Unit 11

UAL Unit 11- Check List:

Assignment	What needs to be done	Completed
Skills audit	Add all skills, both software and personal, and analyse the ability	✓
Summary of what you want to achieve, long and short term goals.	Short term – distinction in my college course and Long term – a degree in Journalism	✓
Evaluation of your progression	So far, progress in college is good	✓
Draft and/or final personal statements for UCAS or similar	UCAS application is 80% there, just need to add final personal statement and 5 choices	✓
List of possible references (no confidential information)	Need to talk to teachers and get references	✓
Information on possible courses	Research universities and courses	✓
Qualifications for the courses  UCAS points needed	The majority need 112 UCAS points. Merit is 120, so maintain a distinction to be safe	✓
Attendance at open days	Gone to a few already but check out Brunel’s and UAL’s	✓
Relevant information related to money and finance	Further research student finance application	✓
Evidence of plan or submission for online portfolio	Review what each University wants as a portfolio and start gathering one	✓
Evidence of personal presentations and communications skills	Add Pecha Kucha and exhibition as evidence of presentation and class communication skills.	✓
Knowledge of practitioners in the chosen field	Further research on known practitioners whose work I like in my chosen field	✓

Above is a broad checklist of what I need to complete and the information I need to gather before either the UCAS deadline or before leaving college and going to Univesity. I find checklist is effective for me and help me ensure I remember to do everything. I have started to tick all the sections I have completing and will continue to do so as I go along. By January, the majority will be ticked off as the UCAS deadline is mid- January. However, some are on-going to by the end of this academic year, all will be completed and ticked off. 

05/09/19:

Today we had a talk from the University of Portsmouth. They spoke about UCAS and how we can go around applying to universities. They also discussed tips and tricks that can be used when writing your personal statement. She discussed the layout of the UCAS application and how important the personal statement is. It is the only thing that will distinguish you from all the other students applying. She mentioned how if your personal statement doesn't stand out or doesn't meet their criteria, you won't even be considered. She mentioned how you should only discuss your hobbies where relevant. You should follow an ABC method (Activity, Benefit, Course). A big point that was very important did not plagiarise. UCAS have very sophisticated systems which will pick up on that. She mentioned to not use humour or quotes because there are very mixed opinions on it, so be very careful. A really important thing was to make sure your spelling and grammar are perfect because if you get that wrong, they will have reservations and doubts putting you on the course. 

She also discussed the financial side of university and how student loans work and how they can be paid back. They discussed how the yearly fee for university is around £9,250 and can vary if you take a placement year. She broke down the different weekly payments and how student loan would help. They also mentioned how you wouldn't start making payments back until your yearly income meets a certain amount and payments back are based on your income when you leave university. 

Overall, I found the talk really helpful in opening up my options and gaining a lot more accurate information on the financial side of the university. 

18/09/19:

Today we made our UCAS applications/accounts. We filled out all of the sections apart from the personal statement part. The reason being is because a personal statement says a lot about you and if you get it wrong, it can harm how you are seen by your potential university. 

I gave my personal statement to my tutor to read over and see if he had any suggestions as to where I could improve it. Overall, he said that it was very well written and was a very good first attempt. There a few things that need to be taken out and still quite a bit to be added, but so far so good!

Skills audit:

Consider your strengths and knowledge of software, design, photography, drawing, filming and writing skills. Include other personal attributes, such as planning and time management. Fill in the chart and rate yourself (1 = good, 5 =poor)

5 Potential University Choices: 

I don't want to go to university outside of London for several reasons, but the main reason being that I feel the heart of the media industry is in London, so it would make no sense to leave the city where the future of my industry lies. I want to do a creative media/ multimedia and journalism course at university. Media and writing are both big passions of mine so a course that combines the two is ideal. 

University of Arts London - https://www.arts.ac.uk/subjects/journalism-pr-media-and-publishing

UAL has two open days, one has already been and there is one coming up on Saturday 07th December. U A L at the moment is not looking like a top choice for me.  UAL looks like a good option as we are currently doing a UAL course at college and it would be accepted at the university. 

London Metropolitan Uni - https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/media-communications-and-journalism---bsc-hons/

London Metropolitan University has quite a few open days coming up in November and January. I will try and go to one in November as I want to see the uni before the UCAS deadline date. London Met is another top choice for me, they offer quite a few media courses but the one I am interested in is quite similar to the one Middlesex is offering. They also have a Multimedia and Journalism course which I want to research further as I am currently doing a Multimedia course in the college so this course may be better suited to the skills set I already have.

Middlesex University - https://www.mdx.ac.uk/courses/creative-media-and-writing/creative-media-and-journalism

Middlesex is definitely looking one of my top choices so far. The course I am interested in is creative writing and journalism as it explores both media and writing. Researching the course, it is clear to me that the course teaches you both the theoretical and practical side of the journalism industry. It looks like a really good course but isn't heavily media-based so I am going to research some more courses, similar to what I already know and utilises the skills I have already gained.

The University of Westminister- https://www.westminster.ac.uk/journalism-digital-media-and-pr-courses/2020-21/september/full-time/digital-media-and-communication-ba-honours

Westminister is another god option for me. The course is slightly different from the others as it is a digital media communications course but the course structure is similar. Another reason why Westminister is good is that their Arts campus is in Harrow. 

City University of London - https://www.city.ac.uk/

Again, City University is not a top choice for me as they don't offer many media courses. The reason I have mentioned it is because they do a journalism course which I might consider, but I am mainly looking for courses that offer journalism in media, not just straight journalism. 

Goldsmiths University- https://www.gold.ac.uk/media-communications/

Goldsmiths is my aspirational choice. I would really like to be able to study at Goldsmiths as they have an amazing art department and their entry requirements mean that the people that do get in are of a high standard. 

Kingston University-  https://www.kingston.ac.uk/undergraduate/courses/media-communication/

Kingston is a good choice for me as the entry requirements are achievable and it is a really nice uni. It is also ranked number 1 for media courses. 

Future Career Paths:

I am interested in a career in journalism. After researching courses and future career paths, there is a route to take that involved journalism and media together.

On the Middlesex course, they said: 'The course is also particularly useful in areas where work on analysing and producing language is central including journalism, copywriting, advertising, website management, politics, PR, teaching, marketing and branding.' This is good as it opens up more career opportunities for me after university. I may find after doing the course that journalism isn't the career path I want to follow, but this course allows me to explore other options, whereas a course that is straight journalism has not got a much leeway. 

Short-term goals are to maintain my distinction in my college course and get a place at a good university doing a course that will lead me to a good job in the media industry. Long-term goals would be to get through my University course and graduate with a good degree and hopefully find a good job in the media journalism industry.

Freelance Careers:

Advantages	Disadvantages
You are your own boss You are free to work or not work as and when you please. You manage your own business so you can start working and stop whenever you want. You get to keep all the profit You can do all the hard work and actually get paid what you deserve. You won’t have to pay out to your company as you are the company. All profits go directly to you. Fewer corporate meetings  You won’t have to sit through corporate business meetings, you can arrange a meeting with a client as and where you see fit. It means that you have more time to focus on production. More passion If you are passionate about something to create your own business and freelance, there will never be an issue of you falling out of love with your job.	You are your own boss There is a negative side to this. It can mean you never switch off from work or that it ends up consuming your everyday life. You’ll need to fight hard to keep your profit Doing the work is only half the job with freelancing, making sure you actually paid for it is another thing. You need to manage the accounts as well as producing. Less certainty/ more inconsistent This can lead to inconsistency an uncertainty as you may not be on the same page as the client or could seem unprofessional if you choose not to have a meeting. Hard to always stay on track Sometimes your passion for something can distract from actually staying on task and producing some of a high standard.
Possible freelance roles within the creative industries:
Freelance Photographer/ Videographer:  Freelance photography or videography is probably one of the most well-known careers to go into. This makes it a very hard industry to into as the competition is everywhere.  Freelance Social Media Manager:  With the rise and dominance of social media, a social media accounts manager could be a the career path that will be easier to get into now as we are still discovering social media and if you are already in the industry as it grows, you could be very successful. Freelance Copyrighter:  Copyrighters are essential to any creative field. If you learn all the rules and regulations, again you could be very successful in the media industry. Freelance Magazine Editor:  This is more of a niche filed unless you are an interact magazine editor. The print industry is not as dominant so if you do choose to freelance as a magazine editor, consider interactive magazines.

University offers so far:

I applied to study Media and Communications at:

1.Goldsmiths University
2. UAL University
3. London Metropolitan University 
4. Westminister University 
5. Kingston University

So far I have received conditional offers from UAL, London Met and Kingston. I have also received an unconditional offer from Westminister. I am just waiting to hear back from my first choice, Goldsmiths, and then I will make a decision.