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Pre-college programs are a terrific way to spend the summers in your final years of high school. Usually hosted on college campuses, they can give you a taste of what it is like to be a student at a particular school, as well as a feel for what college might be like in general. Attending a program at a college to which you plan on applying also shows that admissions committee that you are very interested in the school, as well as committed to learning. For more information on pre-college programs, check out CollegeVine’s blog post on effective summer activities.
If you are an artist hoping to attend an art or design school, look no further than the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Located on College Hill in historic Providence, Rhode Island, the world-famous art and design school offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. RISD is located blocks away from Brown University; in fact, the colleges share some resources, and together offer a five-year dual degree program in which graduates receive degrees from both colleges. (For more information on the dual degree program, read our Ultimate Guide to Applying to Brown University.) In this blog post, we’ll discuss everything you need to know about RISD’s pre-college program.
The pre-college program at RISD is a six-week summer program for high school students who have finished 10 th or 11 th grade in the school year before the program date. You must be between the ages of 16 and 18, meaning you were born between August 5, 1998 and June 23, 2001.
The application for the pre-college program is available here. In addition to the application form, you must also submit 250-word statement expressing your personal reasons for wanting to participate in the program, one letter of recommendation from a high school art teacher or guidance counselor, and a non-refundable program deposit of $500 for boarding students or $350 for commuter students. You must pay all of the program fees by April 7, 2017.
Unless you are applying for a scholarship, you are not required to submit an art portfolio, transcript, or any test scores (unless English is not your first language, in which case you must provide TOEFL or IELTS scores). This allows students to participate who do not have a well-developed artistic portfolio, but also means there may be some variance in experience and interest levels in art among applicants.
Be sure to apply early; you will list three potential majors in order of preference on your application, and you may have to take your second or third choices if your first choice fills up quickly.
If you would like to apply for a scholarship to attend the program, fill out this application instead of the standard application above. This application requires you to provide your custodial parent’s or guardian’s financial information, and you must also submit additional materials, including a copy of your most recent high school transcript, your custodial parent’s or guardian’s 2016 income tax return and recent pay vouchers or other documents substantiating current income, and a non-returnable computer disc (CD or DVD) or USB flash drive containing 5 artwork samples that best represent your artistic abilities. Your application should also include a 250-word statement explaining the ways in which you will contribute to the cultural, intellectual, artistic and other diversity of the program, a recommendation from a high school art teacher or guidance counselor, and a nonrefundable application fee only if you will attend the program even if you do not receive a scholarship.
The pre-college program follows a curriculum similar to RISD’s Foundation Studies program. You will take the following classes
In additional for the Foundations classes, you will also pick a major that allows you to explore a field of fine art or design in depth. These major courses meet two full days per week. On your application, you will list three majors in order of preference.
There are 21 majors available, including: