UCAS University Choices
Personal Statement
There are multiple factors that made me want to be an Interior Designer. Firstly, It is the fact that I love looking at interior spaces and planning the rooms out in my head. Secondly, boredom fills my head whenever I look at the interiors of almost every house in Malaysia as it looks similar to each other. As the planet’s climate is a constant increase in temperature, I want to be able to build something more sustainable. I want to be apart of that change where I can create something new and better for the people, animals and the environment. The final major push that made me want to be an Interior Designer derives from my favourite show called Queer Eye. The Interior Designer, Bobby Berk changes people’s lives by transforming their houses. The look on their faces when they step into the house makes me so emotional that I want to be able to see that for myself and spread happiness like him. I believe I can be an asset.
I am currently doing my second year of my Extended Diploma course in Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts which is recognised by the UAL (University Arts London), studying Interior Design. In Cambridge School of Visual and Performing Arts, I’ve learnt a series of subjects such as Fine Art, Contextual Studies, 3D Design, Graphics and Illustration, Textiles, Critical and Contextual Studies and Life Drawing/Visual Studies in my first year at college which has proven to be very useful in my dispense as it subjected me to different techniques and methodologies. In my second year, I chose Interior Design for my major subject. Before this, I studied for my IGCSEs in Sri Kuala Lumpur International School in Malaysia, taking Business, Maths, Additional Maths, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and English. I am blessed to have grown up in Malaysia as I was immersed in many things. For instance, I can communicate in 3 languages (English, Malay and Chinese) and 2 dialects of Chinese (Cantonese and Hakka). Not only this, I was able to participate in many sports like Basketball, Badminton and Volleyball. I even represented my school in Volleyball (I played as a libero) as my team played in the district and got away with a silver medal. I was a March Past Captain for my house in school. Although we got third place out of fourth, it did teach me that discipline is very important and that when things do not go your way, I must try to make the best out of the situation without panicking. I also made a close bond with my fellow marchers which taught me connections like these are very important.
Besides the academic and physical scene, I’ve actually helped out in an animal shelter (PAWS MALAYSIA), feeding cats, taking the dogs out for a walk, bathing them and providing the shelter with necessary materials such as animal food. In my spare time, I enjoy watching design shows like Queer Eye, Amazing Interiors, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, Abstract: The Art of Design and the World’s Most Extraordinary Homes. I even look at interior design books like New Asian Interiors by Massimo Listri which I gain lots of inspiration from as it features countries like Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Cambodia and etc. Another thing I do in my spare time is look at Japanese Interior Designers like Kanji Ueki as he makes minimalism fill the entire interior. Moreover, he manages to incorporate a lot of clean, sustainable materials. He has designed the interiors for Hotel Shilla in Seoul, South Korea. I absolutely loved the way he designed the hotel, especially the reception area where he made use of light in the dark reception which was mostly made out of dark brown wood.
I believe that the UK is home to many well-known universities and will help me get to the best of my abilities. I feel like the courses here are well thought and caters to the students needs better as the quality of teaching is good and can be understood easier.
Course I have applied for, career opportunities after graduation.
I have applied for the Interior Design courses for all the Universities. In Malaysia, there is a lack of Interior Designers as people (mainly the Baby Boomers of my country that are used to not having designs into their homes but rather practical things) there believe Art is the lowest and most useless education there is. This is one of the reasons why I wanted to do Interior Design. I wanted to break the stigma that the Boomers of our country have set up. By the time I graduate, I would be 22-23 years old. My generation (have strong individual personalities) will want to move out and make their house their own. There are also many apartments now currently being built as well as existing empty apartments standing. I will be working more with clients my age who want to express themselves. Of course there will be other clients who I’ll happily design for in terms of their preferences because they only want the best as I do for them. With my degree, I can be an interior designer, an exhibition designer and a production designer on sets for TV/film. I could even be a product designer with the furniture I would be looking into. All of these career opportunities would be amazing as they are different yet very similar between each other. These are the career opportunities after graduation however, I am still very content in exploring deeper into the culture whilst getting to know my clients so that there is diversity in all of them.
10 questions asked at the interview.
- How do I stimulate my creativity?
- What do you have to offer sustainable wise?
- How do I become a better designer?
- How do I manage my time?
- Could you give me any tips for my project that I am doing now?
- Can I study in another country for one year under your program?
- How many days a week do we have classes?
- Will the university close at night when I want to do some work?
- What does the city have to offer?
- Will there be any trips taken while studying the course?
Interview Date Notifications
Digital Portfolio
Interview Review
The first university I went to was Kingston University. The interviewer said that when he first saw me, I looked closed off and shy but couldn’t help it as I have a bad resting face however, when we sat down and got to talking, I delved into my passion and slowly forgot my nerves. The interview was driven towards why I wanted to do Interior Design and who were my inspirations from. I finished in less than 10 minutes while the others took longer. I thought it was a bad sign however, by the end of the interview, he told me that he’d accept me into Kingston. I was ecstatic. I felt almost too comfortable talking to him.
For Middlesex University, I felt a bit calmer however, when my name was called however, he wanted to know more about my work. I was more alert this time because it was different. The interview lasted for 20 minutes. I talked about my work. This interview was hard as he threw questions at me, demanding an explanation. I delivered it well. It was almost like a debate with the judge instead of the opposition team. In the end, he told me that my portfolio lacked 3D skills but I recovered myself by saying I wanted to improve that here. Questions were asked at the end of the interview and I would say, based on the questions I asked him, it made the interviewer want to accept me that moment.
YiLinKohCSVPA 