@Beth_Lee you just need to check school policies. For my arts kid, there was one university he applied to where he had to be academically accepted to the university BEFORE his audition could be scheduled. And there were a couple of others where admission for academic bar needed to be met, or be very close to being met.
So do check. Find out whether the portfolio is the main thing (I’m guessing it will be for those arts schools much like an audition is treated for musicians).
You might find some help on this area of this forum as it includes visual arts.