Portfolio Requirements

An admissions portfolio for first-time first-year students should consist of 10 to 15 digital images (15 to 20 digital images for transfer students) of your best and most recent work. The work can demonstrate course assignments, personal projects, or work experience.

Your portfolio should include a focused series of images that shows your current interests, and additional work that reveals an awareness of formal visual organizational principles and experience with a variety of tools, media, styles, and approaches.

We prefer that the majority of drawings submitted in the portfolio be derived from direct observation rather than other sources (such as photographs). Still life, landscape, figure drawings, portrait, perspective, and diagrammatic drawings are all recommended. Further two-, three-, or four-dimensional work may be abstract or representational and may range from design projects to fine art pieces or installation documentation.

Portfolio for Transfer Applicants

If you're a transfer student, submit a portfolio consisting of 20 images. For advanced studio placement, a portion of the images must reflect studio course assignments, personal projects, or work experience in your area of concentration.

Transfer credit is assessed based on successful completion of transferable studio work, as well as portfolio quality.

Waivers for the Core entry requirements (2D, 3D, 4D, Drawing) are given based on successful completion of studio work and overall portfolio quality.

Students with 18 or more studio units meeting the aforementioned grade and portfolio requirement may also receive waivers for the Core entry requirements. Portfolios should include images reflecting competency in drawing, two- and three-dimensional organizational principles, and work that covers digital technologies or film.

Portfolio for Writing and Literature and Visual Studies Applicants

Students applying to the Writing and Literature or Visual Studies Programs are required to submit a writing portfolio (5 to 10 pages).

The portfolio for the Writing and Literature Program should include poetry, fiction, or both.

Applicants to the Visual Studies Program are encouraged to submit an example of a written history assignment.

Students who have visual work are encouraged to submit examples of artwork along with their written portfolio, using one of the five portfolio types listed below.

Portfolio for Architecture Applicants

Your portfolio should demonstrate the breadth of your creative work. While work with architectural content is not required, students who choose to submit architectural images in their portfolio should submit work reflecting design, not drafting, skills. Please include project descriptions, dates, and your contribution to the project.

Advanced standing in Architecture is assessed based on successful completion of studio work, and portfolio quality. For more details, refer to the section "Portfolio for Transfer Applicants."

How to Submit Your Work

Portfolios should be prepared as follows:

• All portfolios must include a descriptive list identifying each work by number, title, dimensions, medium, completion date, and any other relevant information.
• All portfolios must be sent to the Enrollment Services Office. Portfolios will not be returned. Although every precaution is taken to protect portfolios, the college cannot be responsible for loss or damage.

CCA prefers portfolios to be submitted as a series of digital images and recognizes five types of portfolios for submission:

• Digital portfolios may be submitted on a CD or DVD. Image files in any universal audio, video, graphic, web, or CAD format are acceptable (.jpg, .aiff, .mov, .pdf). Macromedia Flash work is preferable in .swf format. Write the following, with permanent marker, on the jewel case and the disc: your name, address, and phone number. If you are submitting a URL, please submit the entire website on CD or DVD as a precaution.
• Slide portfolios should include clearly labeled slides and a descriptive list. At the top of every slide, clearly write your name and the title of the project, and at the bottom, write the project's dimensions and a corresponding number from the descriptive list. Place a coding dot in the lower left corner of each slide mount to facilitate projection. Please note, it is preferred that slides are converted to digital images and submitted as a digital portfolio on CD or DVD.
• Photography portfolios may either be submitted on a CD or DVD or submitted as mounted images. Please note, it is preferred that slides are converted to digital images and submitted as a digital portfolio on a CD or DVD.
• Film portfolios must be transferred to CD or DVD. Video material must be mailed in envelopes or plastic cases with your name, address, and phone number on the CD or DVD and its jewel case.
• Writing portfolios must include 5 to 10 pages of writing samples. The portfolio for the Writing and Literature Program should include poetry, fiction, or both. Applicants to the Visual Studies Program are encouraged to submit an example of a written history assignment. All work submitted may either be attached in an online application with the heading "PORTFOLIO", submitted as printed documents mailed with the printed application, or as Word files on a CD. If a CD is being submitted, write the following, with permanent marker, on the jewel case and the disc: your name, address, and phone number. Students who have visual work are encouraged to submit examples of artwork along with their written portfolio, using the instructions above.

The Enrollment Services Office reviews original work in person for application approval during regular business hours or National Portfolio Days. If a portfolio has been approved during a visit with an Enrollment Counselor, a student is not required to submit a portfolio for admission.

Portfolios are required for scholarship consideration.

Submission of original work with your application is not recommended, since portfolios will not be returned.