Transfer Admissions
For Off-Campus Transfers (for students currently or previously enrolled at other schools, and are not MassTransfer students)
Students currently or previously enrolled at other institutions and who wish to major in art must apply to the University through the Common App. Please refer to Admissions for Common App deadlines. At the end of the Common App, a link to SlideRoom will be provided for you to submit your portfolio. Portfolio deadlines are approximately two weeks after the Common App deadlines.
Portfolio Deadlines for Off-Campus Transfers
- November 5 (to begin as an art major the following spring).
- March 4 is the deadline for priority consideration, (to begin as an art major the following fall), with a final deadline of April 15.
Note: Massachusetts community college graduates who have already completed the requisite art and art history courses need not submit a portfolio. If you believe you fall into this category, please contact a transfer specialist in the UMass Amherst Office of Admissions at mail@admissions.umass.edu or (413) 545-0222.
For On-Campus Transfers (for current UMass students in other departments who wish to become art majors)
Students currently enrolled at UMass who wish to major in art must submit a portfolio. Please contact the department to schedule a meeting to discuss your study options with an advisor; we will then provide you with a link to submit your portfolio online.
Portfolio Deadlines for On-Campus Transfers
- October 7 (to begin as an art major the following spring)
- March 18 priority deadline, April 1 final deadline (to begin as an art major the following fall).
For MassTransfers (students completing an approved MassTransfer associate degree program at a Massachusetts community college)
Students completing an approved MassTransfer associate degree program at a Massachusetts community college and who wish to major in art, must apply to the University through the MassTransfer application on the transfer admissions website. After submitting the MassTransfer application, a link to SlideRoom will be emailed to you for portfolio submission
Portfolio Deadlines for MassTransfer applicants
- October 7 (to begin as an art major the following spring)
- March 18 priority deadline, April 1 final deadline (to begin as an art major the following fall).
Note: Priority deadlines are set to allow for participation in course registration for the following semester. Failure to meet these deadlines will jeopardize your ability to register for your preferred classes.
Tips for submitting your portfolio
- You must submit a digital portfolio of 12-15 images of original artwork via SlideRoom. Detailed instructions on how to submit your portfolio can be found directly on SlideRoom; please do not send hard-copy portfolios or original artwork to the Department of Art.
- There are no specific requirements for media, style, or content; instead, we hope to see evidence of your thoughtfulness, passion, close attention, and careful execution. We value breadth (a wide range of media and content, an experimental spirit) as well as depth (multi-part projects, focused engagement with one idea, theme, or process). Your portfolio should represent your best work and demonstrate independent thought; please do not submit copies of others’ original artwork.
- SlideRoom provides fields for applicants to enter important information about your artwork (including title, media, size, date completed) and a description. The Title field is required; if your piece does not have a title, enter "untitled". The other fields are optional, please fill in as much information as possible to help us understand your work. If your work was an assignment, use the Description field to describe the assignment and how you interpreted it to arrive at this result.
- Time-based submissions (video, audio) should be limited to no more than three items and no longer than five minutes total.
- SlideRoom accepts a broad range of file types and sizes;
- Images up to 5 MB each
- Videos up to 250 MB each, videos may also be linked from YouTube and Vimeo
- Audio up to 30MB each, audio may also be linked from SoundCloud
- 3d digital models linked from SketchFab
- Please do not submit your portfolio as a presentation such as PowerPoint or Keynote or as a PDF binder
- For more help with SlideRoom, including resizing images and video, suggested file types, and other technical questions, please visit the SlideRoom Support page.
