Freshman Admission

Application Deadlines
See when admission applications are due.

Open House/Portfolio Review for High School Students
Bring your original artwork to be reviewed and learn about our art programs at this event on February 24, 2007.

Preparing a Portfolio
Find out what to include in your admission portfolio and what to leave out.

Guidelines for Documenting and Submitting Your Portfolio
Students who do not attend the Open House and Portfolio Review must send a portfolio with their admission application and transcripts.

Freshman Scholarships
Four-year and one-year scholarships are available for qualified new art students.

Students interested in pursuing a bachelor's degree in art at Ball State must be admitted to both the university and the art program. In order to provide optimal academic resources and faculty interaction with students, enrollment in the Department of Art's First-Year Foundation Program is limited.

There are no specific courses that a high school student must take in order to be considered for freshman admission to the art program. Courses in art and drawing are recommended in general, and computer courses should be included as electives.

Admission Criteria
The Department of Art's admissions committee carefully screens all applicants and decides which students to admit to the first-year program based on the following criteria:

Review of academic records from high school transcripts
SAT and/or ACT composite scores
Portfolio of 5-10 slides demonstrating studio art skills and other art-related abilities (learn about preparing a portfolio and documenting artwork for the portfolio)

The number of students admitted to the first-year program is based on the department's ability to provide space and studio sections of required courses. The Department of Art has no admission quotas by race, gender, state of residence, or expressed discipline preference.

Students should also review the Ball State admission requirements.

How to Apply
Freshman admission is a two-stage process and requires the submission of both the Ball State and Department of Art applications for undergraduate admission.

Students must first apply and be admitted to Ball State University before they will be considered for admission to the Department of Art as art majors. After receiving official notification of a student's admission to the university, the Department of Art will mail its application materials to any student who has indicated art as his or her major.
Interested students will receive a letter from the Department of Art that includes department admission and scholarship applications along with information about the required transcripts and portfolio.
Students' application materials will then be reviewed by the Department of Art admissions committee for acceptance to the first-year program.
Applicants will receive a second letter from the Department of Art indicating the admissions committee's decision.

For more information, contact Undergraduate Program Coordinator Barbara Giorgio.