Why do I need a portfolio to get into design school??

YOU think you may have the skills needed to make a career of art. Perhaps your friends, family and some strangers have told you similar things. But, even you admit that there are SOME things you DON'T know, such as in assembling a portfolio. Perhaps you have not considered that there are other things to which you should be exposed before you consider embarking upon art as a career. THAT is the point of art school. An accredited art school, unlike a private, for profit art trade school that is only interested in collecting your tuition, expects that you desire a degree, of some sort. These degrees do not represent a particular level of skill in the arts. Rather, they represent, to a potential employer, for example, that the holder of that degree has been exposed to a variety of subjects that may, or may not relate to the employer's needs. A graphic designer, as an example, needs to have more than a portfolio of pretty pictures. He will need to understand color theory, marketing, human psychology, trends, patterns, materials and a variety of medium. The agency, publisher, or art director will not look at a portfolio and say, "I like that picture of the trees. I'll hire him because he did that tree very well." Instead, he will consider the skill level demonstrated in the ENTIRE portfolio, AND the degree, and evaluate the canditate's potential to provide a valuable series of contributions to the employer's FUTURE needs. The SCHOOL, in the meantime, will use the CURRENT portfolio to evaluate your potential for developent. They will look at it to determine if you CARE enough about your work to do a good job on EVERY piece you submit. They will evaluate techniqe and mastery of your media. They want to know how far you've come, and how much work they will have to devote to YOUR development, so that the degree you carry from THEIR institution represents the school in the best possible light. They won't want to put so much effort into your education that is sacrafices some other student's needs. And they don't want you coming out the other end with a level of professionalism that is less than the standard expected in the industry.

I think some community colleges doesnt require. If they do its not prolly that big. Some folios requires water color, line art, architecture, etc. So if u got all those stuff then your good. They expect you to know the basic before you get in thats why you need a folio. Im a graphic designer and been loving it. Its fun plus im paid to do it.

Hello: There were certainly some interesting responses (some more accurate than others) to your questions and obvious frustration. There several reasons why GOOD design schools require portfolio requirements for admission. In fact, I'd very VERY leery of those that don't. If you thoroughly read the catalog of the college you are interested in, you'll probably see that they have suggestions for people in your similar situation. Don't get discouraged- work hard to get into a great school and it'll pay off. To assist people such as yourself that have concerns about portfolios and other design school questions, I have put together a document to assist you in answering your questions as well as insight into financial aid opportunities. You can read more about it at: http://www.designstrategies.info/services/choosecollege.html I hope you find it helpful.

Usually they make you submit a portfolio when you want to get into upper division (between your last sophomore semester and the start of your first junior semester). So in your first two years you're pretty much taking your basic general studies...English, electives, etc. Maybe 6 or 7 classes will be your design classes. There, you'll have your studio or what have you where you'll be able to work on projects, etc. What you do in there should go into your portfolio. If you're talking about a school thats more professional (not a university or college...something that ONLY teaches design and nothing else)...they assume you're coming from a university or have some background already so you can submit a portfolio of your work. Also, a lot of schools say to submit a portfolio since your first few years you're not really taking those classes, like I said above. At least thats how it is here at my university...

lol...yeah... same here I just had an interview yesterday...hmmm well, what can I say it is like that, and I asked myself the same you said, but at the interview they told us that if our portfolio was weak you could go 1 year to college to a special course so you can learn to put a portfolio together, anf then have a stronger prtfolio to present at the interview and get accepted...and yeah I guess mine wasn't that amazing that's why I'll consider that opcion...I mean I saw other people's portfolio at the interview that well....made me feel really small lol...so don't worry ask directly to the University they will tell you what to do...