HELP: Does Fashion Design at UTS suck? (1 Viewer)

[rawdevil1992]

I'm having the most difficult dilemma of my entire life...

So the ATAR cut-off for fashion design is as usual, in the high 90s.

I got 97.50-- and with the bonus points scheme that rewards 5 points for a band 6 in art (which i totally got), there should be no way in hell for me to not get in unless the cut-off suddently becomes 102.50... so now its on my first preference with uac.

But here's the big question: is the degree well-received by the industry enough to get me SOMEWHERE at least in the Australian fashion industry? Is it, as too many people out there would mouth, "too theoretical" and "not hands-on enough"?

Do graduates have a difficult time FINDING JOBS in the design field-- say, compared to graduates from East Sydney TAFE or other private colleges like Whitehouse and ESMOD? Somebody online said that SOME graduates had such a hard time finding jobs that they simply had to opt for RETAIL-- which would be a total waste of a 97.

Because I'm overseas at the moment, I CANT FUCKING GO TO THE INFO DAY.

An even more disturbing thing happened today-- i was working as a trainee at a clothing manufacturer (following the design team, which has a director graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York). I was researching projects from fourth year UTS graduates, and she said "if that's what they come up with for the final runway show, I'd be quite worried as a student. It's so incredibly 'scrapbook' and I cant believe that designer won some sort of award."

That gave me a heart attack as I've looked at the UTS course for almost 2 years.

Although having no idea how to use a sewing machine, I'm profoundly interested in the fashion industry-- perhaps not only in the area of design-- journalism, styling, buying (sorry but retail is for losers with pretty faces). I do random (but often not-the-most-skillful) drawings whenever i see paper, I spend 99% of my free time shopping or obsessing about fashion trends and designers (maybe I'm just a label whore for all I know), I follow the latest fashion week news (ok i only do paris and milan) and hell, even the manager at the place where im working told me i have talent.

So now I think I have THREE OPTIONS:

1. Do the UTS degree for a year, learn the basics, and depending on whether I think it's worthwhile to continue, apply for other more recognised colleges around the world (I cant do it this year coz they're all closed)-- Whitehouse, Parson's, Central Saint Martins, FIT, Royal, or even ESMOD (despite the fact that a person i hate with passion will be going there next year, who is completely tasteless & a trainwreck in my opinion) and East Sydney TAFE. Then go from there?

2. Start with a commerce/intl studies (or just plain commerce coz intl studies sounds incredibly dry) degree at UNSW (which i would probably make with 97.5). Then I could pursue fashion on the side by taking short courses and building up a portfolio which I could use to apply to colleges. Or better yet, if i happen to enjoy commerce, I could stay and take on a completely different career path with marketing and management major. The money will be good but I'll be eternally chained to a cubical and having no sex. Although this is the SAFE option.

3. JUST FUCKING DO THE UTS COURSE AND TRY OUTDO EVERY AWARD-WINNING GRADUATE IN RECORDED HISTORY. START MY OWN BUSINESS, WORK MY BUTT OFF AND MAKE IT BIG. But this would be hard to achieve without knowledge in the market etc which i'd gain from a commerce degree.

I think if I am serious about any career in fashion, option 1 sounds the most sensible. It'd allow me to develop the skills needed for a strong portfolio. I can live with the fact that very few people become Marc Jacobs and Christopher Bailey-- but a designer job at an established company that pays well is all I'd settle for. WHAT DO I DO???

Fuck, just when you thought getting a high ATAR was all you needed to do...

Sorry for this absurdly long post but its not getting any easier deciding my future in less than 20 days.

If anyone can get any dirt on how good UTS fashion is or have ANY advice for me whatsoever, (or if anyone wants to tell me to chill the fuck out and be happy with a good ATAR) please reply. I'd really really really really really really really appreciate it!!

btw anybody in the same situation???

 

[freydee]

I can't speak from personal experience on this, however I do remember reading about Fashion Design at UTS on another forum I frequent and this is what was said:

I know so many people who have graduated from 4 years at UTS and are finding it extremely difficult to find jobs. They end up working in retail.

If you can get in, go to East Sydney Tafe. That school really is the darling school of Sydney's design community. The teachers are amazing and completely involved in the industry so the school's contacts are amazing.

My friends from UTS hate East Sydney graduates for this. The UTS grads may have just as much talent but because East Syd gets the media coverage its grads are the ones who get the jobs.

 

[msh]

I can't speak from personal experience on this, however I do remember reading about Fashion Design at UTS on another forum I frequent and this is what was said:

The important fact to note is that, a TAFE DIPLOMA is a lower qualification than an undergraduate BACHELORS degree.

So logically speaking, if you were eligible to go straight into a Bachelors degree in fashion design, why would you REVERSE this cycle?

I've already posted this in another thread. But here we go again

Design Institute of Australia - Design Professions > Education, the Australian design union states that
"In keeping with professional training currently available the DIA recommends four years of tertiary design training to degree level."

You'd be limiting yourself by going to TAFE over university when you were absolutely CAPABLE of getting accepted.

As for questions about where the graduates are headed...
I just did a quick search and this popped up about recent uts fashion graduates.
UTS: Story, Newsroom
It's really based on your talent..Since your UAI / ATAR demonstrates your strong will to achieve and accomplish, I'd suggest that you go to university for fashion. You'd meet more like minded people who are competitive and academically gifted.

You could even consider postgraduate Masters in fashion, overseas at Central Saint Martins, RCA and other institutions renowned for postgraduate fashion. Undergraduate fashion is fine at UTS.
You cant even apply for Masters in Fashion at those overseas fashion schools with a diploma from Australian TAFE. You need a Bachelors (Hons) in design at the minimum to apply.

Hope that helps

 

[juni]

I'm having the most difficult dilemma of my entire life...

So the ATAR cut-off for fashion design is as usual, in the high 90s.

I got 97.50-- and with the bonus points scheme that rewards 5 points for a band 6 in art (which i totally got), there should be no way in hell for me to not get in unless the cut-off suddently becomes 102.50... so now its on my first preference with uac.

But here's the big question: is the degree well-received by the industry enough to get me SOMEWHERE at least in the Australian fashion industry? Is it, as too many people out there would mouth, "too theoretical" and "not hands-on enough"?

Do graduates have a difficult time FINDING JOBS in the design field-- say, compared to graduates from East Sydney TAFE or other private colleges like Whitehouse and ESMOD? Somebody online said that SOME graduates had such a hard time finding jobs that they simply had to opt for RETAIL-- which would be a total waste of a 97.

Because I'm overseas at the moment, I CANT FUCKING GO TO THE INFO DAY.

An even more disturbing thing happened today-- i was working as a trainee at a clothing manufacturer (following the design team, which has a director graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York). I was researching projects from fourth year UTS graduates, and she said "if that's what they come up with for the final runway show, I'd be quite worried as a student. It's so incredibly 'scrapbook' and I cant believe that designer won some sort of award."

That gave me a heart attack as I've looked at the UTS course for almost 2 years.

Although having no idea how to use a sewing machine, I'm profoundly interested in the fashion industry-- perhaps not only in the area of design-- journalism, styling, buying (sorry but retail is for losers with pretty faces). I do random (but often not-the-most-skillful) drawings whenever i see paper, I spend 99% of my free time shopping or obsessing about fashion trends and designers (maybe I'm just a label whore for all I know), I follow the latest fashion week news (ok i only do paris and milan) and hell, even the manager at the place where im working told me i have talent.

So now I think I have THREE OPTIONS:

1. Do the UTS degree for a year, learn the basics, and depending on whether I think it's worthwhile to continue, apply for other more recognised colleges around the world (I cant do it this year coz they're all closed)-- Whitehouse, Parson's, Central Saint Martins, FIT, Royal, or even ESMOD (despite the fact that a person i hate with passion will be going there next year, who is completely tasteless & a trainwreck in my opinion) and East Sydney TAFE. Then go from there?

2. Start with a commerce/intl studies (or just plain commerce coz intl studies sounds incredibly dry) degree at UNSW (which i would probably make with 97.5). Then I could pursue fashion on the side by taking short courses and building up a portfolio which I could use to apply to colleges. Or better yet, if i happen to enjoy commerce, I could stay and take on a completely different career path with marketing and management major. The money will be good but I'll be eternally chained to a cubical and having no sex. Although this is the SAFE option.

3. JUST FUCKING DO THE UTS COURSE AND TRY OUTDO EVERY AWARD-WINNING GRADUATE IN RECORDED HISTORY. START MY OWN BUSINESS, WORK MY BUTT OFF AND MAKE IT BIG. But this would be hard to achieve without knowledge in the market etc which i'd gain from a commerce degree.

I think if I am serious about any career in fashion, option 1 sounds the most sensible. It'd allow me to develop the skills needed for a strong portfolio. I can live with the fact that very few people become Marc Jacobs and Christopher Bailey-- but a designer job at an established company that pays well is all I'd settle for. WHAT DO I DO???

Fuck, just when you thought getting a high ATAR was all you needed to do...

Sorry for this absurdly long post but its not getting any easier deciding my future in less than 20 days.

If anyone can get any dirt on how good UTS fashion is or have ANY advice for me whatsoever, (or if anyone wants to tell me to chill the fuck out and be happy with a good ATAR) please reply. I'd really really really really really really really appreciate it!!

btw anybody in the same situation???

Hi.. Care to share with me whose 4th year project you were researching into? I'd like to see and have my two cents on this issue..
I can understand your panic though.. It's an incredibly hard decision to make; pursuing fashion design.
Yes the reality is that it's unbelievably competitive, fashion design is a star/celebrity status occupation. There are some lucky people that make it and some that don't. From looking at my peers, (btw I'm a UTS graduate) even with the graduates that 'don't' make it so big as a fashion designer, end up in other interesting creative careers. Whether that be in fashion publishing (editors, writers, stylists), trend research / forecasting, fashion marketing or even graphic design and advertising.

Many seem to take postgraduate fashion or related (design management , fashion marketing etc) studies outside of Australia with their bachelors degree obtained at UTS, and are successful in gaining a place. So... I'm not sure who this bitchy person from FIT is judging. (Again, I've not seen the portfolio myself so I can't assume YET)

It's just a cruel reality that Australian fashion market is not the same as New York. However, like with anything, if you have passion for something, go for it and you can achieve.

Also, about your UAI / ATAR, congratulations. But don't feel like you might be 'wasting' your high ATAR score by choosing B design in fashion. I even know a fashion graduate who received 99.7 for their uai back in 2003, and plenty more of this case. In fact most of 'us' (UTS design students) were all eligible for SAFE and respected careers in Commerce, Law and even Medicine for some.

 

[melissay]

Hello

Im french, i just arrived in australia and i dont know anything about graduations here.well i know that the lawest are the certificates then diplomas bachelors masters and doctoras but im serching for a fashion design course so you dont necessary have to do long studies for that... do you know if the graduation is very important to find a job in fashion design? Or if what you do, your portfolio etc is more important?
The schools are ridiculously expensive, and university as well... so i found that tafe course and another course in a private college which only lasts for 12 months. So the tafe course gives a diploma, but the other one only a certificate IV. what do you think about that certificate IV? I like it because its short and not as expensive as the others but i dont want to have a useless graduation.. i dont know whats the value of this graduation other here.. I personnaly dont see the point of doing many years of studies in fashion design, but i want my diploma to be usefull...

Thank you for your help!

 

[melissay]

Hello

Im french, i just arrived in australia and i dont know anything about graduations here.well i know that the lawest are the certificates then diplomas bachelors masters and doctoras but im serching for a fashion design course so you dont necessary have to do long studies for that... do you know if the graduation is very important to find a job in fashion design? Or if what you do, your portfolio etc is more important?
The schools are ridiculously expensive, and university as well... so i found that tafe course and another course in a private college which only lasts for 12 months. So the tafe course gives a diploma, but the other one only a certificate IV. what do you think about that certificate IV? I like it because its short and not as expensive as the others but i dont want to have a useless graduation.. i dont know whats the value of this graduation other here.. I personnaly dont see the point of doing many years of studies in fashion design, but i want my diploma to be usefull...

Thank you for your help!

 

[asdfghjklmimi]

Wow, I am in the same situation!

 

[rejakip18]

thank you