What Factors are Considered for Art School Admissions

The goal of the art school admissions process is to gauge an applicant's potential for success by investigating his or her academic work and individual talent. Admissions requirements vary dramatically from school to school—The University of Illinois at Chicago's undergraduate art program requires no portfolio, while a portfolio is the most important factor in a Cal Arts application—so careful research into each school's application procedures is crucial.

Though all programs weigh their selection criteria differently, the process generally consists of these five elements:

1. Interview

Some schools, such as the Yale University School of Art, only conduct interviews after the preliminary selection and consider them an important factor in narrowing down the incoming class. These on-campus interviews can be an all-day event, and their purpose is to judge both individual students and the quality of students' work when evaluated in person (as opposed to photographs of the work, which is typically the format of a submitted portfolio).

Others recommend but do not require an admissions interview; the Carnegie Mellon School of Art, for example, does not require applicants to visit campus, but its alumni interviews help both to inform the applicant about the school and to learn more about the applicant's personality and interests. In this case, though the interviewer is answering the applicant's questions about the school, he or she is also judging the applicant's communication skills, personal motivation, and any mitigating factors that may account for past academic underperformance. Therefore, these semi-evaluative alumni interviews are an ideal time for the applicant to distinguish herself with any personal accomplishments or special circumstances which might not be covered by the rest of the application process.

2. Academic Transcripts

Official transcripts from high school and/or previous undergraduate study are almost always necessary, though art schools are generally more academically permissive than other post-secondary institutions. Transcripts should either be furnished along with other application materials or supplied firsthand by the schools themselves (in some cases, the latter is an absolute requirement).

A GPA of 2.75 or 3.0 is a common minimum requirement, but some programs are flexible in their admissions standards. The Massachusetts College of Art and Design, for instance, permits students with a sub-3.0 high school GPA to compensate with sufficiently high SAT or ACT scores.

3. References/Letters of Recommendation

Most post-secondary programs will require either two or three letters of recommendation, preferably from previous instructors. Occasionally a program will only require references able to testify your artistic and personal abilities.

Either of these can be difficult to obtain for applicants who have been out of school for too long to have contact with former instructors. In this case, IUPUI's art admissions office emphasizes that a reference's professional capacity is less important than his or her familiarity with the applicant's skills, and that recent letters from employers or coworkers are therefore preferable to letters than those of actual art instructors who may no longer remember the applicant well.

4. Essay

An admissions essay or statement of purpose typically ranges from 250 to 1000 words or two pages—an admission office's exact specifications in spacing, font, and general presentation are often listed on its website or application. Essay prompts commonly ask a general question about the applicant's interest in the arts or in the program to which he or she is applying. Some prompts ask for a specific observation, e.g. “explain the role of art in society,” while others provide a series of direct questions to be answered in essay format. Finally, some graduate programs will require an applicant to provide a piece of artwork and a statement about his or her artistic sensibilities.

The University of Michigan's admissions office emphasizes the need for uniqueness, honesty, and relevance in admissions essays. When possible, students should concentrate on their own individual qualifications for the specific program, but without straying from the parameters of the question asked. Essays should feel authentic, their prose should be direct, and they should be carefully and meticulously proofread.

5. Portfolio

Many art schools (the University of Houston School of Art, Montgomery College) concede that a student's portfolio is the single most important factor in the admissions process. Generally, a portfolio will consist of either 35mm slides or a collection of images on a CD/DVD. Every program has its own specific portfolio requirements for art format and composition, but it's rare for the applications process to require an applicant's physical portfolio (beyond bringing it to the interview).

Most portfolios require about twenty pieces of recent work from within the past one or two years, and they will often call for pieces in the medium to which the student is applying, though many portfolios will also specifically require drawings (The Hartford Art School, for example, requires a portfolio to be half-composed of drawn work).

According to the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design's Executive Director of Admissions, a successful portfolio exemplifies technique, concept, creativity, communication, identity, design, and stylistic variety. These elements work in concert to articulate an applicant's personal education and individual approach to his or her art.

Article Resources:

California Arts
Yale School of Art
CMU School of Art
Carnegie Mellon School of Art
Ohio University Art School
Massachusetts School of Art
University of Michigan Art School
Montgomery College School of Art and Design
The Hartford School