As the tangled, myopic maze of course timetables and exams gives way to the calm, expansive lull of summer, it is time for the annual review of Bonas MacFarlane Arts university application outcomes.
Of the 12 clients making applications for entry in September 2024, I am very happy to report that all gained excellent offers. Ranging from foundation and BA / degrees, to Postgraduate Diplomas and MAs, a total of 69 individual courses were applied to, with each client benefitting from multiple offers. World renowned institutions bringing first choice options for the majority of these students included:
UAL / University of Arts London
CSM / Central Saint Martins
UCL / University College London
RCA / Royal College of Art
Glasgow School or Art
AA (Architectural Association)
Kingston University
Westminster University
Course choices included architecture, fine-art, photography, fashion, illustration, interior design and graphic design. I am, as always, incredibly proud of the impact the mentoring and tuition process has had on the skills, appreciation, enjoyment, understanding and overall creative development of these young artists and designers.
Over the years it has become increasingly common for our clients to stay with us beyond their applications. I am currently mentoring students through foundation, degree and postgraduate course as well as those still at school. One such client, who came to us 6 years ago, worked with us through their foundation and Graphic Design degree, and then into a phase of mentored career building including professional work experience, and her recent feedback at the end of this process was as follows:
“As I sit down to write this email, I am filled with gratitude and appreciation for the incredible support and impact you had on me and my education over the past years. I want to thank you for the countless hours you have guided, assisted, pushed and challenged me. The knowledge and skill I’ve learned from you will be present in my everyday and future work. Your dedication and unwavering support have been instrumental. Your commitment to my success had not only helped me navigate through various challenges but also instilled in me a love for learning and overcoming that has extended well beyond my educational experience. The invaluable insights you provided throughout these years have become an integral part of my appreciation for the arts. Thank you again for all that you have done for me, the things I know of and the things I don’t. Wishing you all the success and happiness!“
The parents of another client, who had exceptional success with her Fine Art applications – gaining offers from The Slade (UCL), Glasgow School Art and UAL wrote:
“Thank you so, so much for all your support of X and the opportunities you have facilitated for her – I know she has found it invaluable, as have X and I, and it really couldn’t have gone better for her. She is genuinely excited about her road ahead which is what we wanted most for her. This realIy wouldn’t have been possible without you.“
The application process for art and design courses can be complex and confusing, with both parents and students often feeling lost amidst the myriad application stages. It is common for a single application to involve multiple portals, and for the portfolio and personal statements to have enormous variations to their structure and format. The process can also throw up unexpected issues – I am presently working with a client regarding a problem with RCA’s stage 1 application form, which is not allowing the client to submit. RCA and UAL are regularly noted by QS as ranking number 1 and 2 globally for art and design institutions, which makes these administrative issues all the more surprising. Several of my current clients were given an incorrect fee status relating to their offers by UAL – for a foundation this can be the different between free course fees and £22,800, and for their BAs £9,250 rather than £28,570. It took over a month working with each of these clients on this issue alone to have their fee status reassessed, saving them each £20,000+ in course fees.
While listening to a Talk Art podcast with the artist Pam Evelyn, I was interested to hear her expressing a certain amount of disappointment with her MA at the Royal College of Art, questioning whether the course represented reasonable value for money (this one year course costs £15,500 for home students and £38,600 for overseas students). It was interesting to hear Evelyn and Talk Arts hosts Russel Tovey and Robert Diament go on to describe the Slade School of Art (UCL), where Evelyn undertook her BA, as a model for a course with the right amount of time, and emphasis on the most relevant elements of artistic practice, an observation I would fully agree with. A client who I have just helped gain an offer from the RCA for their Fine Art MA visited the current MA show this week, and was dismayed to see that students can only show one painting each in the final exhibition, and that there are 100+ students on the course. This course, like so many others, has changed dramatically over recent years, with many MAs now only lasting one year, offering little time to properly engage with the dialogue, reflection and experimentation creative education should bring. Such courses seem to be increasingly seen as shop windows, the perception being that students can somehow benefit from an association with historically significant courses and institutions / brands as a means of launching their career. I thought Evelyn/Tovey/Diament’s reflections on the problems with a career-led approach to creative courses, and the issues surrounding the current streamlining and structuring of artistic education, were very timely and well worth a listen.
It is important to acknowledge that this potential crisis throughout all stages of art education, from school to universities, is also rooted in the lack of government funding and the clear message, evident in policy, that the current UK government feels creative courses are far less important than academic ones, despite their singing the praises of the country’s world renowned creative industries and the economic and cultural weight they carry. To some extent these financial pressures feed into art universities, increasing their student intake which reduces studio sizes and access to tuition time and meaningful engagement. The feedback from my own clients is that the input they anticipated from some of these leading courses was far less than expected, and they have undoubtedly benefitted from working with us throughout these periods of study to ensure their foot remains pressed to the pedal and they are squeezing all they can from the courses potential. Whether the likes of UAL and RCA can continue their expansion without damaging their courses remains to be seen, but there are clear signs that developments are having a negative affect on their quality and straining their historical reputations. Looking ahead to 2025, I am particularly interested to see how these issues will be expressed in UALs new ‘mega-foundation’, which will combine the two previously distinct foundation courses at CSM and Camberwell into one new foundation with over 1000 students. Two of this year’s applicants will be joining the new UAL foundation in September, and I will be mentoring them through the process, so I will look forward to a front-row view as the new course unfolds. It could be argued that what we are seeing is the impact of the current governments well documented obsession with STEM subjects, and the view that is sees the arts as inessential and not serving the jobs market, despite clear evidence to the contrary. We can only hope that the likely change of government will bring about a reappraisal of the value of the arts and art education in the UK, and deliver the respect they deserve.
There have been many highlights from this application window, such as screen sharing the live accepting of an offer on the AA portal with a client and her parents (much cheering and applause!)n and a Turkish client being one of only 12 students from her UAL foundation to feature in a foundation review show within the BA exhibitions. Preparing clients for interviews is always very rewarding, and nerves being set aside and the process being confidently embraced always raises a smile. Seeing the work of students really being transformed by our process is a wonderful privilege – the student I noted who received multiple fine-art offers came to us a talented but tentative, restrained painter, restricted by the conservative approach of her A-Levels, and I know that the more expressive, personal and challenging paintings that she made with us were the difference between a ‘maybe’ and the multiple offers she gained and deserved. Choosing between two of the best fine art courses in the UK was definitely a nice problem to work through with her at end of this process! And finally, the joy / shock / disbelief as clients text me to share the realisation that they have gained their dream offer, and will be studying on an incredible, life-changing course from September always refuels the engines after a long and arduous application period.
There are still a few post-graduate outcomes to arrive, but attention now turns to visiting clients who will dedicate part of their summer to intensively building up their portfolios with us in London. Clients from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia and the US will be working in our tutors’ studios, benefitting from one to one guidance such as pattern cutting and garment making, animation techniques, making a short film and developing drawing and painting techniques. And this weekend Forma will find its new home at Step Up Expo, where I will look forward to reviewing portfolios and advising students on their future studies. Arts education is in a difficult period, and helping young artists to navigate this critically important stage of their artistic lives has never felt more important and rewarding. I am already looking forward to the next academic year and the larger than ever numbers of students we will be working with.
Darren Marshall, Head of Art