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We offer places at Cardiff School of Art and Design based on an interview process. It’s not just about exam results - we want to know more about you as a person, and as an artist, designer or maker.
This helps us to ensure that both our innovative interdisciplinary curriculum and our diverse and creative community of students and staff is the right fit for you.
We’re looking for evidence of your enthusiasm, creativity and curiosity, as well as your skills and potential as a creative and critical thinker, artist, designer or maker.
The interview process varies depending on which course you have applied for, but most involve a review of your portfolio of work and a conversation with the subject team. Some of our interviews are one-to-one, while others may involve group exercises. All of our interviews are informal - we want you to feel relaxed and able to be yourself.
Your interview may be in person or online, and the majority of our courses also require a portfolio. We then hold applicant days in the Spring to give you the perfect opportunity to visit our campus, see our facilities and have a full taster of your chosen course.
See our Portfolio Tips section for information on how to create a basic electronic portfolio.
Here a few tips on how to get the most out of your interview at CSAD:
- Do your research – make sure you’ve read all the information on our website about the course you are applying for before your interview. You could also check out our Instagram and Student Blogs.
- Prepare some questions – ask us about things like work placements and further study after your degree, or anything else you’d like to know about studying with us.
- Be yourself – it’s not a formal job interview, so we don’t expect you to wear a suit! We want to meet the real you.
- Be on time – make sure to read all of the information we send you and allow plenty of time to get ready. You’ll perform much better if you aren’t stressed about being late. If there’s a problem and you think you might be late, get in touch and let us know as soon as possible.
Your portfolio is a collection of your work. It can include pieces you’ve worked on at school or college, and personal work that you’ve created for yourself. Here are some tips on how to make the most of your portfolio:
What to include in your portfolio
It's a good idea to tailor your portfolio to the course you are applying for, but there are some general things that are useful to include no matter which subject you are interested in:
- Evidence of a good range of art and design skills. This could include 2D mark-making such as drawing, painting, composition, and/or examples of 3D making – objects, sculpture, textiles, products etc. You can also include links to moving image work hosted on sites such as Vimeo or YouTube.
- Initial ideas, sketches and development as well as finished pieces. It should give us an insight into your interests, skills and creativity.
- Quality over quantity. Part of preparing a good portfolio is deciding what to leave out – rather than showing us everything you’ve ever done, choose your best and most relevant pieces.
- Show us your experiments. Include examples where you tried something new, or took a risk – even if it didn’t work out. This shows us that you can work outside of your comfort zone and demonstrates curiosity.
How to create an electronic portfolio
The most straightforward way to provide us with a portfolio is to email a PDF file to us – we will tell you where to send this when we contact you about your interview.
If your file is particularly large and cannot be sent by email, you may need to send via a file sharing website such as WeTransfer.
Download our guide for Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create a PDF Portfolio.
While a PDF is our preferred format, we can also accept a link to a portfolio website if you have one.
If you are successful at interview, we will write to you with either a conditional or unconditional offer. We will also inform UCAS so that they can update your profile on Track.
If you receive an unconditional offer, we expect you to continue with your current studies and complete your qualifications to achieve the best results you can. All of your qualifications are important to your future career prospects, and may be essential for entering some professions. You may also need them when applying for further study.