College Application and Submitting Art Portfolio(s)

Hi,

This may seem like an stupid question but are art portfolio’s due at the same time as normal applications? When my art teacher talks about portfolio submissions she makes it sound as if we have until around December and possibly even later to send in our portfolios but some of the colleges I am looking into, applications are due by November. I just started the school year and my teacher told me I she could see me ending up creating two portfolios to send. I have not heard of double portfolio submissions before but how would that work? Does this also mean I must submit my application (including portfolio) by the end of November?

Thanks,

My D submitted art portfolios to most of the schools she applied to. I believe they were all due the same time as the application. She created a basic portfolio but she did have to make changes for various colleges.

Some wanted a pdf, some wanted it through their own website/software, some wanted specific information that others didn’t. One college required that 4 pieces be drawn from life and at that point she did not have anything suitable, or time to create it, even though she draws beautifully from life, so she did not submit a portfolio to that school.

It was a BIG project even though the actual artwork was done. Achieving high quality images while scanning, copying, and photographing artwork was a daunting task. Her advisor, whose specialty is photography, did most of the photos, but some pencil drawings did not photograph or scan well, needing fine tuning of light balance, etc, in the scanning program, and I did that. I also photographed some pieces that were at home (she attended boarding school).

I suggest you start now, and check each college’s website carefully for their portfolio requirements and method of submission. My D created her basic portfolio using Google Slides. It could have also been created in PowerPoint. One of hers had to be emailed in as a pdf and then we had to watch the size.