Hi! I also went to RISD Pre-College during 2017 (with a full ride, woohoo!). It’s cool that you go to Palo Alto! Basically half of my classmates from Pre-College were from Palo Alto, haha.
As for your application:
When it comes to applying to ANY art school, you’ll find that your portfolio basically counts as 80% of your portfolio. For RISD, grades and extracurriculars matter slightly more than other art schools, but the portfolio is still the portion of your app that’s going to get you accepted. It’s good that you attended RISD Pre-College over the summer; it raises your chances of getting in (I think RISD claims it will by 15%). Don’t worry about your Pre-College grades, as they only use it really to evaluate whether or not you are capable of enduring RISD’s rigorous workload.
The average GPA for RISD is probably around the 3.1-3.6 range, and the average SAT scores for RISD range from 1200-1450. Therefore, I would say that your GPA and SAT scores are a bit on the low side of RISD’s ranges, but again, portfolio is key. It would be helpful to try to raise your GPA and SAT scores, but as there isn’t much time left before RD, I’d say to hone in on making your portfolio top-notch. Also, since you attend Palo Alto, you’re already raised up slightly higher on the academic scale, since Palo Alto (and Gunn too) is known to be THE high school of all high schools.
So portfolio. What stands out to me the most is that you have a wide range of medias, which is one of the most important components to having a good portfolio. I would say to develop and turn in the first ‘practice’ charcoal piece; although RISD is strongly conceptual, they also like to see that you have strong technical skill, so I think they would enjoy that piece. The watercolor still life is wonderful; that’s a keeper for sure. I’d recommend to take out the Teen Council poster and photo; it just seems to bring down the strength of your portfolio, and it wouldn’t be beneficial if you are an architecture major. I’d suggest to maybe try a painting or two for your portfolio; even if it isn’t your forte, RISD likes to see variety and that you’ve gotten the basics down (plus I bet you’re going to have to make plenty of them if you do get in). If you are thinking of adding any more pieces, I’d recommend adding more fundamental pieces (so 2-D work, but work that still has a strong conceptual idea). Also you must (must, MUST) get better photos of your architecture pieces and that panoramic piece. That dim lighting will not cut it for the admissions officers; they may even skip the pieces while viewing your portfolio if the images are bad quality, and I think the architecture pieces are quite strong. ArtProf on YouTube has a great video on how to take proper photos of pieces. They also have a portfolio review system in which (although you have to pay) you can get your portfolio directly reviewed by Clara Lieu, who is a pretty famous professor at RISD. I’ve never used the service myself, but I’ve seen some of the reviews on YouTube and found them insightful.
Attend National Portfolio Day! There’s nothing better than getting feedback directly from the people who are deciding whether or not you will be accepted. One of the best ways to make them remember you is to be friendly. It’s even better if you already went to a Portfolio Review during Pre-College; it’s always an awesome feeling when one of the admissions officers recognize you or your work. It could help to bring in something that will make yourself memorable; one RISD admissions officer I talked to mentioned how one of the students brought in the Graphic Design business cards and gave one to each of the officers as a way to contact her. I thought that idea was brilliant.
If you have any more questions, let me know! My dream school is RISD too, so I’m on the same boat as you (I just applied ED, fingers crossed). Good luck!
