Daughter (senior) is wanting to apply to Ringling and Cal Arts for Computer Animation. Early Action for Ringling is Nov 1 and only applies to Computer Animation. We toured Ringling last spring and I thought the guy giving presentation hinted that early action is good idea for Computer Animation but when we call the school, they say it doesn’t matter. Private art teacher who specializes in getting student portfolios ready for competitive art schools (like Pratt, Cal Arts, RISD, Ringling, etc) doesn’t think it’s an advantage either.
Any thoughts/comments on whether to shoot for early action for art school?
Early decision is not offered at most art schools she’s applying for so that’s not an issue. Biggest component in applying for art school is the portfolio which is time consuming. Trying to determine if pushing to get portfolio done by Nov 1 is worth it or better to to go with regular decision to have more time to perfect the art portfolio.
I thought maybe you were confused about what EA was because I couldn’t understand your question otherwise. If she’s not ready that’s another component to your question. You didn’t say that.
In general it’s better to do EA. Colleges do fill their slots and it’s such a relief to have that acceptance in hand.
My D22 has a friend who is at SCAD this year and she did do EA or rolling. She was accepted very early, like August or Sept of 2021.
I don’t know any specifics about Ringling. If her portfolio is not ready, though, then I guess she’s not ready to apply.
I would try to get it all ready by the EA deadline and apply EA if possible. I think it does make a huge difference for kids psychologically to get those apps in and be done aside from the fact that it may help with their chances.
It depends on whether the portfolio is close to being ready or not. My kid applied to some art/design schools last year. This was a big change of course for him; he only started considering art schools late in the spring of his junior year, so he had very little in the way of a portfolio by fall senior year, so had little choice but to apply RD. He was working on his portfolio up to almost the last minute for each of his schools, and the portfolio was visibly stronger for the later date schools (late February deadline) than the earlier RD schools (Jan 1.) His acceptances were in line with the strength of his portfolio (the later the better.) But my kid was an extreme example of starting the portfolio late.
IF (and ONLY if) your D’s portfolio is ready by Nov 1 then I might apply early action. With EA you should know by end of December if she’s been accepted which can be a huge advantage if she is also applying to other schools. It is not binding. Since (in my thinking anyways and I could be wrong) regular decision deadline is Jan 15 that means they may (or may not) have filled part of the class with EA students. Regular decision doesn’t come out until end of March or even early April (which is nerve wracking for many).
But 10 weeks can be a good long time to really pull a portfolio together and fine tune. You want the best it can be. Don’t get kicked just because the portfolio needed more work and was the easier route. If she hasn’t already then she should check out National Portfolio Days. Note that CA portfolios can vary greatly from a more stereotypical portfolio–more action and less still life. Any name on who gave the presentation? (I might recognize a name).
National Portfolio Days are a great suggestion! Schedule — National Portfolio Day Association In person would be good, but the virtual events are also very informative & helpful for the applicant. I strongly encourage attendance.