Admissions

All students applying to the Division of Art, including B.F.A .and B.A. candidates, must submit a digital portfolio of 18-20 works and apply for admission through SMU’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions.

Please include a list of artistic endeavors and an artist statement on the Extracurricular Resume and Application which you submit to the Office of Admission as part of the application checklist.

Submission of a portfolio through SMU SlideRoom is required when you apply to SMU and intend to pursue the B.F.A. , B.F.A./M.I.T. or B.A. in studio art. Admission to Foundation studies, as well as consideration for artistic merit scholarship, will be based on this portfolio submission.

SMU SlideRoom allows you to upload digital images of your work. You will also be asked to respond to three questions. It is important that you are thoughtful and focused in your response to these questions. Your responses are part of the selection process for this highly competitive program. Concise but thorough responses to these three questions will help us to learn more about your work as an artist.

The questions are as follows:

1. Tell us a bit about one of your works in this portfolio. What were the obstacles you encountered working on this project? What inspired this work? Is it an investigation, a work in a series, or something inspired by an art class?
2. With what media do you currently work? What media would you like to explore? Are you interested in intermedia explorations? (Fabric, photography, painting, digital media, etc.)
3. We would like to know more about your desire to study art at the Meadows School at SMU. Do you have any specific interests you’d like to explore? Skills you’d like to acquire? Goals for your studies at the Meadows School?

General Portfolio Guide

Here is a guide to help you select the best art works to form your digital portfolio in SlideRoom. Please bear in mind that this is only a general guide. Each student’s portfolio will be different, because each portfolio should reflect your interests and your unique artistic strengths.

Every portfolio should contain work that demonstrates the following:

1. At least six (6) pieces that show your knowledge of depicting a subject from observation in two-dimensions. Using any medium, show us your technical skill and understanding of line, color, light, composition, structure and space. Please make sure your work is original and from observation, not a copy of a photograph or a reproduction.

2. At least twelve (12) self-initiated projects in any media. Show us what you love to do as an artist. Select works that were created by you outside your school assignments. These may be in any media(s) you wish, including oils, acrylics, watercolor, pastel, colored pencils, chalk, digital and silver-based photography, video, animation, digital art, sculpture, ceramic, or installation. These works should provide us with a clear idea of how you have used your technical skills and knowledge of art to creatively solve visual problems.

The portfolio should contain no less than eighteen (18) images, and no more than twenty (20) images.

If you have questions about the portfolio submission, please contact: Monica Lapierre-Hayslip, Director of MAYA, at mlapierrehay@smu.edu.

Incoming Undergraduate Students Portfolio Deadlines: November 15 (Early Action Applicants), February 15 (Regular Decision Applicants)

Transfer Students Portfolio Deadlines:

To begin in the Fall of 2013: June 30