BA Media and Creative Industries Admissions

Welcome to our Admissions Page

We aim to make the admissions experience as enjoyable and straightforward as possible. Please see the information below for further details about what you need to do and what to expect. This page changes each academic year so if you have applied before please re-read.

The process

Below is an overview of the admissions process, from start to finish, as well as some FAQs for further information.

1: Submit an application

Ensure you get your application to us by the UCAS equal consideration deadline in late January, and when you receive our acknowledgement email read it carefully to understand what we will need from you in the form of a Portfolio. If you meet our academic requirements you will receive a further email with instructions regarding your Portfolio. Please do not attempt to upload your Portfolio until you receive this email.

2: See what our students say

While putting together your portfolio you might like to take the time to watch the following video:

What our students have to say about the Media and Creative Industries degree:

3: Submit your Portfolio

We ask you to do this within three weeks of receiving our email request. We ask for THREE items. All the instructions are in the email but here is a summary so you can start thinking about it before you receive the email:

Creative Work

An example of creative work might be something you have made in the past -- a piece of art, media, film or internet communication -- though preferably it will be very recent or made in order to demonstrate the skills and aptitudes we are looking for. We do not expect high level technical skills or practitioner experience -- we are looking for a tangible demonstration of your intelligence, creativity, passion and the willingness to experiment. Here are some ideas of the kinds of things students create in our department: short videos, curated images, blogs, animations, memes, adverts, posters, events, creative writing, a creative business idea, an illustration, logo or brand design, a game or app proposal. Your work should be ORIGINAL. If it is a mashup, appropriation of stock imagery, or a recycling of other content, then you will need to include (with credits, or a document) references to your sources (telling us where your content or material came from). The letter will suggest some examples and we only require up to THREE examples.

A Video

Your video should be of you discussing the sample of work you are submitting in terms of its creativity and your process of creation -- the effect, the design and/or the concept. This is designed to give you the opportunity to show us your ideas and thinking as a person, while having control over your representation. The email will explain the length, format and submission requirements. The video should be maximum 5 minutes.

Written Work

You will be asked to write a response to a challenging question. There will be full details in our email on the questions and format required.

When logged into the Applicant Portal, you will see a blue banner titled 'Actions required by applicant'. If we have requested your Portfolio, you will see this detailed here, with the deadline by which you must upload it. Please ensure that once you have selected the correct file, you also click the 'Upload' button, as shown in the screenshot below. If you do not complete this step, your Portfolio will not be visible to the Admissions team and your application is at risk of being made unsuccessful. If you have fully uploaded your portfolio, there will be a date in the Uploaded column, and the Action column will be blank.

Please note that due to changes in the application process for 2024 entry, the wording which appears in the Action Required column may differ slightly from the example shown in the screenshot.

4: What happens next?

Once you have submitted your Portfolio, this will be assessed alongside your UCAS application and scored. We expect to wait until after the UCAS equal consideration deadline of 31st January 2024 before confirming the majority of our admissions decisions. Depending on the applicant pool in any given year, some individual applicants may hear from us before this point, but you should not be worried if your decision takes a little longer. If your application was submitted by 31st January we will make a decision by 16th May 2024 at the latest.

5: Offer Holder Event

Your offer Holder event will be a live group online experience in the Spring/Early Summer designed to give you a greater insight into our degree programme and allow you a chance to meet academics and current students. The event will be a live group online experience (dates to be confirmed) and you will be using the software Miro. This may be new to you, but it is used professionally across the media and creative industries, so it is a good idea to become familiar with it.

Miro is an online collaborative whiteboard that will enable you to contribute to tasks as part of our offer holder afternoon meet and greet
To find out more about Miro and how to use it please watch the following video:

Code of Conduct

Please note the Media and Creative Industries are global, cross-cultural and intersectional in their reach and impact so we expect all who engage with us to be anti-exclusion and thoughtful of others. By participating in our admissions process, you are agreeing to abide by the following code of conduct:

I agree to treat others with respect and dignity. I will not use any language or other content (in any format) which could be deemed to be offensive, threatening, or humiliating to others, or incites hatred of any kind
I agree to participate in the admissions process as my self and not to ask or allow anyone else to assist me or impersonate my identity
I agree not to share any questions asked of me in the admissions process with others such as friends or teachers at my school/college or online
I agree to be mindful of my own privacy by being careful with what I share and the passwords and security settings I use
I understand that if I exhibit behaviour which goes against any of the principles above, the Media and Creative Industries team reserve the right to issue me with a warning and/or where it is deemed necessary, remove me from the admissions process and issue an unsuccessful decision on my application

FAQs

What is the online offer-holder event?

The offer holder event will take place online using Microsoft Teams to gather everyone together and Miro for the creative group work. MS Teams is a safe and secure programme and data is encrypted. If you already use Microsoft Teams, you will need to log out of your account before joining the meeting as a guest.

Before your offer holder event you’ll be sent an invitation via email – this will include a link to an online video call and a link to the Miro page we have set up. This will be sent to the email address in your application form.

Please join your video call using the link provided in the calendar invitation email, around 15 minutes before the scheduled appointment.

We strongly recommend that you ensure you are in a quiet space for the duration of the offer holder event (approx 2 hours). You will be required to have internet access.

Please follow the below guidance on how to join your offer holder event:

Desktop Computer or Laptop

To join the Video call, please ensure that you have a web cam and microphone set up and working on your device before the event to avoid problems joining.
At the time of the event, select the link in the email and the Video call will open in your web browser. You do not need to download anything, select ‘Continue in browser’.
Please use one of these web browsers; Chrome, Internet Explorer, Edge or Safari. If you are using Safari, you will need to download Microsoft Teams prior to your offer holder event
During the event we will ask you to create responses via Miro. Please ensure you are able access the Miro board prior. You will be given a link to the Miro board at the beginning of the offer holder session on Teams.

Smartphone or Tablet (Apple iPhone, iPad or Android)

Please download the Microsoft Teams app prior to your event. This can be done via the Apple App Store or Google Play Store. You do not need to set up an account.
At the time of your event, select the link in the email and this will automatically open the app, whereby you can join as a guest.
NOTE: the event details may appear as an attachment within the email for Apple Mail users. To reveal the Join Microsoft Teams Meeting link, click on the notes section of the invitation to reveal the Microsoft Teams link. You need to download and install the Teams app first.
During the event we will ask you to create responses via Miro. Please ensure you are able access the Miro board prior to the event.

If the Video call is unsuccessful on the day, we will attempt to contact you using the telephone number you provided on your application form. If you require an alternative telephone number to be used in this event, please let us know.

How will my needs, time and emotions be met via this admissions process?

In our experience, face to face interviews for our course can be less inclusive of those applicants who are abroad, have difficulty travelling to campus, have a disability, or are subject to travel restrictions. For these and reasons related to a greener campus and a more sustainable use of energy and time, we believe that you will be more relaxed and your needs will be met if you represent yourself in your own way and then send us the content. Having the time to select your creative work, record and edit your video and write your response to our question in your own time, at your own pace, without us demanding you be at a location for a specific time, is the best way to get the best impression of you. Once you are an offer holder, that is when we ask you to complete a number of live creative tasks and join in with collaborative discussions online, getting to meet and connect with other offer holders. All the steps of our admissions process have been designed to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate how you would respond to a particular stimulus or challenge. If you have any specific access needs then we do encourage you to let us know. We are confident that all applicants will be able to participate fully within the selection process.

How can I visit the campus and meet the tutors?

While our admissions process is entirely digital and fair to all applicants wherever they are in the world, we do recognise you might like to actually meet us in person. The best way to get the most out of a visit to Warwick is to attend a campus Open DayLink opens in a new window in October or June. Offer holders often do attend the June open days and are introduced to the course and the tutors, and find out all Warwick has to offer. If you are an offer holder and have not yet visited Warwick and cannot make one of the open days, and would like to visit us then please contact us on the general enquiries email below.

This page will be regularly updated – please check back again for the most up-to-date information.