Portfolio and Admissions Requirements for Prospective Art + Design Students

The School of Art + Design requires students to submit a portfolio of creative work as part of the NJIT admissions process. The portfolio will be looked at as only one of a number of factors when evaluating a candidate for admission, and in some instances, a strong portfolio may make the difference between being offered a place in the class and not being offered admission. 

Virtual Portfolio feedback sessions are helpful when preparing your portfolio for review. Hillier College hosts frequent portfolio review sessions for students who are considering applying, all levels of interest welcome. Sign up here. Please note, a portfolio feedback session is to review your work prior to the submission of your application. This is an informal review and will not determine your admission into the program.

NOTE: Material in this section refers to portfolios required for admission to the School of Art + Design. Separate submissions from transfer students such as syllabi, graphic work, examinations/quizzes, papers, etc. are required from transfer students after admission to determine placement and transfer credit for specific courses, including Foundation Year courses. As soon as a student is admitted as a transfer and has decided to matriculate in the School of Art + Design at NJIT, he or she should see the Advisor to the School of Art + Design, Ms. Sasha Corchado (corchado@njit.edu) to submit required materials that would facilitate the determination of what transfer credit, if any, may be applied towards the discipline-specific requirements at NJIT. 

Portfolio Content and Format

Any applicant using the Common Application must submit the portfolio through the integrated SlideRoom app. Transfer students may submit work with SlideRoom without using the Common Application.

Portfolios should have ten to twenty examples of work. Work must be creative – and created by the applicant. The portfolio may include examples of graphic design, architectural design, photography, furniture design, drawing (any medium or combination of media), painting, watercolor, film/animation, sculpture, etc. Samples of work created with a variety of media are welcome and encouraged, including recorded samples of performance art (e.g. acting, singing, dancing) even though the School of Art + Design programs are visual in their orientation. Creative written work like screenplays, poetry, or originally composed music, is also accepted but the portfolio must include primarily visual work.

There is a premium placed on good submissions over a variety of media for entrance to the School of Art + Design. In other words, do your best to submit more than one kind of project.

It is important that your work be viewed in the best manner possible. Towards that end, it is recommended that applicants take care when photographing and/or scanning work created with traditional media. Poor photographs or scans reflect badly upon the quality of work and may impact a reviewers perception of the portfolio.

Work created with traditional media (e.g. pencil drawings/sketches, acrylic or oil paintings, sculpture) should be scanned or photographed and included in the digital submission.

We are looking to be inclusive in the types of work accepted, but please do not include work from drafting or technical drawing classes that do not illustrate your creativity even if they include examples that demonstrate technical proficiency unless accompanied by a graphic analysis you created. Please do not include architectural work that mimics a house or structure you were simply required to document in a high school drafting class (but freehand onsite/field sketching is welcome). Similarly, please do not simply copy characters you’ve seen in graphic novels, television shows, or motion pictures. We are looking for the creative spark that motivates you. Do not send us everything you have done – use discretion in your submissions.

IMPORTANT: Make sure that the first file or image in your online portfolio contains your name AND the name of the program to which you are applying (Digital Design, Industrial Design, Interior Design).

It is essential that a description/identification be included for every project contained in the submission. Describe each work briefly (one to two lines) and include information about medium(s) used, the size of the original (if the submission is a scan or photo), the purpose of the work (class, personal, paid work, etc.), and your intent.

When you submit individual images or animation files, make sure that any file you save HAS the extension (e.g. .pdf, .jpg, .mpg) which are not always automatically added with computers running Mac Operating Systems developed by Apple, Inc.

Single/still images should be saved in JPG or PDF format. Use minimal compression (maximum quality) when saving files to the extent possible in order to avoid unwanted visual artifacts that compromise the visual appearance of your work.

Animations may be submitted in MPG and/or AVI formats.

The applicant is responsible for arranging the viewing sequence and is urged not to rely on default alphabetical file names. Above all, the work in the portfolio should be clear, easy to view, and represent you in the best possible way.

Admission Requirements (General)

Applications to undergraduate programs at NJIT are handled centrally, by the NJIT Office of Admissions (http://www.njit.edu/admissions/). In general, high school students interested in any of the fields in the School of Art + Design should pursue a strong pre-college academic program that includes courses in the humanities, physics, and math (at least through pre-calculus for Bachelor of Science degree programs or those students applying for the undergraduate program in Interior Design with the intention of pursuing a graduate degree in Architecture). Additional experience and courses in traditional media art, art history, and computer graphics (as well as computer programming) are also helpful. A portfolio of creative work is required (see below). Freshman applications must be submitted through the Common Application and the associated portfolio through the integrated SlideRoom application.

Applicants may enter the SlideRoom application directly at: https://njitdesign.slideroom.com/#/Login

External transfer students coming from either a two-year or four-year institution must apply through the NJIT Office of Admissions. A portfolio of creative work (see below) is required as well as official transcript(s). Portfolios must be submitted independently through SlideRoom without the Common Application.

Admission Requirements (Internal Transfer)

Students from other programs in NJIT but not in the School of Art + Design shall be ineligible for transfer to any of the A+D programs until two semesters have been completed and grades are available. In general, there is a minimum grade point average of 2.6 earned at NJIT to transfer into any of the programs in the School of Art + Design. With permission from the Advisor to the School of Art + Design, internal candidates may take courses in the School of Art + Design for which prerequisites have been satisfied and if space is available. (Note: In general, Foundation Year courses do not have prerequisites but will be subject to space limitations.

Registration priority is given to majors in the School of Art + Design and to Information Technology students who are required to take these courses to complete concentration requirements.) Internal transfer candidates, like external transfer applicants, must submit a portfolio as part of the admissions process. Internal transfers may submit portfolios on physical media (CD, DVD, or USB flash drive) which are to be given directly to the Advisor of the School of Art + Design. Physically submitted portfolios are not returned. Work created to fulfill academic requirements for Art + Design courses taken while at NJIT may be used to complete the portfolio requirement in part, or in its entirety, depending on the quality and quantity of work produced.

The overall portfolio requirement for internal candidates is identical to the requirement for external candidates. Portfolios, grade point average, grades in A+D courses, and overall performance at NJIT as well as capacity of the program to which a candidate applies are all considered when making decisions about admission into the School of Art + Design. Students interested in transferring are urged to see the Advisor to the School of Art + Design, Ms. Sasha Corchado (corchado@njit.edu) as soon as they decide they are interested in pursuing this option.  Portfolios (on CD, DVD, or USB flash drive) and internal transfer applications are processed wholly within the School of Art + Design and must be submitted to Ms. Corchado prior to the stated deadline for the academic year.

AP Course Credit

In general, AP course credit for General University Requirements require a “4” or “5” and are determined by individual departments. This includes courses in English Language or English Literature, Calculus, and/or Physics (Mechanics). For example, a 4 or 5 in Psychology will generally give 1 semester credit (3 credits) for STS 210 (required of all A+D students). A 4 or 5 in English Language and Composition will give 1 semester credit for HUM 101 while a 4 or 5 in English Literature and Composition will give 1 semester credit for HUM 102. (Please note that this gets re-evaluated on a regular basis to keep up with changes in NJIT courses and AP requirements.)

A grade of “5” in Studio Art: Drawing will earn one semester credit (3 credits) for AD 111 – Communication in Art and Design: Traditional Media. A “4” or “5” in Art History will provide 2 semesters credit (6 credits) for AD 161 – History of Art and Design I and also AD 162 – History of Art and Design II. A grade of "4" or "5" in Music Theory will be accepted for 3 credits as a Design Elective by the School of Art + Design.