The course in general
How many contact hours do you have in the average week?
26

Ideally, what 3/4 subjects would you recommend doing in order to be in the best position for your course?
Art/Art History, Physics/Chemistry (A science), DT and IT (graphics)

Why did you decide to study your degree programme?
I'm quite a creative person and I've always loved Art and design. I liked that architecture was a practical art form and was still a design course with academic weight.

Explain the things you wish you'd known about your degree before you applied:
I was always aware of the amount of work but this is usually the biggest surprise. I think also you benefit if you can already use computer programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator or CAD as in first year these things aren't really taught but if you can use them it is a lot easier. You are expected to try to learn in your spare time. This is the same for model making where you don't get a lot of advice but are expected to create neat and to-scale models.

Describing your average day
Explain how your day is made up. For example, do you have labs/seminars/tutorials/lectures?
The course is made up of studio time and lectures. There are two studio days per week which are full days. You usually arrive at about 9.30am for a lecture to explain what we are doing that day. We then go to our unit spaces (units are made up of about 40 students) and we have a series of tutors to give us one to one help. These are usually full days until about 5/6pm and are quite informal with lots of group work and practical workshops. The other three days are for lectures which are either one hour or two hours long. These days usually have about three hours of lectures.

How much extra work/reading are you required to do out of lectures?
Yes. Not too much reading but a lot of work, though it depends on the time of year. If it's during the middle/end stages of a project it takes up most of your free time and usually means a few all-nighters.

Is there anything else you think is relevant or that you would like to add in respect of your course?
There is quite a high drop out rate and the work supposedly gets more intense from year to year. It is very arty so you need to enjoy presentation techniques and creative design ideas. I think you also need to be quite good at time-management and expect more work than your friends on different courses.

The best and worst parts of the course
What do you like best about your degree programme?
I like the whole process of design and the way it is taught. I enjoy doing the practical exercises and going on the field trips to inspire our design work. Generally, I enjoy the work itself and the freedom to use and experiment in different techniques. For example if you enjoy painting you can use it to present your work, yet if you prefer using CAD you can do so.

What do you like least about your degree programme?
You get a huge amount of work, more than almost any other course I came across; probably more than medicine. It's also quite difficult and work critiques are sometimes brutal. A lot of people drop out as they aren't up for the amount of work and the standard. It also ends up being expensive as you have to buy most materials yourself and pay for large-scale printing and lots of equipment.

Academics and course content
What do you think of your university's academics and facilities?
Lecture theatres and our studio spaces are very good. There are also lots of good places to work and the libraries are pretty resourceful. Tutors and professors are generally good, although a handful are hard to understand and uninspiring. My tutor for studio was very good and helpful.

Explain how you expected your course to be and how it compares to how it actually is. Give an outline of the content of the course.
First year is purely coursework with no exams. About half the credits are through studio work. This was made up of the three main design projects throughout the year and then group work and your portfolio/sketchbooks. They aim to give you an understanding of the whole design process and beginning the year with a few weeks of general drawing and design techniques. They then give you a small design project which is critiqued and goes onto a bigger design brief and so on. In the initial stages of projects, the work is quite practical and you get one-on-one crits to help you develop the ideas about twice a week. You then have a list of things to provide for your final review which is in front of a panel of about three tutors where you explain your design. This is quite nerve-wracking at first but you get used to this type of presentation. The other half of the credits are through coursework set in your lectures. Usually it relates to the studio content and are a balance of essays and practical work.