Students who are preparing to study abroad in the arts will receive comprehensive guidance from teachers of academic administration and professional teachers in the process of applying for and creating a collection of works. We will also share a lot of information for everyone, but digging college resources is like treasure, enjoying the fun of digging their own treasure. Today, we will summarize what official resources are highly utilized online and offline, How to obtain more high-quality college resources when applying for studying abroad?

　　 Online resources of colleges and universities:

Whether it's ins, Twitter, Zhihu, or Weibo, these social apps, after removing the "entertainment" and "social attributes", are also an excellent way to obtain information about art and design related industries. However, the information content of these platforms is often "uncertain", and the accuracy of the content is not 100%. If you want to obtain the most accurate information of colleges and universities, and unlock the most professional advice and help, you should definitely point to the official website and official internal resources of colleges and universities.

The current official websites of art colleges are very good both in web design and search engine. They are not only beautiful and have a sense of design, but also have strong functionality. In terms of content, both the students who want to apply and the students who are studying can find a lot of practical information.

For example, the detailed introduction of the school, the introduction of professional courses, admission standards, recent events, professors' cv, student studios, campus life, employment guidance, etc. All in all, it is to serve students to obtain information conveniently and timely. So you can see that what you find on the official website is absolutely first-hand. Students who have studied abroad or who are applying for studying abroad can help a lot.

　　 1）STUDENT WORK

Students who have received some art education in China and gone abroad may strongly feel the difference between art education at home and abroad. Most of the art education in China is more inclined to composition, perspective, large shape, color and other skills. Students have solid basic painting skills, but lack creative and critical thinking. In foreign education, students are not restricted by rules and regulations, and there is a lot of space for creation. Works focus on the expression of personal thoughts, and focus on cultivating students' independence, seeking differences, imagination, inspiration, potential, and sensitivity. Therefore, foreign art colleges have more artists with unique views and creativity.

In the domestic education mode and growth environment, how can I get such creative thinking? In addition to the guidance of tutors, more promising works and projects are also essential.

There will be navigation bars such as "EXPLORE STUDENT WORK" on the official website of each school, and you will see many works of students in school. These students who have successfully squeezed into famous schools come from all over the world, with different educational backgrounds, life experiences, and ways of thinking. They will put forward key issues with creative views and rigorous attitude in the education guidance of the school, And solve the problem, let these processes show in their own works.

Screenshot from Parsons official website

During the school period, students also spent a lot of time to improve their skills and find the most interesting points to polish their works. All these time and energy can be reflected in the works. Everyone can see a wealth of excellent works of students in all majors on the official website.

Just like when we first started to learn painting, the teacher would ask students to copy the works of the master, or would like students to see more exhibitions, film appreciation and other things. The first key step to improve your ability is to improve your appreciation ability and put your eyes forward. The next step is usually to improve your ability after your eyes are high and your eyes are low. After your hands are high and your eyes are low, improve your aesthetics again, forming a virtuous circle of progress.

After you have determined your Dream School and target major, the most direct and professional way to understand the style and professional orientation of an institution is definitely the work of students at school. By studying these works, we can guide our own creation. Guided by the works of students at school, we can help you find inspiration for your own works.

　　 2) Online audit

Even though they have thoroughly understood the content on the official website, they still feel insecure when looking at their own collection of works, so those students who feel that the official website is weak can use other forms of resources, such as online audit methods such as AICAD.

AICAD is a non-profit art university alliance composed of 42 top universities in North America. The AICAD alliance has been established for 28 years now and has signed a contract with Natural Light for two years. It has formulated the teaching standards and academic standards of most art colleges in North America. Within the alliance, there are Rhode Island Design Institute, Pratt, ACCD Art Center School of Design , MICA, CCA, SAIC, SVA, Parsons and other top schools.

In addition to providing better art education for students with fairness and authority, AICAD is also committed to helping students enter their own Dream School. It provides many tips for work collections and provides many benefits for students.

On the official website of AICAD, you can provide online review channels for all students applying for art schools to review their art overseas work collections. Upload your work collections through the slideroom, and the tutors, department heads, and admissions officers of colleges and universities in the alliance will help you review your art overseas work collections online, which means that the admissions officers of overseas colleges and universities will check your work collections at home, Improve the success rate of application for studying abroad.

　　 3）OTHERS

If you want to know the style and creation form of an art school, the most direct form is absolutely from the official "data" of the school. Here we must mention the official data of the school - videos and official magazines.

For example, RISD has RISD XYZ, Pratt has Prattfolio, AA has AA Files, and these journals will be regularly updated on the official website and ISSUU and other platforms, including recent school developments, teacher position adjustments, etc., especially the most important, fresh and timely works and projects of students at school. Even many colleges and universities will make special journals for graduation exhibitions and student works exhibitions that year. For example, CSM will release the records of student works exhibitions on ISSUU:

There is also the content of videos. Taking Parsons as an example, when we search the new school on YouTube, we will see Parsons' channels, which contain more than 500 video content, including artist speeches, designer project columns, etc.

　　 College offline resources:

　　 1）OPEN DAYS

Every art school will choose some suitable time to open to the outside world every year, so that students who are preparing to apply for studying abroad and are about to enroll will know the school in detail. On this day, the school will introduce the history, facilities, majors, etc. of the school to students. In addition, there are students and teachers' curriculum achievements display, various proposition activities, snack markets, everyone can visit the school and carry out some practical activities, and can also directly communicate with teachers and students of the school, which is the best way to understand the school.

　　 British University Open Days There are also College Open Days and Department Open Days. In the college led open days, volunteers will take students to visit the college. For example, classrooms, libraries, dormitories, canteens and other activity spaces related to learning and life can help you intuitively experience the real life of students in the college. Moreover, these volunteers are all students at school. If you are lucky, you may meet enthusiastic students. You can chat with them during the visit to learn about their application process for studying abroad and their feelings in this university, and learn about the real Dream School from the students.

The professional led Department Open Days aims to allow students to enter the campus and the studio, visit and experience the daily learning atmosphere of the school. Deeply understand the professional curriculum, enrollment requirements and preferences, teaching content, tuition, scholarship application, employment direction, etc. My colleague, Mr. Gao, from the UK Branch, gave us a detailed report on the opening day of Central Saint Martin's product design. We also visited Porf Paul, the program director of industrial design, to make everyone understand the major of product design better.

As for the schedule of Open Days, the detailed date can be found on the official website of the school. Students who want to participate need to make an appointment in advance. If you want to choose an ideal university and don't know which one is the best for you, open days will provide you with an excellent opportunity to learn more about the university you are interested in.

Screenshot from RCA official website

Then we also want to remind students who are going to attend Open Days that they should first do their homework in advance, think about the departments to visit, and write down the questions they want to know. Secondly, because the campus is usually large, it is best to look at the map on the official website in advance to understand the general route. The next day is the opening day. Try to seize the opportunity to ask questions to the tutor to learn more about what will happen in the future. Don't waste valuable opportunities.

　　 2）PORTFOLIO DAYS

The open day of the collection of works is a public activity for students who apply for studying abroad in art schools. Before students formally submit their collection of works, admissions officers will focus on giving important feedback and guidance to students' works within 2-3 days.

　　 sample reels On the same day, students can bring their completed or unfinished works into the school freely and free of charge. When the admissions officers review them, they can communicate with them face to face and share their creative process. You will hear different opinions from different experienced teachers, and understand the enrollment preferences and standards of different institutions in the process, It is also an important help for the application.

Take your own collection of works to participate in this kind of activity, which can help you to have a deep understanding of colleges and universities and screen them; Second, we can get targeted opinions from the admissions officer and make secondary optimization of your works to ensure that your works can have a stronger competitive advantage.

National Portfolio Days is held in many places in the United States, Canada and Europe every year. Because many students are still studying in China, and the time is not enough, natural light will also invite many experienced admissions officers from top universities to visit every year, to provide students with 2-5 days of different admissions officer courses and multi-dimensional review of works.

Among the students interviewed in this year's offer Grand Slam, some reported that they had gained a lot from participating in portfolio days. The student showed the completed collection of works to the admissions officer, but because there were too many typesetting materials, the admissions officer could not grasp the key point he wanted to express after reading it. After listening to the opinions of the admissions officer, the student optimized his collection of works, and later got a good offer.

　　 3）SUMMER SCHOOL

Many students can't get enough credits in the semester due to academic pressure or language ability after they go to foreign universities. Summer school project is a very good choice. Parsons School of Design Parsons, RISD, SVA and other institutions have their own summer schools. Of course, the summer school program is not only for college students, but also for high school students.

If you don't know which major or school to choose, you can take 6 weeks to attend summer school. Six weeks is enough to let you understand the study and life in the school. If you find that you really don't like this life and profession within six weeks.

Summer school programs can be understood as summer courses. Taking RISD as an example, after Summer School, the school will not only issue certificates to students, but also have 3 credits of transferable credits.

In addition to these gains, I personally believe that the biggest gain should be a full and skill acquisition holiday, making my time more meaningful when others rest.

At the same time, the teaching mode of overseas studio allows students to obtain multi-dimensional guidance. The works during the course can be a topic of the collection of works, or they can be integrated into multi field expression forms and become the "interdisciplinary" part of the collection of works. Students can choose summer programs from some colleges and universities according to their own intentions to improve their background and enrich their learning experience.

　　 4）CV check

CV: Curriculum Vitae, which means "resume". In college application, CV and resume have different emphasis The main content is educational background, educational experience and so on. It is usually enough to introduce your academic research achievements and professional abilities in accordance with the chronological order of your learning. You don't need too much vocabulary modification, just stating the facts is enough.

The CV in the job search is also such an objective statement of facts, summarizing his experience, skills and education experience, and showing his background in the form of words to get a job.

However, students who are about to graduate and have no job hunting experience do not know how to write a CV that will impress HR. More difficult is that as an artist or designer, CV's requirements are also different from those of other professions.

When art designers or designers are invited to participate in exhibitions or participate in a project, they are usually required to submit personal CVs. When these opportunities come, a concise and comprehensive CV is very important, and it is necessary to fully display my creative experience. There are many tips: for example, the most basic personal information is complete; Reasonable layout and beautiful layout; The content only involves experiences related to art; Exhibitions participated (including whether the exhibition is independent or group, year, exhibition name, gallery location, etc.); Participated in resident projects or design projects.

In order to enable students to obtain more and better positions, schools generally have CV check activities to help students obtain the ability to find jobs and obtain employment, and have better career development.

The screenshot is from the official website of the UAL

The above is about the sharing of offline and online resources of colleges and universities applying for studying abroad. In fact, not only the resources of foreign colleges and universities, but also many things that are helpful for learning can be found with your heart. You still need to pay more attention, be careful, and have a sense of active learning, so that you can be more successful when you are not applying for studying abroad.

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