what is the risd assignment

Applying to RISD: Advice from Antonio Peters in Admissions

RISD offered an admission session for parents of pre-college students this year. Antonio Peters led this informative session. I’ve condensed the one-hour session into fourteen minutes in the video below.

RISD Admissions Presentation for Pre-College Parents. How to apply and get into RISD by Antonio Peters, Assistant Director of Admissions.

Some pertinent information:

• Show growth in your portfolio and be sure to label the circumstances in which the piece was created. Show the timeframe of when the piece was created … high school versus pre-college program. In-class assignment versus private art teacher versus something I did at home for myself.
• Show what you bring to the table. Much of the learning is collaborative through classmates. Demonstrate what you can contribute.
• Show risk-taking. Show failure. Combine mediums.
• Grades and Scores. NO SET GPA. Strive for a 3.0 weighted GPA and 660/800 for SAT verbal and math or 1320/1600.
• RISD Assignment: Follow the directions. Think outside the box. Do not use Barbie if you choose plastic.
• RISD strongly advises applicants to come to portfolio day. See the RISD website for their schedule. However, if there is no Portfolio Day near you, use the online option. Note that you can get portfolio advice more than once!!
• Show your process on 1-3 projects in your portfolio.
• Do not include in your portfolio: NO fan art, Naruto, Voltron, master copies, or Steven Universe. No plastic Barbie.
• Edit your portfolio to 12-20 images. Show your best work. Show process; can combine more than one image on a page to show this.
• Sending in a completed application early does not affect acceptance. But also don’t wait until the last second to upload images to Slideshow. Balance your time!!
• Note the different dates for applications. Early Decision is binding even if financial aid is not what the family is expecting.211 apply early decision. 100 are accepted. 30 are waitlisted and go to Regular Decision. The wait-listed applicants are no longer bound by Early DecisionAround 3500 apply for regular decision. 800 accepted. The total number accepted is 900. 170 are waitlisted. A fair amount comes off the waitlist. Note: it is the same level of difficulty applying Early Decision vs Regular Decision. It is NOT “harder” to get accepted Early Decision.
• Do not wait until the last day to upload your portfolio to Slideroom. It WILL upload very slowly closer to the application deadline. Take the time to write captions to your pieces. Indicate the origin of assignments such as RISD Pre-College Drawing Foundation class or in-class assignment in high school art class or piece created at home independently. You can upload pieces of your application and portfolio long before you actually submit. Do not procrastinate uploading until the last second!!!
• 1) You can mark up to three majors on your application OR put undecided 2) You are not committed to this major if you go to RISD 3) RISD expects students to change their minds about a major after they complete the foundation year 4) RISD is only asking for your choices just to generally see interests. 5) Choosing one particular major over another does not help or hurt admission chances. 6) Do not make your portfolio over-emphasize the major that you checked. Let it reflect the foundation year instead.
• 1) Portfolio should reflect foundation year classes 2) Cross-fertilization of liberal arts and art portfolio samples GOOD 3) Show the process of how your piece evolved. What inspired it? How you developed your idea.

More resources:

RISD Admissions Website  Applying to RISD; visiting RISD; admissions deadlines; contact info.

Online Portfolio Review  Get personalized portfolio feedback online from member colleges of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art + Design.

National Portfolio Day  Attend an in-person portfolio review at locations throughout the US and in Canada.

RISD Admissions Blog  Helpful tips and advice; RISD news; Ask an Admissions Officer.

RISD Admissions Instagram  Get an inside look at RISD campus life, current student work, and events.

Ask Antonio Peters, Assistant Director, Admissions. 401 454-6302

[email protected]

p.s. More about Art Colleges from our college tours:

RISD Pre-College Program

Visiting Emily Carr Art + Design University in Canada

Visiting Pratt

Visiting School of Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)

Visiting California College of the Arts

Visiting California Institute of the Arts (CalArts)

Top Art and Design Colleges

Applying to Art School: School of Visual Arts

Visiting West Coast Art Schools & Foodie Stops Nearby

Tips for National Portfolio Day

Xtreme Week at Mass College of Art

MassArt College Visit

and some fun stuff …

If you are visiting New York City, here are our cheap foodie finds.

Our NYC (Cheap) Foodie Finds

45 Art Gifts for Seriously Arty Kids (by my arty daughter)

Art Competitions for Kids and Teens

Our Art Gift Kits for Arty Kids

10 Inspirational Art Books for Arty Kids

Best Toys for Arty Kids

An Arts Studio of One’s Own

Please check out my Pinterest Art for Kids board where I save art ideas for my arty daughter. It has 64,000 followers!

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What is a RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) Home test?

In art school admissions, some schools like RISD (Rhode Island School of Desing) require from an applicant a home test submission other than a portfolio.

This information is necessary for Freshmen and Transfer applicants who wish to be in the undergraduate program at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 2021!! RISD newly changed the assignment this year. The Assignment is a crucial item that students need to send to the school.  Just to remind you briefly, you must choose one of three prompt options that the school provided. After understanding its terms thoroughly, create 1 response using any medium you prefer. There are no restrictions!!

https://www.risd.edu/admissions/first-year/apply-risd

This year, the prompt options are:

• Ephemeral/tangible
• Complexity / contradiction
• Chaos / order

You may choose one of the following three options and create response pieces. The responses are open to any mediums, challenges, experiments, and risks! One thing to keep in mind would be thinking about the process and taking the assignment as far as you can with your unique concepts.

In other words, what they look for has more to do with the process than the final outcome, end-product, or technological mastery, although the technological skills could come definitely in handy in the execution of your work.

Once you are done with the physical part, you just need to upload your home test responses to a dedicated home test section of RISD SlideRoom, which is an online website for your portfolio submission.

Be sure to also answer the following question for each as well: What are the other directions or ideas you would explore as a next step?

You may check more information on  the RISD admissions webpage . When it comes to art school admissions, you could definitely feel stuck and intimidated, but it’s actually not so bad! Whenever you need help with your portfolio or art school admissions, feel free to give us a holler and we would love to listen to you and help you with it 😉

CLICK HERE FOR  NYART’S  STUDENT ARTWORK

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First-Year Student Next Steps

Find key dates and deadlines for what you need to do as an incoming RISD student, as well as info about course registration and transferring credits. 

Dates and deadlines

Go here for a month-by-month view of important deadlines, to-dos and milestones as you make your way to RISD.

Courses and credits

During your first year, you and your incoming peers will all take the three core studios in our Experimental and Foundation Studies (EFS) program. Learn more about EFS, as well as how to transfer any qualifying credits you received prior to RISD.

Quick links

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info.risd.edu

The answer is yes, but not until we have finished working with every department or page owner to find a permanent home for your information .

We expect this work to continue into early 2025. At that point, we will launch a new offices and staff directory that is accessible from risd.edu and students.risd.edu.

In the meantime, please know that nothing here will disappear without notice.

Questions? Please email [email protected] .

• Related Links

Website risd.edu/admissions Location Woods-Gerry 62 Prospect Street

The Admissions Office's primary mission is to ensure the enrollment goals of the college by bringing in new degree program students. We work with first-year, transfer, visiting, post bac, and graduate students. Our office achieves these goals through recruitment and outreach, application review by faculty and staff, and engagement with admitted students. If you find yourself working with a student who is interested in joining RISD's degree program, please direct them to our office for the most up-to-date information about applying and deadlines.

Campus Tours:

The Admissions Office regularly offers campus tours and information programs to prospective students and families. Students can view the full schedule of available events on risd.edu . We also accommodate campus tours for new employees. Please email [email protected] to schedule a tour for a newly hired employee.

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Bachelor’s Program

Nationally accredited (NAAB) and internationally recognized, our five-year undergraduate program in Architecture leads to a professional degree: the Bachelor of Architecture (BArch). The program prepares students to enter the profession by first addressing the knowledge required for making architecture and second, by underscoring the complexities of the discipline and the responsibilities inherent in practicing architecture.

Through a program that builds on itself, students learn to think critically; to produce architecture through both reflection and invention; to build using a variety of materials; to understand the technical aspects of architecture; to communicate ideas through drawing, model making, writing and speaking; and to be socially and ethically engaged in society.

After exposure to the fundamentals of the field—design, material performance, digital and manual representation, and architectural history—students move on to solidify work by focusing on architectural, urban design and environmental issues, engaging in advanced topics in architectural history and responding to complex architectural design problems.

View the curriculum

Learning outcomes

Graduates are able to:

• use critical thinking to build abstract relationships and understand the impact of ideas.
• use and experiment with the representational techniques of the discipline.
• investigate architectural form using spatial principles and material properties.
• comprehend technical aspects of building practices, systems and materials and apply this knowledge to architectural solutions.
• synthesize a range of complex variables into an integrated design solution.
• understand principles for the practice of architecture, including advocacy, ethical actions and project management.
• develop a creative process and frame theoretical questions through making.
• conduct advanced research, including gathering and assessing information and establishing research methods.

Undergraduate student work

Yingkai Xiong BArch 2024

Samantha Salazar BArch 2025 and Ray Ho BArch 2025 and Sophia Francesco BArch 2025

Pradipa (Miang) Patanakijpaibul BArch 2026 and Nancy (Ruonan) Wang BArch 2026

Nancy (Ruonan) Wang BArch 2026

Aaron Teves BArch 2020

Jichen Zou BArch 2022

net-zero small house designed by students participating in "Race to Zero" studio / US Department of Energy-sponsored competition

Inspiring community

RISD's Architecture program has the distinct advantage of being integrated into a college known for the breadth and depth of its fine arts and design offerings. Architecture majors benefit from a strong visual and humanities-based education within a progressive professional curriculum, as well as immersion in a community of creative individuals—and potential collaborators—who are passionate about disciplines as diverse as animation, graphic design, printmaking and sculpture.

Degree project

In the final year of the program, students focus on an intensive investigation and analysis of building systems, professional practice and design as part of a self-determined degree project.

Application requirements

Common application.

You’ll begin and manage your RISD application process by completing the  Common Application . There is a nonrefundable application fee  of $60 to use this service, plus a nonrefundable $10 fee to submit a required online portfolio via  SlideRoom .

We want to make sure that application fees do not pose a barrier for any student. If you meet certain qualifications, you can request a Common Application fee waiver in one of the following two ways:

• Navigate to the "Fee Waiver" portion on the Common Application and select the option that most fits your family circumstances. This will allow you to submit your application without entering credit card information.
• If your situation does not match any of the Common Application’s waiver criteria, email  [email protected]  and we’ll process the waiver manually.

To receive a SlideRoom fee waiver, please email  [email protected] .

Academic transcripts

Applicants must provide official transcripts of all secondary academic work through the most recent grading period. Your counselor may submit your transcript through the Common Application, Parchment, email or mail.

If your academic credentials are not written in English, they must be translated into English by an approved translator prior to submission.

Tests and test-optional

Test-optional, sat and act.

We offer all applicants (domestic and international) the option to apply without submitting results from the SAT or ACT. You may opt into this process by selecting “test-optional” under the "Testing" portion of your RISD Common Application.

For students who choose to submit test scores, we will superscore your results, looking at your highest outcome across multiple test dates.

RISD’s institution code number for the SAT is 3726; for ACT the code number is 003812.

Transfer credits

You can use some Advanced Placement (AP), A-Level classes and International Baccalaureate (IB) credits toward RISD liberal arts requirements. First-year students can transfer a maximum of nine credits from AP courses with a score of 4 or 5, A-Level classes with an earned grade of C or higher or Higher Level IB scores of 5, 6 or 7. We will not accept AP or IB credit from art or studio classes.

VIEW OUR FULL TRANSFER CREDIT POLICY

English language proficiency tests

All applicants who speak English as a second language, including US citizens, must submit results from any one of these three options:

• TOEFL  (Test of English as a Foreign Language)
• IELTS  (International English Language Testing System)
• Duolingo  (an online English test).

Since English proficiency is a prerequisite for acceptance, applicants are required to meet a minimum score of at least 93 on the TOEFL, a 6.5 on the IELTS or a 115 on Duolingo.

Plan to take the TOEFL or IELTS well in advance of the application deadline since it may take three weeks for your scores to be sent to RISD by the test agency. It may take up to four days for us to receive Duolingo test results.

The language test requirement may be waived for applicants who have studied in an institution where English is the language of instruction. You must email the Admissions Office at  [email protected]  to explain your school history and determine if you are eligible for a waiver.

Portfolio and the RISD Assignment

Portfolio submission.

Your portfolio should present 12–20 examples of your most recent work showcasing your thinking and making. Once you've started your RISD application in the  Common Application , you will be directed to the online platform  SlideRoom  to upload your portfolio.

What to include

The work you select should reflect a full range of your ideas, curiosity, experimentation and experience in creating and making. This can include work in any medium, in finished or sketch form, and can be the result of an assigned project or a self-directed exploration.

We strongly recommend that you include some examples that involve drawing from direct observation (rather than from imagination, photograph or video). Since drawing is a fundamental tool for visual makers from initial concept to execution, it is valuable for reviewers to see examples of your experience with and approach to drawing.

While the majority of your portfolio should feature finished pieces, we suggest including some research or preparatory work in up to three— but no more than three —portfolio uploads/slides. This helps reviewers better understand how you develop your ideas.

Documentation

Finally, we strongly discourage including excessive visual elements and text descriptions in a single slide submission. These are difficult to view and are likely to exceed the allowed submission limit.

You can submit additional angles or detail shots of some works across multiple slide submissions, combined into one composite including no more than three images, or in a single video upload. Editing is an important part of curating your portfolio. You may need to devise creative solutions to best show your work within the limits of submission guidelines.

We recommend the following file formats: jpeg, png, gif, mp4 and mov. These formats are most compatible with SlideRoom. We discourage Google Drive and zipped files.

You may be interested in attending or watching the recording of one of our  portfolio tips webinars  for more advice on how to approach your RISD application portfolio. 

The RISD Assignment is no longer part of the application

After extensive research and discussion, it has become evident that requiring the RISD Assignment functions as a barrier for applicants and is in direct conflict with RISD’s Social Equity and Inclusion action plan.

To provide more access and equity in our admissions process, we have removed the RISD Assignment as an application requirement. We will continue to prioritize the portfolio when evaluating the visual component of an applicant’s candidacy.

College essay

RISD requires the Common Application personal essay (up to 650 words). You will find the writing prompts in the Writing section of the Common Application.

While we encourage you to adhere to the rules of good writing, we look for applicants who are not afraid to take risks in their expression. Please don't hesitate to use a writing style or method that may be outside the mainstream as you express a distinctive personal position in your essay.

Letter(s) of recommendation

Letters of recommendation can be very helpful to your application. One letter is required, although you may submit as many as three. Recommendation letters should be written by teachers or other professionals who have firsthand knowledge of your art or academic achievements and can comment on your potential as a student.

Please use the Common Application to invite your recommendation writers to submit letters through that service. Letters may also be sent directly to our mailing address (see “Submitting your materials” below) or emailed to  [email protected] .

RISD Uses Schoology, Seesaw Learning Management Systems

• August 15, 2024

For the 2024-25 school year, RISD students in third grade through senior year will use Schoology as their learning management system to receive and submit digital assignments. Students also use their Schoology portfolio to house artifacts for their personal growth goal. For the youngest learners in RISD, the school district uses Seesaw as the digital learning management system.

Parents will receive information on how to connect to their student’s Schoology account to stay actively engaged in the student’s learning and progress. This information and a student-specific access code will be sent to parents in early September. Students are automatically enrolled in Schoology courses. Grades from assignments in Schoology will sync with the official gradebook system, Focus. Students will continue to have use of Google Drive and Google tools.

The RISD Instructional Technology Department has a comprehensive support system for campuses. The iTeam supports teachers with effective technology integration through professional development, support in professional learning communities, and co-teaching opportunities as well as coaching and collaborative planning.

Please click here for more information about the digital tools and resources used in RISD classrooms .

The Learning Management Systems provide students with multiple pathways to engage with content and demonstrate learning and create portfolios to house evidence of progress towards individual goals while communicating learning with families. Students will be able to collaborate and discuss, annotate and draw, submit multimedia files, and create audio and video to engage with interactive content. The learning design also differentiates content and provides feedback on learning while creating rubrics to evaluate learning with audio, video, and visual support.

The learning management systems allow parents to see course information, to view student work and artifacts, to access student portfolios and communicate with teachers.

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RISD Assignment

Hi, so I'm currently filling out my RISD application and I noticed that for the assignment, there is no place to write out a description/explanation? It only gives space for the file and title of the piece. I thought RISD placed a lot of value on the explanation, so am I just blind and not seeing where the description can be added?

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