NYU Studio Art, UCLA Art, USC Roski

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>I'm a Senior visual art student at an art high school. I've gone to National Portfolio Day since I was a freshman in high school and will most definitely be applying to art schools, specifically RISD, MICA, PaFa, Pratt, SVA, Cooper, and SAIC. My portfolio is quite strong both figuratively and conceptually so that's not really what I'm worried about. I was mostly wondering about non-art schools with good art programs such as NYU Studio Art, UCLA, and USC Roski. I'm worried that I wouldn't get in because my GPA and SAT scores are lower than the average student. I know for NYU Studio Art your academic admission is 50% of your chance and the other 50% is your portfolio. However, is this similar to how UCLA and/or USC work or do you have to be just as academically strong as all other applicants?
Does anyone know what NYU/UCLA/USC art students typically have GPA/SAT wise? </p>

<p>To put it in perspective, here are my stats:
GPA unweighted: 3.72
GPA weighted: 4.0
SAT II: USH: 700 English Lit: 680
SAT: 1730 (so low but I never studied for it and i plan on retaking it in October and i've been getting around 1950 on the practice tests)
ACT: I haven't taken it yet but I will take it in september.
AP Scores: APUSH 4, APES 4, AP English Lang 4.</p>

2

<p>bump. please i need some input…</p>

3

<p>I don’t know anything about NYU Art but I can give you some incite into the programs at UCLA-Arts and USC-Roski. My daughter was accepted to both schools and she chose UCLA-Arts and she is an incoming freshmen there this fall as a Fine Arts major. My daughter and I spent a lot of time looking at both programs and we thought they were both excellent. We live within easy driving distance to both and we have spent a lot of time at each university.</p>

<p>UCLA-School of Arts & Architecture has its own admissions department and this is a VERY important point for all applicants. All applications to UCLA go to the main admissions office but the Arts majors apps are pulled out and sent to the Arts Admissions people for evaluation. The first screen will be to see if the app meets the minimum UC standards (GPA 3.0+, SAT of I think 1600+, etc.). Once past that the portfolio is evaluated. If the portfolio is average or below the application is almost always dismissed right then and there regardless of the applicants stats. In other words, you might be a straight A student but if your art is average, you won’t be admitted to UCLA-Arts. A lot of programs work like this.</p>

<p>Grades matter but you must have a great portfolio to be considered.</p>

<p>Assuming your portfolio is really great then Arts Admissions will group you in a finalist pile. From here it’s a very subjective and they try to look at a combination of portfolio talent and high school stats to determine which students are their top picks. So if your portfolio was the very best this year, your GPA could be a little lower than the average to still make the cut.</p>

<p>After this process is complete the Arts Admissions dept sends a list of 45-50 students to the main Admissions office and says “we want these kids” and with minor exceptions those are the kids that get the “Congratulations” notification in mid to late April.</p>

<p>You don’t say in your post but I’m assuming you don’t live in California and that you are applying as a Fine Arts major.</p>

<p>UCLA is a state school with a charter to serve CA tax payers primarily. Less than 10% of incoming students are from out of state. This year the numbers are approximately 350 OOS out of 4,500 total incoming freshmen. School of Arts percentages are often higher here but still you are talking about a small fraction of the 45-50 seats available going to OOS kids. Long odds but kids do it every year so why not you?</p>

<p>USC-Roski’s process is a little different. USC’s Admissions office handles ALL applications including art majors. USC Admissions makes all the final decisions. Obviously they are listening carefully to what the nice people at Roski are saying and Roski’s staff can, and do, plead for some students that might have low-ish stats but tons of talent. Roski submits their wish list but in the end it is up to the Admissions office.</p>

<p>Same as with most art programs, your portfolio has to be great. Roski’s admit percentages are very similar to UCLA-Arts - lots of applicants, very few seats. Your portfolio has to be killer.</p>

<p>USC is a private school and as such they have more freedom to select kids from anywhere they want. As a result, it is MUCH easier for OOS applicants to be admitted to SC than it is at UCLA simply because there are more OOS seats available in Trojan-land.</p>

<p>Now, looking at your stats…</p>

<p>Your GPA is a little low but certainly in the ballpark for both schools. Your SAT number is low and I want to challenge you to bring that up to at least 1900. Over 2000 and I’d feel even better. AP’s and SAT II scores are fine. Definitely take the ACT and submit only that if it is better than your SAT.</p>

<p>None of the above is meant to discourage you in any way. These are top schools and both are well worth the application effort. I’m pretty familiar with which portfolios work at both schools, so if you PM me with your portfolio I will give you my 2 cents.</p>

<p>I highly, HIGHLY recommend both USC-Roski and UCLA-Arts! Both offer wonderful programs and both schools are completely involved in the L.A. art world. </p>

<p>Best of luck,
Wheaty</p>

4

<p>Your GPA seems fine for nyu, but understand that they will be looking for you to have 5 academics each year (hopefully). They do not put into your GPA any electives (including art) and they will consider an unweighted GPA of those academics.</p>

<p>Your SAT is low, but you might want to consider submitting 3 SAT 2 scores instead. You may have time to take an additional test in the fall and your two SAT 2 scores are strong. Check their website for further details about that option. Definitely re-take the SAT and try the ACT, too.</p>

<p>Your application will go through regular admissions, but if you are within their acceptable range (25th percentile+) you will probably be ok if you have a strong portfolio.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

5

<p>Thank you both so much. </p>

<p>Wheaty: I am a California resident. </p>

<p>uskoolfish: I don’t have each year but my school has specific reasons for this because we have 2.5-3 hours of art each day, we only have room for 5 academic classes and one of which would be considered an elective class because it is an elective AP. However, there have been many students from my school accepted to NYU who have had less credits than I so I feel comfortable that the credits won’t be my failing point.</p>

6

<p>Hi! I don’t think the problem will be in your number of credits. What I am saying is that to determine your GPA, NYU will take out your elective and art credits and re-calculate your GPA based on classes in language, social studies, english, science and math. They will also unweight everyone’s grades.</p>

<p>Basically, that may change your 3.72 GPA to a lower number when considering your academics, which means you will have to bring up your test scores to compensate.</p>

7

<p>I’m not sure about USC or UCLA but I can offer you some insight to NYU. </p>

<p>The first thing you should know about NYU art submissions, whether it be for Studio Art, Music, Theater, etc., you’re admission is reviewed twice. Your overall application is reviewed by admissions, which judges you academically. Your art portfolio, art supplement essay(s), and any other response questions are reviewed by that art departments. So essentially, your application for admission is weighed 50/50. Your portfolio will have to be, at the very least, “good”. Because a “good” portfolio with stellar grades and test scores will give you a great shot. Likewise, a stellar portfolio and mediocre grades and test scores can also give you a great shot. For NYU the average SAT scores are around 1950, but remember this average includes all the people who applied to academic majors. For Tisch and Studio Art, these scores can be much lower. In fact, I suggest you scour through the NYU ACCEPTED discussions on CC and look at those specifically accepted to Tisch or Studio Art. (Although there are not many on here that have been Studio Art majors, there are tons accepted to Tisch,which is also a portfolio/audition based school within NYU and has the same type of 50/50 ruling on applicants.) I know when I did this, I found many who were accepted to Tisch with only mediocre grades and okay SAT’s. Specifically, 3.5 and 1800. If you can raise your SAT to a 1900 you’re pretty much set.</p>

8

<p>I was accepted last year as an incoming freshman to UCLA, USC, and NYUs art programs.
However, I chose to come to Carnegie Mellon to study art. </p>

<p>Please feel free to contact me via email at <a href="mailto:MLBennett10@aol.com">MLBennett10@aol.com</a> if you want a freshman’s perspective who has already been through the whole process!</p>

9

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I was accepted to Otis, CalArts, UCLA Arts and Architecture, UCI, Fullerton, San Jose and other schools. I am currently an undergrad at UCLA. E-mail me with any questions and i’ll be happy to answer any questions. From what you have written I see no worries. I personally had the worse scores in the history of test taking.</p>