Some thoughts for next term..

Do you want to do media after A level, at uni or in employment with training?

Then you will have to stand out from the crowd.

Get some good media work experience during next year. Several LR students had a great time at the Cambridge Film Festival in July. See earlier entries here on W/E advice. Any media work experience is valuable.

Do some independent practical projects out of college to showcase your technical, creative and organisational skills.

Look out for competitions and festivals where you can showcase your own work.
Choose ones suitable for entry level work and consider projects done in college as well.

Consider taking a year out to earn money for study and to develop practical skills.

Careers Day follow-up

Tom talked about journalism at Leeds and Julian points out some of the pitfalls of media at university.



Josh (Ryd's brother) and Rob discuss their different Media Production degrees at Staffordshire and Westminster.



Ed promoting Film Studies at Anglia Ruskin and his forthcoming Channel swim.

Careers Day Message

If you want to get on to a good media course you will have to do a lot of research. Unlike your A level, which is a national qualification and covers much the same material wherever you do it, each university decides for itself what the content of their degree will be, based on their own staff interests and expertise. So if you are interested in making films, don't apply to a course which only does TV!

A lot of courses are excellent, a few are a waste of your time and money. Some are mostly practical, others mainly about media theory. A few are highly specialised, many are more generalist. What do YOU want to do?

The saddest thing for us is to see a talented student on the wrong course. DON'T LEAVE IT TO CHANCE! We can help you with advice and information, but in the end YOU have to decide on the course that suits you. The sooner you start looking, the better!

Careers Day should be your starting point... ('Choosing the Right Course' below).... and the Careers department the next place to visit. Ask for advice on media courses and they will probably start you with the glossaries of all the hundreds of courses available. From here you can procede to individual university prospectuses- remember, these are marketing documents, designed to show everything in the best possible light! When you have a shortlist and perhaps after you have had advice from the media department, you will want to visit and check out the reality. More advice and help on visits and questions to ask later.

GAP YEAR JOBS

For students with good video making and interpersonal skills, Big Wide Talk in Cambridge offer a good salary and excellent WE. For details see JS or email

ann.jamieson@bigwidetalk.org

Careers Box, also in Cambridge, want someone to help build their website.
Details from

nick@careersbox.co.uk

Careers Day 29th June

We will have speakers for those interested in media and film courses from ARU and University of Lincoln, both popular with our students and both respected nationally.

There will also be a panel discussion with ex-Long Road students who are on media degree courses or in media work.

There is also an opportunity to get advice from an expert in media education who has taught and researched FE and HE media and been Exams Officer for OCR Media Studies. He will help you cut through some of the hype about media studies after A level.

Sign up early!

Destinations 2005

We have 'known destinations' for 129 of the students who completed A levels in media and/or film in June this year.
Of that 129, 61 have gone on to start media degrees of one sort or another;

24 media production
19 other media courses
7 film studies
6 journalism
5 photography

University of Lincoln was favourite destination again, with 13 new students from Long Road, plus Charlie, our technician from last year!

Choosing the right course...

Hi, and welcome back! Over the summer I have been to conferences and open days, talking to admissions tutors and media employers, keeping up to date with what you need to do to get on to the best courses which will get you into the best jobs. Here are my top ten tips for choosing media degree courses which are likely to lead to real work in the media.

1. Department should be well established. 10 years + is preferable
2. Course should have significant production content, at least 50%
3. A score of 20+ for teaching quality {out of 24}
4. Accredited by professional media institutions (where appropriate)
5. Input from media professionals as staff or visitors
6. Should offer work experience with local/national media industries
7. High quality, up to date equipment/facilities, sufficient for student numbers
8. Good+ record of student progression into employment in media industries
9. Department should have a dynamic research and post-graduate programme
10.Staff and students active in national and international festivals, competitions
and conferences

If your chosen course scores 7+, that should be fine, 4 or less, be careful! If you don't have top grade predictions, there are some good courses in the 5-6 range.


REMINDER:UNIVERSITY OF WESTMINSTER OPEN DAY SATURDAY 1ST OCTOBER.
Westminster scores 9/10 and looks for BBB grades.