MFA Graphic Design: 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.

To ensure the faculty committee can properly review your work, please follow these guidelines carefully. Portfolios must be submitted directly through the CalArts Application. We do not accept submissions via SlideRoom, third-party platforms, PDFs, or external website links.

Content

• Submit approximately 20 to 30 slides. 
• Submit work that shows your point of view as a designer as well as your technical ability. 
• Works developed within the last three years are preferred. We encourage work in any of the following: graphic design, typography, illustration, animation, web design, 3D design, photography, painting, and drawing. Works-in-progress are welcome.

Formatting

• Submit only separate, individual images of your work. Do not upload pre-formatted portfolio pages, composite layouts, or multi-page PDFs.
• Ensure each image fills the entire slide. Because the review committee cannot zoom in, please submit close-ups or detail shots as separate, individual slides.
• Use the provided text fields in the upload tool for titles, captions, and descriptions. Do not embed text or captions directly onto your images.
• The total combined runtime for all portfolio videos should not exceed 7 minutes. This does not include the video introduction mentioned below.

Final Submission

• You can upload, view, and rearrange your slides up until you submit your application. No changes can be made after that point.
• CalArts cannot view your portfolio until you submit the application and pay the application fee. Please double-check that you are submitting to the correct degree level and program.

Need Help?

For additional guidance on building your portfolio, please register for our Open Houses and/or virtual portfolio review here. If you experience any technical difficulties during upload, please email admissions@calarts.edu.

Please write specifically about your interest and knowledge of graphic design. Your designer statement should concisely address your objectives and goals as a designer in the context of current issues in design practice, as well as how these goals serve as a basis for graduate-level study. 

Please include information that answers the following:

• Why do you want to study graphic design at the MFA level?
• Why do you want to study in the Graphic Design program at CalArts?
• What kind of work are you interested in making as an MFA student?
• Please choose ONE project from your portfolio and reflect on it. This allows the committee to understand how you use research, process, and critique.

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

Applicants are required to submit a video introduction. Although we’d love to meet you in person, this wouldn’t be practical, so we ask that you send a brief video introducing yourself. Please tell us about yourself and your interests.

• Duration: minimum of 30 seconds, maximum of 90 seconds.
• Speak directly to the camera.
• No edits.
• No special effects or on-screen overlays.
• File should be uploaded or linked directly in your portfolio.
• Cell phone cameras are fine.

Two letters of recommendation are required. At least one recommendation should be written by a person who understands your designer work, such as an 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’ve 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 want 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).