Portfolio Instructions
All applicants must submit a portfolio consisting of 8 to 12 pieces of work including, but not limited to, drawings, paintings, photographs, digital media, or design. Presentation must be in one of the following formats only: slides, CD-Rom, DVD, VHS, or website. Original artwork will not be accepted. Parsons is not responsible for any original artwork mailed to its address.
Portfolio submissions must be submitted in one of the following ways:
By mail to the following address:
University Admissions (Parsons BFA)
79 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10003
By hand to an Admissions Counselor during a personal interview (optional). In order to schedule an appointment for an optional interview, please contact the Office of Admissions at 212-229-8989 after you have submitted your application.
What kind of work do I need in my portfolio?
The kind of work you should submit in your portfolio depends on the program or first-year option you are applying to. For the Design and Technology first year option, drawing, video, photography, animation, or websites, blogs, videogame mods or other media are applicable.
For the Foundation first year option, Drawing is the most important aspect of a freshman applicant's portfolio. We encourage you to include work done from actual observation (life drawing). We discourage work copied from two-dimensional sources such as photographs. Applicants to the first-year Foundation Program are also discouraged from focusing their portfolios on a single field of study, such as fashion design, illustration or graphic design.
What about a transfer student portfolio?
Transfer applicants must show that they are able to compete in course work with Parsons students who have completed the rigorous first-year whether it's the Foundation, Design and Technology, Photography or Design and Management programs. Applicants should demonstrate solid work in their intended major field of study. For example, a transfer applicant seeking admission to Parsons Department of Fashion Design should show model drawing as well as fashion design sketches. An interior design transfer applicant should show freehand renderings of interiors, a Design and Technology student should show proficiency with web, video or animation and so on.
How important is presentation? What about sketchbooks?
Your work need not be mounted, matted, framed or even finished. We encourage you to show us sketchbooks because we are interested in the processes by which you make your work. Keep a sketchbook as a visual journal or diary. Sketchbooks are places ripe for experimentation, so go wild. Paste, scrape, scribble, doodle, write. In addition to sketchbooks, blogs and websites are excellent ways to document your thoughts and ideas.
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