Reece used Clearing to make a university U-turn and follow his passion

With plenty of university offers in the bag, budding video games artist Reece Bowey should have been all set for the next step in his education after finishing college.

But, having experienced a crisis of confidence in his digital skills, he decided to pursue a career in hospitality instead.

A couple of years down the line, Reece realised hospitality wasn’t his calling in life and decided to revisit the idea of studying Games Art at university.

After a chat with a lecturer at a University of Northampton open day, Reece knew he couldn’t turn the opportunity down a second time, and secured a place on the Games Art course via Clearing.

“I worked very hard to create a portfolio, which impressed the lecturer,” said Reece, who comes from Rugby. “While my A-level results were good enough to be accepted, they’re not everything by any means.

“For an art-based course like mine, it’s more the quality and passion behind the work that matters. “Coming to the open day and speaking to the lecturer face to face helped boost my confidence in applying so much and I would definitely recommend those who are unsure about whether they can get into university to do just that.”

Now a year into his course, Reece is convinced he made the right decision.

He said: “The course itself is fantastic. All of my lecturers are so passionate about what they teach and have a wide breadth of knowledge between them, with real industry contacts. My classmates are very supportive of each other: there is never a bad word said about peers’ work, just frequent constructive criticism and positive feedback. If one student excels in one topic but not so much in another, a fellow student adept in this will frequently support them, and vice versa.

“We even have a Facebook page set up for all students of the course, and lecturers often post links to job advertisements relevant to our course.”

The University’s Clearing website is now open, and includes details of all the courses that are still open for applications.

Would-be students are also invited to attend the University’s Open Day, which takes place on Saturday 18 August.