MFA Art: Admission Requirements (Art)

Create an account to begin the application process. This is where you’ll complete each step in the application and receive updates on your application status. Add your personal background and academic history.

• We want to know what your artistic interests are and how that manifests in your practice. Your work can be in any medium; in fact, we encourage applicants with multiple interests to submit a variety of work. In order for your portfolio to be seriously considered by the faculty committee and in order to produce the most advantageous presentation, it is important to follow the guidelines. Please read through the requirements carefully. Direct any questions to your Assistant Director of Admissions, they’re here to help!
• Your portfolio must be submitted through the portfolio section of the CalArts application, and should include approximately 15-20 works representative of your most recent or current work (preferably within the last three years). Some sketches and works-in-progress are acceptable. Drawings or paintings created digitally are accepted, however if your practice has physical elements it is to your advantage to also include a selection of work done directly with physical materials or methods.
• Do not submit a pre-formatted portfolio or composite images. Submit separate images of individual works. Pre-formatted portfolios do not provide an acceptable presentation of your artwork and we highly discourage them. Do not submit composite images, PDFs, or links to websites, and please make sure that the image fills the slide. Otherwise, we will not be able to view the work.
• We are not able to zoom in on the images. Please submit detail images on a separate slide.
• Enter any captions, descriptions, or titles of your work in the fields provided in the portfolio upload tool. Do not add captions, descriptions, titles or other extraneous text within the area where you upload your image.
• We are looking for personal work that gives us a sense of who you are as an artist, rather than technical exercises (i.e., please do not include generic class assignments, figure/life drawing, still life drawings) unless you believe they offer a view of a personal and/or unique approach.
• The sum of all videos in the portfolio (not including the video intro detailed below) should preferably be less than 7 minutes. Unfortunately, we will not have enough time to review more than that.

If you experience technical difficulties while uploading your portfolio, please email admissions@calarts.edu.

An artist statement provides context for faculty to better understand your practice and the inspirations behind your research. Your statement should address at least three of the following questions:

• Who/what are your main inspirations?
• Why are you applying to this particular program? What are your expectations for the overall CalArts experience?
• Which CalArts faculty would you like to work with and why?
• What impact would you like your work to have in different communities and audiences?

Your statement should be between 500 and 1,000 words.

Although we’d love to meet you in person, this wouldn’t be practical, so we require you to send a brief intro video as the last item of your portfolio. Please introduce yourself, your practice, and your inspirations. Suggested guidelines:

• Duration: minimum of 30 seconds, maximum of 90 seconds.
• Speak directly to the camera and avoid reading from a script. We prefer spontaneous videos where we can learn more about you on a personal level.
• No special effects or on-screen overlays, and no edits.
• The file should be uploaded directly in your application as the last item in your portfolio.
• No professional-level equipment is needed. Cell phone cameras are perfectly fine.
• We prefer to hear you speak about your practice in general over focus on just one particular piece.

Two letters of recommendation are required. At least one recommendation should be written by a person who understands your work, such as a performance instructor or art teacher.

All letters of recommendation should be received by the application deadline, so it’s important that you contact your recommenders months before. We ask that you submit the requests for your letters of recommendation through the online application, as it will allow you to track when we receive your requested letters.

If this is not possible, you may download the Letter of Recommendation Form (PDF) and have your recommender send their letters by mail to the Office of Admissions. Please choose only one method--either through the online application (preferred) or by mail--per recommender. Letters of recommendation will not be accepted via credentialing services such as Parchment or Naviance.

Mailed letters of recommendation should be sent to:
CalArts Office of Admissions
24700 McBean Pkwy.
Valencia, CA 91355
United States of America

Letters of recommendation must be written in English or accompanied by a certified English translated document.

Applicants who have passed the preliminary selection process will be notified in mid-February. At that time, candidates will be invited to visit CalArts in March for an interview and to meet faculty and students. The interview is required of invited candidates and is an important component of the final selection process. Video chat interviews are available in exceptional cases, however, we like to emphasize the importance of having an in-person interview as part of the application process for prospective students. Additionally, it gives you an opportunity to see the school and meet and talk to the faculty.

Once you begin your application to CalArts, you are required to upload copies of academic transcripts from all institutions attended - these are your unofficial transcripts. Only the unofficial transcripts are required for the application.

How to submit transcripts

Missing information can significantly delay a decision on your application. We will not issue an acceptance letter without the necessary transcripts. 

If you are accepted, you will need to submit official transcripts (which will need to be sent directly by the institution).