How to Apply to an Art College
Having been accepted to various art schools, I feel that I am in a good position to give advice on this topic.
The first and foremost thing you’ll need in order to be accepted into an art college is a portfolio. You should begin work on your portfolio at the beginning of your junior year. If you don’t start then, it will make senior year a stressful time where you’re rushing to assemble a portfolio. Don’t just use your in school art classes to work on pieces for your portfolio, but try to take classes outside of school if you can. It would be best to take classes in areas that you’re not very strong in so that you can improve your skill. Along with that it would be good to try working in new mediums that you haven’t tried before. You may even find a media that you enjoy more than what you had previously been focusing on! I found that I have a love for 3D art through some out of school classes that I took. Try your hand at numerous mediums; computer graphics, watercolor, oil paints, oil pastel, chalk pastel, charcoal, photography, woodworking, clay, metal, wood, glass, colored pencil, ink, acrylic, et cetera.
When working on your portfolio, there are some things that are good to note. You will need to include lots of observational pieces (pieces done from direct observation of real life) in your portfolio. For this DO NOT confine yourself to traditional table top still life. Try your hand at portraiture, figure drawing, landscapes, and interiors, as well as drawing random things (ex. faucets, a half-opened refrigerator, a towel tossed into the corner of your bathroom, light fixtures, and pretty much whatever…) Admissions staff really appreciate it when you think creatively about seemingly normal everyday things, and don’t confine yourself to traditional still life pieces. Composition is very important as well. It is not good to have the focal point of the piece directly in the center of the paper. Move things around a bit, and make things ‘flow’, bringing the eye to focus on several parts of the piece.
Another thing that I feel I need to note is that, even if you’re the next Kaori Yuki, most art schools will not care about your anime-styled art. Quite frankly, they do not want to see it in your portfolio at all, so keep anime-styled works out of your portfolio. Also, you should never ever copy another artist’s work for your portfolio. You can use other art as reference, but you need to alter it drastically to the point that it seems to bear no connections to the work of the other artist. Art schools don’t want to see students who are good at copying. They want to see students who are good at coming up with their own compositions.
Another note is that admissions officers like to see large scale work. They love the scale of pictures that are done on 18”x20” paper!
When putting together your portfolio, have your art teacher help you. A portfolio usually consists of 12 to 15 pieces. Of these you should have at least two examples of each of the following; 3D art, portraits or figures, still life. Five to seven of your works should be observational. It is also good to have a variety of mediums. My portfolio contains ink, charcoal, oil pastel, wood, metal, watercolor, computer graphics, and monoprint. Even though it is predominantly oil pastel, it shows that I’m good with other medias as well. However, DO NOT put in a piece in a different media just for the hell of it. Every college that has reviewed my portfolio told me not to include my clay, acrylic, glass, and oil pieces just to add more mediums, because those pieces didn’t show my strength as an artist. In the eyes of admissions staff, the strength of the pieces you include in your portfolio count much more than how many medias you include in your portfolio (though you should include more than one media nonetheless…) I would say that having at least three or four two-dimensional medias (two of which are colour), as well as at least one three-dimensional media would suffice.
Another thing which I highly recommend would be to get portfolio reviews from individual schools before you submit your final portfolio. Most art schools offer tours and portfolio reviews on request, so take advantage of that! Give the admissions office a call or send the school an e-mail requesting a tour and portfolio review. Most schools are more than happy to accommodate this.
Also, if there is a portfolio day in your area, go to it! This event will give you the chance to have multiple schools review your portfolio over the course of a day. It would be good to bring along parents, a cell phone, and a gameboy to these events. Your parents can hold your place in the four-hour long line for a portfolio review form RISD, while you get portfolio reviews from other schools and wait for your parents to call you and say that they’re almost to the end of the RISD line. The gameboy will help entertain you as you wait in line. Also, it’s good to bring a notebook and pen to these events, so you can jot down what the admissions staff tells you about your portfolio.
The final step in getting your portfolio together is, once you have pretty much all of your pieces together, you’ll need to document them. Most colleges accept portfolios on CDs, but a handful of schools do not. You should check each colleges website for how they want your portfolio, and if they accept CDs, whether it needs to be formatted for a Mac or a PC.
Also, a few schools have extra portfolio requirements. Of the 25-ish schools I looked into, Rhode Island School of Design was the only college to have such requirements. Extra portfolio requirements are usually things such as drawing a certain object and sending the original drawing in. Though such requirements are rare, they’re good to check out anyways.
My portfolio is posted here as a reference.
The next part of applying to art college is the academic aspect. Some colleges are more lax than others, but most schools take academics into consideration. Your GPA usually has to be above 2.5 (meaning that the average of your grades is around 79-80%). Some schools are more lax than this; others are tougher than this. If an AP studio art course is offered at your school it is recommended that you take it. Just like with regular colleges, art schools like to see students who can handle AP work. If you feel you can take on more AP classes, then go for it!
Most art schools also require you to take either the SAT or ACT. It is good to begin taking these tests towards the middle of your junior year, and take the test at least three times. This will increase your chances of getting a good score. Each time I took the SAT, my scores were higher by a significant amount. If you are from a low income family, you may be able to get fee waivers from your school so that you don’t have to pay for your SAT or ACT test. Also, if you have spoken English for less than seven years, then you may take the TOEFL test as opposed to the SAT or ACT. TOEFL tests your English language abilities, and is accepted in place of the SAT or ACT at many colleges.
By the beginning of your senior year, you should have a list of colleges that you’re interested in. During this time you need to check and see what these schools require for writing samples. Most regular colleges with art programs will accept your standard college essay, but art specific schools usually require a statement of purpose instead. A statement of purpose is usually an essay about what drew you to art and why you wish to pursue an education in that field. If you check out the ‘admissions’ section of most art colleges’ websites, they’ll tell you what sort of prompt you need to write on. Make sure to give copies of both your essays to your English teacher, and let your art teacher see your statement of purpose, so that they can help you edit them and make sure that they are what colleges are looking for!
As a note on artist statements, please, please, PLEASE refrain from following the "I want to go to art school because..." route when writing youur essay. Delve into your philosophy and views on art. How have you developed so far, and what developmental path do you see yourself following in the future? How do politics, religion, society, et cetera affect your art? Is your art a form of rebellion against any of those instutitions? Explore these concepts instead of declaring that "I've loved art since I was a child, I've worked really hard at it, and that's why I want to go to art school."
Alongside all of that, you will need three or more letters of recommendation for most schools. Ask both your guidance counselor and art teacher for recommendations, as well as at least one other teacher.
It is good to include a resume with all of this. This should include a brief history of your family and home life, your achievements, your job(s), and any athletic, community service, civic, or extra-curricular activities you have been involved in during high school.
Finally, you will need to fill out applications. The Common Application (which can be filled out at http://commonapp.org/) is accepted by many colleges, but most of the art specific schools I’ve looked into do not accept it. If some of the schools you are looking into do accept it, then by all means, fill it out! As for colleges that do not accept the common application, you can usually either fill out an application on their website and e-mail it, or fill it out and snail mail it to the school.
You also need to have you SAT and/or ACT mailed to the colleges to which you are applying. You can do this through the SAT or ACT websites.
You should also schedule an interview at the school, if possible. Though interviews are not required by most colleges, an interview may give you an edge over other applicants, so it is definitely recommended.
Once all of this is cleared up, you should send everything out to the schools you are interested in. Here is a little checklist of things to mail them. It is best if you try to mail everything together.
-Application
-A Check for the Application Fee
-At Least Three Letters of Recommendation
-College Essay or Statement of Purpose
-Resume
-Documentation of Your Portfolio
-Your High School Transcripts
-Any Extra Materials the School Requires
Here are a few websites you should check out:
Fastweb.com- This is a website containing a list of scholarships.
Scholarshipexperts.com- This also contains a list of scholarships.
CollegeBoard.com- This offers online SAT registration and score reviews, as well as a pretty cool college search engine.
ACT.org- This website offers online ACT registration.
If you want any critique on your portfolio or statement of purpose, please feel free to send me a note through DeviantArt, or just send me a PM through Gaia! My DeviantArt name is dreamerspirit.
The best of luck to you!
If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask me. I'll be happy to help! ^_^
