ART and design courses are the one area where assessments, other than Leaving Cert points, apply to most courses. It is also the area where greatest confusion reigns.
Art/design colleges operate up to five forms of assessment for allocating places a project, a driving test, portfolio assessment, interview and points Some use only one of the above, most use at least two and some use multiple forms.
Applicants are confused and college brochures may not explain clearly what is involved Art and design applicants must understand the procedures exactly because these courses are of restricted application, that is late applications (after February 1st) are not accepted.
Not only is the situation puzzling but it is compounded by procedure changes. Countdown has compiled an annual guide to art and design admissions procedures for five years and each year the conditions are altered. The following is a summary of this situation for the main colleges as best as this column can ascertain.
NCAD Confusion begins here. Entry to the main courses of the National College of Art and Design is not through the CAO system at all. It has its own separate applications system with a different closing date from the CAO. The college operates a common first year core course from which students may then advance to specialised areas in second year. NCAD decides places for this course solely on the basis of a portfolio Leaving Cert points are not counted (you just have to get the basic degree requirements of a minimum of two higher Cs and four passes). The closing date for applications is 5 p.m., January 26th, the Friday before the CAO closing date. Portfolios must also be handed in by then.
Applicants will hear from NCAD in early March. Portfolios may be retrieved from mid February (you'll need them for other colleges).
To complicate matters more, two other NCAD courses are in the CAO system the art teaching degree, listed under NCAD, and the industrial design degree run jointly with UL and listed under UL in the CAO.
Neither counts Leaving Cert points. All applicants are contacted and invited to interview. Those who accept are issued with a drawing test, which they must present at interview in early May. This assessment comprises personal interview, portfolio and drawing test. The teaching qualification also requires a minimum of two higher Cs.
The industrial design degree has maths/science/technology subject requirements. See brochure.
Dun Laoghaire The College of Art and Design in Dun Laoghaire operates its own separate portfolio assessment. In March applicants are requested to submit a portfolio which is assessed on a fail/pass basis. The successful are then called to an interview/portfolio assessment in April which carries a maximum of 600 points (the portfolio can be further developed between March and April). These are then added to the Leaving Cert points to allocate places.
DIT DIT Mountjoy Square offers six art and design courses. Applicants must hand in their portfolios on either Thursday, February 22nd, or Friday, February 23rd, before 4.30 p.m., as the DIT general information booklet advises.
Applicants will receive no further notification about this date and late submissions are not accepted.
The portfolio is either passed or failed.
Those who pass are interviewed in late March/early April. A maximum of 600 points is allocated to the interview plus portfolio. Places are allocated on the basis of Leaving Cert points plus portfolio assessment/interview points.
RTCs Nominally the eight RTCs with art/design departments operate some form of centralised allocation system. In practice, it is a joke. Carlow and Letterkenny do not participate, Sligo has dropped out of part of it and the other five differ in its implementation.
The key to the centralised system was supposed to be the project a strategy devised to circumvent the problem of thousands of art/design applicants dragging portfolios all around the country.
The RTCs decided to introduce a March project for applicants. This pass/fail test meant unsuccessful candidates would not waste any further time dragging portfolios around different colleges.
But all this did in many cases was to add a third layer to the selection procedure project, portfolio and Leaving Cert points.
Some colleges award points for the project, others do not. Some request a portfolio in addition, others don't.
PROJECT Athlone, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford all ask students to do a project. Applicants for art/design courses in those colleges will get a letter from the CAO in March detailing the work and they have about four weeks to do it. It is fairly broad and general, giving students six headings and asking them to do a drawing under one. The same project applies for all five colleges, it is returned to the CAO and assessed by the colleges.
The following is a summary of the RTC situation.
Galway RTC Galway gives a maximum of 600 points for the project and adds this to your Leaving Cert points there is no portfolio assessment.
Cork (Crawford) and Limerick RTCs operate the project as a pass/fail exercise awarding no points for it. If successful, an interview/portfolio assessment follows in April for which 600 points maximum is available. This is added to your Leaving Cert points. Up to this year theoretically, there was a degree of co operation between Cork and Limerick. Students for some courses offered the possibility of interview/assessment for both colleges in the one location, ie either Cork or Limerick. Limerick told us common assessment with Cork was not yet decided and probably would not go ahead this year Cork, on the other hand, told us it would go ahead. Your guess is as good as mine.
Waterford RTC Waterford has a straightforward pass/fail assessment of the project and no portfolio at all. If you pass the project, places are then awarded simply on Leaving Cert points no points for the project.
Letterkenny RTC There is a little independent republic operating here. Letterkenny does its own thing and has no involvement with the centralised project.
It likes to meet applicants and calls them to Letterkenny in March. A drawing test is administered there and a portfolio is assessed. There a maximum of 600 points for the combined portfolio and drawing test. Marks are added to Leaving Certificate points to give a composite score. Admission procedures are under review.
Sligo RTC does not participate in the project. For its diploma in art, portfolios can be posted to the college. There is no need to attend for portfolio assessment but students may do so if they wish. The college will return the portfolio by post. The portfolio score is added to Leaving Cert points.
For its industrial design, neither portfolio nor project is involved. Admission is decided on Leaving Cert points, but additional points are allocated to Leaving Cert art grades the only college to do so. It simply multiplies your Leaving Cert art points by four.
Incidentally, our supplement last week listed 440 and 385 respectively as the final cut off points for these two courses it should be noted that this induces portfolio points.
Athlone RTC operates the project on a pass/fail basis. Those who pass attend for portfolio assessment. Marks are added to the Leaving Certificate points and places are awarded.
Carlow RTC no project and no portfolio. All places are awarded on Leaving Cert points alone. How applicants' artistic ability is assessed, we don't know.
Dun Laoghaire College of Art and Design is holding open days on January 17th, 18th and 19th