Art and film majors face a tougher application process

When senior Nick Burry clicked “submit” on his Chapman University Common Application in September, he was two months early in turning in his college applications. After that, most students would breathe a sigh of relief, as the grueling process of applying for college was finally over for them. But not for Burry; his college application process was far from over.

As a prospective film major, Burry needs to shoot multiple short films as part of his portfolio. He said he will spend the next few months creating films that demonstrate his ability in every aspect of the film-making process, from the writing, directing and casting to the filming, producing and editing.

Applicants for other art majors face a similar lengthier process, said senior Angie Yang, who wants to study design or animation.

One popular school for art majors, New York University, requires applicants to submit 12 to 15 artworks for their portfolio, which can make up 50 percent of the admissions decision.

Burry said students need to submit their portfolios to a school’s portal or to that school’s SlideRoom, a website where the schools can review an applicant’s work.

However, because the works are submitted online rather than physically, for 3-D works, the texture and the 3-D feel of the piece will be lost, senior Hannah Chang said. She is aiming for illustrations in communication design as her major.

Because of the added workload, Burry said that students applying in these areas must plan ahead. For him, submitting his Chapman University Common App early was a must, in order to provide him sufficient time to create films to fill out his portfolio, which consists of a 2-minute film and four small supplementary essays.

“I’d say the Common App is the easy part because there’s more stuff to do for the portfolio,” Burry said.

Additionally, even with the early deadlines, Burry said that colleges usually release decisions in March, in order to have enough time to review portfolios, instead of in December, when most early action decisions come out.

“It’s expected that if you’re applying film, you are applying early action, but you hear back after everyone else,” he said.

The most time-consuming part of this process for most students is their portfolio. Burry’s 5-minute film for USC took him a month and a half from start to finish.

Similarly, Yang’s portfolio includes a variety of pieces using different mediums. She has both 2-D and 3-D works that range from color on paper to sculptures made out of chicken wire and yarn. Chang’s portfolio includes pieces of different mediums, figure drawings, different lighting conditions and observational and illustrated works. Both Chang and Yang said that their portfolios are mixes of pieces created specifically for college and previous pieces made for personal interest.

For Yang, her most time-consuming piece, an extremely detailed line drawing, took her one month. She said that her 3-D pieces can take from 30 minutes to 6 hours. A few of Yang’s artworks are based on specific college prompts; she said that these are the pieces colleges pay the most attention to. For example, one prominent school, Rhode Island School of Design, asks applicants to create two pieces in response to one of the three prompts: error, verify or forge.

“You keep drawing and improving, and you pick some from your previous work,” Yang said. “But during the last few months before the deadline is when the inspirations come, so more actual portfolio pieces will be produced then.”

Yang said that she spends more than 10 hours of week at art class. She used to have two hours a week of class — mainly for fun — until freshman year, when she decided she wanted to major in art and began taking her drawing more seriously.

Although there is more work involved in applying to be an art major, Chang said she wants to do art in college because it is what she is best at, and she hopes that she can learn something new and find a career in art.

Burry also hopes to gain exposure to the film industry and receive opportunities such as internships by attending a good film school. Top schools will put students in a film production class where students will be able to apply their knowledge and use cameras to make films by the first week rather than a studies class where students just learn the material and techniques.

But to pave a bright future for themselves, these students first need to endure a long application process. Compared to more conventional applicants, students applying to art and film majors have a harder process overall.

“[Applying for art and film schools] is just a longer process in general, and that’s something people don’t understand,” Burry said.