Arts, performance and production interviews

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Art and Design Portfolio Days  |  Journalism  |  Acting and Musical Theatre

Art and Design Portfolio Days

Go to: What to expect on the day  |   What to bring

We offer Portfolio Days to students who apply for Fine Art, Illustration, Photography, Animation, Graphic Design, Games Design, Product Design and Interior Design courses.

A Portfolio Day lets you show us your work. You will have an informal interview, after which we will consider your application. We will then submit our decision through UCAS. A successful portfolio may result in a conditional offer, a reduced conditional offer, or for a very strong application, an unconditional offer.

What to expect at the interview

Interviews will either be from 9.30am until 12.30pm (for local students) or from 1.00pm until 4.00pm (for students who live further away). You will be expected to attend for the whole session.

The day will include:

• An introduction to the School of the Arts.
• A tour of our workshops and studios.
• A 15 to 20 minute interview with a member of our art and design staff. You will discuss your portfolio and UCAS application form. You will also have the chance to ask any questions.
• A full campus tour with one of our students.

What you need to bring

• Your portfolio.
• Evidence of a range of skills. These may include conceptual thinking, problem solving, artistic flair and experimentation with a range of media.

You could show these skills through:

• Finished projects
• Sketchbooks and notebooks
• Digital work
• Paintings and drawings (particularly from observation)
• Photography
• 3D work
• Storyboards
• Short films and animations
• Digital artwork for graphics, animation or games. These can be brought on a laptop or USB stick.

You should also bring some written work with you. This lets us assess if any form of writing support is needed.

Journalism

All Journalism and Sports Journalism applicants who meet or exceed our entry requirements and provide a suitable personal statement will receive an offer.

These applicants will be then contacted by one of our academics by email for an informal interview virtually. A successful interview can result in the academic recommending an 'upgrade' to an offer to unconditional.

Acting and Musical Theatre

If your UCAS application is suitable, we will make you an offer for our Acting or Musical Theatre courses. Once you have your offer, you will have the chance to 'upgrade' from a conditional offer to an unconditional offer by submitting an audition.

For the Acting course, your audition will be 1 monologue which can be modern or contemporary. The monologue should be 1 to 2 minutes long.

For Musical Theatre, your audition will be 1 song from a musical theatre production of your choice. The song should be 1 to 2 minutes long.

You will then need to send your audition to interviews@yorksj.ac.uk.

Your audition will be reviewed, and the academic will contact you with feedback. You will also have the chance to ask any questions about the course. You will then be asked to attend one of our Decision Day events in Spring to make sure York St John is the right place for you.