Interview help

[ScotiaLass]

I have an interview next week for a BA course.
I'm all set but there are a couple of things on their advice sheet which I may be asked, that I'm not sure about.
Any lecturers/ Uni students here care to point me in the right direction?

The two I'm stuck on are:
1. What personal qualities and aesthetic skills do you have that will lead to your success on the course?
WTF are aesthetic skills?

2. What do you think that YOU would contribute to our degree programme?
Replying 'I don't know' may not be the answer they want to hear!

 

[Profpointy]

what subject ?
Presumably "aesthetic" is supposed to make some sense in the context - fine art or music say?

 

[stephec]

I thought aesthetics was to do with how things look?

Just refer them to point six on here and you'll be well in - http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/10-things-ive-learned-so-far.154036/

 

[stephec]

And as for point two, why not counter it with, "what do you think you can do to further my education?

 

[ScotiaLass]

what subject ?
Presumably "aesthetic" is supposed to make some sense in the context - fine art or music say?

Oh sorry, yes it's a BA in Photography (I already have my HND)

 

[Profpointy]

So for q1 you need to big up your "arty" side - and I'd strongly recommend some examples - ideally photog but other stuff too - if you're well read on art (or photog or film) theory that'll no doubt help.

Q2 is just enthusiasm, activie engagement , team spirit and the like I imagine

( bear in mind I'm a middle manager in a phone company, so none of my advice may be relevant)

 

[ScotiaLass]

So for q1 you need to big up your "arty" side - and I'd strongly recommend some examples - ideally photog but other stuff too - if you're well read on art (or photog or film) theory that'll no doubt help.

Q2 is just enthusiasm, activie engagement , team spirit and the like I imagine

( bear in mind I'm a middle manager in a phone company, so none of my advice may be relevant)

Thanks. I have to take a portfolio in and be prepared to discuss why and how etc.
After the HND I'd say I'm pretty well read read on the theory side of things as well as the photographers of my chosen genre.

 

[Ellillowladex]

1. What personal qualities and aesthetic skills do you have that will lead to your success on the course?
WTF are aesthetic skills?

Borrowed from Wiki...

Aesthetics (also spelled æsthetics and esthetics) is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty.[1][2] It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste.[3] More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as "critical reflection on art, culture and nature."

 

[Jimmy Doug]

Try to make your interviewer see that you are going to be a positive student on the course, the sort of student that makes a group work. Bear in mind that one of the things interviewers want to see is a candidate who's going to help make the year a good one, rather than a year they can't wait to finish. I interview potential students throughout the year - but not for photography - and that's one of the things we look for. We rejected a girl recently just because we all felt that we couldn't see her being anything other than a negative influence on the year. For me, that's what your second question is about. YOU will contribute you dynamism, sense of humour, team skills (etc etc).

 

[ufkacbln]

Don't take this the wrong way!


You are a "mature" student?


Therefore you have experience that younger students do not have

This is a strong point

For instance your maturity and experience would offer a stabilising influence on the course demographics?

 

[ScotiaLass]

Don't take this the wrong way!


You are a "mature" student?


Therefore you have experience that younger students do not have

This is a strong point

For instance your maturity and experience would offer a stabilising influence on the course demographics?

Not taken wrong at all!
I returned to education in my late 40's after being medically discharged from my career as a nurse. I'm now 50.
My personal statement mentions this and the life experience I have as well as the recent return to education.

 

[stephec]

You could be the mother hen of your group.

All the young ones will come to you for advice, and you'll get to know all the best gossip before anyone else.

 

[srw]

Thanks. I have to take a portfolio in and be prepared to discuss why and how etc.
After the HND I'd say I'm pretty well read read on the theory side of things as well as the photographers of my chosen genre.

I'd say that the first question is asking about whether you can begin to identify why something is a good photo in an artistic sense - things like composition, use of colour and shape. I suspect they get a lot of people who can waffle endlessly about technical competence - sharpness, depth of field, choice of lens and light source - but are looking for people who can translate that into something arty.

 

[Pale Rider]

I agree the phrase 'aesthetic skills' is at best clumsy and at worst the sort of bumptious waffle so often found in academia.

However, that is what you have to deal with, so to get a few ideas I would have a google around 'the aesthetic movement' and 'Oscar Wilde' - perhaps its best-known member.

 

[Pale Rider]

[QUOTE 3026245, member: 1314"]No it's not a clumsy phrase.

And tbh anyone intending to do a Fine Arts Course as SL is, should at least know what the word aesthetics means. If I was SL's tutor reading this, I wouldn't give the person a place. For the reason SL would take the **** out of people who wanted to make a living out of being photographic artists as opposed to just being hacks.

If SL does not, at this stage in their life, knows what aesthetics means without asking on a Cycling Forum, I suggest a life as a car sale-person would be more suited. No mucking there with any of this bumptious waffle, eh. Here's a car, sell it, earn the commission. Proper work like for proper no-nonsense working people.

The cafe really does seem to have been overtaken by 70s reactionary throwback blokes and their mating partners.[/QUOTE]

Snide patronising claptrap.

A career in a pointless publicly-funded body is yours for the asking.