@NYart15 NPD is a great way to strengthen those relationships with the Admissions counselors (as they are the ones giving advice and you may well find your regional counselor there!). Sophomore/Junior year is definitely for getting as much advice as you can and pushing yourself to produce a portfolio by fall of senior year. By that point, students will tend to have a good idea of what they want to submit and are getting more of the “fine-tuning” type of advice for each school of interest (ie what specifically to submit). Schools definitely have the feelers out for talented seniors who are expressing interest and will be applying within a few weeks or a few months. So yes - definitely treat it as a collaborative interview and try to walk away with a good idea of their level of interest in you, as that will correlate with scholarship money. My D15 would ask them to rate her portfolio on a scale of 1-4 or 1-5 (because oftentimes on the Net Price Calculator they included scholarship money depending on “quality” of portfolio using the same scale! ).
From that conversation she was able to understand pretty well what to expect from at least a couple of schools and could then focus on which ones happened to be the best fit (as opposed to fretting about whether she’ll get in and how much money could she expect).
Also, make sure to read the portfolio specifications of each school before NPD so that you understand what they are looking for. Those guidelines are going to be included in detail on the admissions website. The student who approaches the NPD meeting with a bit of strategy and preparation will have a better chance of standing out in the minds of those admissions counselors.
I’d also 2nd @JBStillFlying ‘s advice and urge your senior to go to NPD or regional ones. It’s part of the schools’ whole ‘checklist’ on the demographics of your kid and how interested or not they may be in that school and can have an impact on acceptance and merit aid given. The more '‘engagement’ D1 one showed with a school (site visits, NPD reviews, on campus reviews etc) seemed to translate into more merit aid & recruiting sent her way.
Thanks @ArtAngst and @JBStillFlying ! I had looked into the Mill Street regional portfolio day last year, but chose NYC for our first foray. I checked the attendees and I think my D18 should register as there are a few schools on there that she’s applying to that we didn’t get to visit.
Her slideroom account will be ready by then. Do you think it’s OK to just bring the e-version of the portfolio or would do schools prefer the originals?
@NYart15 usually schools like to see the original - see their ‘hand’ and brushwork etc. Altho we did see plenty of students with laptops - a lot of time I noticed they were more 3D things like sculptures and ceramics. BUT with that said there was a kid last year who had her poor mom lugging behind her with several oil pieces on a dolly which were over 5ft tall and at least 4’ wide creating traffic jams as they went. Yeah, don’t be that kid and mom. ;D
The Mill Street one at Hyde Park facility is very nice but the colleges were JAMMED into several small rooms. The Sage one is held in a renovated Armory building and much more spacious, easy to move about.
The Sage one doesn’t have this year’s list up yet, but here’s last year https://www.sage.edu/event/34th-annual-portfolio-review-day/ . My son recently printed out the two lists to compare so he has an ‘attack’ plan for Hyde Park and to hit up the schools he might not make it to at the Albany one the next week.
Thanks @ArtAngst! It’s funny to think that we’ll cross paths with lots of posters on this thread at events like that or even at college. There should be a special CC high sign or accessory so we can pick each other out.
I will NOT be the one dragging along the artwork, rest assured!
We saw a kid loading five-foot sculptures into the back of a truck (with mom and dad’s help) at one NPD. I’d be so worried about damage that I’d recommend taking several good photos of the piece and bringing those.
My D brought some original pieces with her but most of her presentation consisted of digital images. She’s studying GD and very heavily into digital media which explains that. With big crowds I’d be concerned about damaging a piece before getting a quality photo. If you can’t easily transport it, leave it at home and bring your laptop or Ipad. FWIW.
Thank you SO much for all the good advice–and so nice to find folks going through the same thing.
I actually did some digging into NPD yesterday after I posted–saw the one in Hartford and thought it might be better than NYC since it’s earlier and might be less crowded! So maybe that’s what we’ll do.
A MICA representative is visiting her high school this month and she’s already signed up for that one–I wonder if that will be an opportunity to show the rep her portfolio? I also plan on taking her back to RISD to visit again (my husband didn’t get to go last time!) before the ED deadline, just so she can be sure–and perhaps we can make an appointment then for a portfolio review? That would get two out of the way before the NPD. Not likely to revisit SAIC but apparently they “waive” the portfolio requirement for kids who successfully completed the pre-college (though she’ll still submit a portfolio anyway, since that’s how you get scholarship $)–but hopefully her attendance at the pre-college program will at least demonstrate her interest there, if somehow we can’t get to them at the NPD.
We did consider Ringling, but she really doesn’t want to go to Florida (my family is there, and we spend a lot of time there–she doesn’t like the heat, and it’s really not appealing to her, sadly). If she wanted to study animation, however, I think she’d reconsider!!
Also thinking maybe she should look at SMFA at Tufts, too? We could do a tour and portfolio review there in the coming weeks.
@KCHWriter heads up re RISD since that was D1s dream school (and she’s a sophomore there now) - they do NOT do on-site portfolio reviews if you visit (every other school she visited did allow her to schedule one during her visit). So that’s why we hustled to the Hyde Park once since that was the only regional one they were showing up at. So basically she zoomed right to their line first thing.
@KCHWriter@NYart15 There are also NYC area regional portfolio review days in Montclair, NJ and Huntington, NY (Long Island). They are listed on NYU’s website. Read this link and you will find the dates and times if you scroll down.
@KCHWriter We had Tufts/SMFA on the list, too, but it seems that the BFA part is fairly unstructured (it’s in “interdisciplinary arts”) and my D18 definitely wants animation and I don’t think would be as driven as you’d need to be to create your own path there. SMFA is also not super close to Tufts. My daughter is more interested in Northeastern’s program and they also partner with SMFA.
@uskoolfish Thanks for the additional portfolio info. I think we’ll attend the Hyde Park one…it’s an easy commute for us.
@NYart15 we can develop a secret hand signal to say hi at the Hyde Park one!
Aim to get there early, students lined up at least an hour before doors opened. They’re very well organized and will hand out a packet with info (including a list of schools by majors) and locations of all the schools in the various rooms, so you and your student can make a game plan while still in line. D1 went right to RISD and I sort of drifted around and gave her a heads up re lines for others. I remember holding her place maybe in one other line at some point as it filled up. From what I remember a few years ago CalArts and RISD had the longest lines (mostly because this is one of the few regional portfolio events they show up at.)
The only problem with the Hyde Park one is that it happens after the RISD ED deadline. Hmmm… Of course, my D isn’t sure she wants to do ED anyway, but still. Why is this so complicated?! My other D is a junior in high school–wants to major in astrophysics/astronomy, and this college stuff seems SO much simpler for her!! (yes, I have a D’18 and a D’19…just shoot me now!).
@KCHWriter, we have a D15, 16, and 17. D’s 15 and 16 are in art college so we walked down this path two years in a row. When D17 applied it was to regular college and SO MUCH EASIER!
Even slightly less busy than NYC would be helpful. Apparently, the first person in line for RISD at NPD in NYC last year went 3 hours early!
@KCHWriter My aspiring artist D18 started looking at colleges for astronomy when she was a sophomore. She took a precollege course in Astronomy at UMass in the summer of 2016 and realized it was not her cup of tea (for that many hours in a day anyway) and went in the animation direction. So she feels pretty behind in terms of developing her portfolio but I think she’s caught up well after this year of courses at an art center and precollege portfolio development this past summer. It’s really her passion so despite how scary it feels to send her off into a field that is so difficult, it’s nice that she’ll love it. Plus, astronomy can’t be too much easier career-wise! FYI…my daughter LOVED Smith when she was looking at astronomy. We even had email exchanges with post-grads currently working in animation to see if my D18 could make it work but it’s pretty challenging as you’d have to take courses at consortium schools like Hampshire and UMass. My D19 is right behind her as well, so I feel your pain. Next year at this time, I’ll be a frequent contributor to the audition prep forums…she wants musical theater!
Unless $ is no option and RISD is the top choice I’d avoid ED. From what I learned researching it all on here and other spots, is that they are stingy with additional $. And as you probably know, with ED you’re locked in and it’s not like they have an incentive to give you more $ to now convince your kid to come since they tend to be a top choice for so many.
In our case finances were a high concern, so D1 did EA for some schools but no ED. From what others have shared, our household was VERY lucky with the merit/scholarship D1 received from RISD. And if I had to guess it was a combo of her portfolio + really high academics (Ivy League level ACTs and a ton of APs)/resume with work & activities/awards + financial need. So they really sweetened the pot so to speak to make enrolling there the ‘easy’ choice. All of her other acceptances (except state school) would have cost more than RISD, so it was an easy decision once we had all the $ info.
My big worry was that all the $ was going to ED applications, but I’m VERY happy to hear that that’s not always the case! Best case scenario, she would definitely like to have choices (she really did LOVE her summer at SAIC) so she would definitely rather NOT do ED (though she is going to apply EA to several places). I don’t think her portfolio will be super strong – probably NOT strong enough for RISD–but she’s very strong in academics with a high SAT so maybe that’ll help?!
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