University Offers: Natnisha (Tess) Kitiyakara, Rhode Island School of Design

Congratulations to Tess on her offers from Rhode Island School of Design, University of the Arts London, Pratt Institute, Savannah College of Art and Design, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Syracuse University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign She plans to attend the Rhode Island School of Design to study Industrial Design.

“Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is my first choice as this university provides everything I could ask for in an Arts university. When I went to pre-college there a year before, I was extremely satisfied and happy at the type of work they give and the help they provide to students. The location has also really helped influence my decision. I wanted someplace that wasn’t going to be distracting me from work, and Rhode Island was the perfect place. As well as this, RISD and Brown University share a mutually beneficial relationship, allowing RISD students and Brown students to use the other’s facilities and take courses in the other university. This was important to me, as although the Arts is my number one interest, it is not my only interest. This relationship will further allow me to gain skills and knowledge that I can apply to my work. At the top of the field, RISD gives opportunities to students to help broaden their minds and perspective.”

“I just felt as though the arts connected to me more than all the other subjects I had to learn, and that there was space for interpretation where there was no right or wrong, which is something applicable to the real world. It was something I enjoyed doing, and genuinely had a passion towards. I couldn’t imagine myself doing science or maths for the rest of my life whereas I know I would be happy doing art and design for my job.”

“Make sure you plan beforehand especially if you are making a portfolio! You will not have time to do a lot of things and you will have to prioritise what you think is more important, which sometimes includes having to chose either IB work or finishing your portfolio. As well as this, having to make a portfolio will take up most of your time and you may have to miss out on things you wanted to do, such as hanging out with friends. For actually creating the pieces, make sure you know how many pieces are required for each university and always try and do the maximum so that if you run out of time you will still have the minimum requirement. Lastly, have fun! If you are going down this route, I can probably assume that you enjoy the arts to a certain extent. Don’t turn something you enjoy into a chore that you have to force yourself to do, this won’t help you in the future!”