Click for details: Applied for studying in interactive art, and won 7 offers from 3 majors in the United Kingdom and the United States ）
If the "application accidents" in the above cases still have room for recovery, then there is absolutely no chance to recover some application accidents. For example, I received a student the year before last, and chose to submit materials by myself when applying for the first year. As a result, there were too many schools, more than 10, and the materials were confused when submitting, many colleges and universities submitted wrong materials. In the second year's application, he chose natural light to help him complete the application in order to prevent such errors from happening again.
Application time is tight, and 0 basic/professional
If you are currently preparing your undergraduate application, but the time is very tight, the application crisis will increase greatly, but it is not totally hopeless. Compared with the application for master's degree, the undergraduate investigation has a "focus", and the school prefers the students' independent creative ability and creative thinking logic.
Therefore, it is very difficult to get promotion in a short time, but it is not impossible. At this time, you must reduce your "trial and error probability", because at this time, you need not only to make up for the gaps in basic capabilities, but also strong planning arrangements. It is not that the foundation is not important, but at this time you have no chance to spend time on improving the foundation. You can focus on the training of creativity and thinking, and make up for the shortcomings that can be remedied in a short time.
For those students who apply for undergraduate education and have no foundation, I suggest that you can choose some short-term concentrated courses or projects, which can help you make up for your shortcomings in multiple directions in a short time while completing the project.
During our interview with students this year, many students mentioned the improvement in short-term projects, including summer courses, interdisciplinary projects, short-term courses for admissions officers, and practice building projects. Comparing before and after participating in short-term courses, we not only gained professional projects that can be included in the portfolio; At the same time, because the course is conducted in a completely interdisciplinary environment, students from multiple majors "mix" together, stimulate each other's creativity and thinking dimensions, and gain cognitive ability and thinking awareness in other professional directions in a short time, as well as interdisciplinary thinking that fully connects overseas art teaching. (Click for details: Chengdu Architectural Landscape Study Tutorial, 8-day Summer Design and Construction Workshop ）
There is a glimmer of hope different from that of an undergraduate. If you are going to apply for a master's degree from a basic to a professional background, there is no room for negotiation in terms of basic ability. Because in the application for master's degree, the focus of school investigation is "comprehensive" and "professional".
At this time, most of your application competitors are professional students who have four or more years of undergraduate learning experience. It is very difficult to upgrade what others have learned in four years to the same level in a short time.
If your time is very tight at this time, for example, you are only 2-3 months away from the application, then my suggestion is that you can consider postponing for one year to make better preparation. During this period, I will take every opportunity to make up for my shortcomings and shortcomings, optimize my ability and projects, and optimize my work collection to a high standard according to the requirements of teachers.
Collection of works&half of the application preparation, suddenly want to change majors&collection of works is basically closed, and project errors are found
Compared with the previous case of "accidental collision" caused by Jun's "hand slip", I had encountered two special situations before - I was about to submit an application, and suddenly wanted to change the application major, and the collection of works was basically closed, but I found that there were major errors in the project.
For the former kind of students, I would like to say that your idea is really dangerous; For the latter kind of students: are you joking about the application?
The above two special circumstances are mostly distributed to students applying for DIY. For students who choose institutions to help, all major institutions will provide students with educational administration teachers. The responsibility of educational administration teachers is to help students plan and arrange courses, follow up students' learning status and course progress in a timely manner, and effectively avoid some "basic" mistakes.
Before the students start the course formally, the consultant teachers and professional teachers will have a more comprehensive understanding of the students' situation, their professional demands, application intentions, interests, hobbies, professional preferences and current professional situation through multiple communications and early auditions, portfolio assessment, so as to better arrange highly targeted courses for students. When students have any problems in the application and middle of the course, the teacher will help students analyze and solve the problems at the first time.
So for students who choose DIY, if they want to avoid this kind of situation, my suggestion is still about the preliminary research, which must be purposeful and accurate. Before you determine your application intention, you should first learn about the major art schools. If it is through online channels, remember that the content should be subject to the school's official website and school's official channels.
Secondly, we can make full use of "institutional resources". Without selecting institutions, we can "let go" without representing institutional resources. At present, various institutions have master tours, professional short-term courses and other activities that bring together professors and students from various art schools. Making full use of these resources can help you understand the most accurate information about schools and professional interpretations.
Secondly, on the portfolio project, it is also a question of "research". Research is an important link that many students will ignore. It seems unimportant, but in fact, the accuracy of research often affects the development of the entire portfolio project.
Summary of today
In the application of art majors to study abroad, too many students have asked the question "Is it too late for me to...?". In the early planning stage, the answer to this question is almost absolutely positive, and it is never too late. As the old saying goes, learning is never divided into morning and evening. The key is whether you want to learn.
When you have begun to prepare for the art study application, there are many situations that you have to face, and sometimes you will encounter the situation of "really too late". These situations include "general errors in application submission", "some application accidents", "great difficulty in application background", and "intention to apply for conversion of application/portfolio later preparation". Then you need to make preparations and accumulate in the early stage. I have always emphasized "research" with students. Research is not only a fixed ability required by the collection of works, but also can not be ignored in the whole application process of art study abroad. High precision and accurate research can not only help you correctly understand yourself and application intention, but also help you effectively avoid the "late" situation that may occur in the application.
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