Foundation-Year Program

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.

Fee waiver

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:

1. 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.
2. If your situation does not match any of the Common Application’s waiver criteria, email admissions@risd.edu and we’ll process the waiver manually.

To receive a SlideRoom fee waiver, please email admissions@risd.edu.

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.

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 admissions@risd.edu to explain your school history and determine if you are eligible for a waiver.

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.

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.

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 admissions@risd.edu.