Suggestions for industrial design?

mackinaw
Thu, 17 Nov 2005 19:45:04 +0000

I agree with Taxguy but will just embellish a couple of his points.

Do art colleges “prefer” the SAT or ACT? I think they generally accept either, but check each website.

Is it necessary to take SAT II’s? From looking at the various college sites, it doesn’t look as if they require SAT II’s, but is it still a good idea to submit results from SAT II’s? Now that they incoporate writing into SAT I, my guess is that none of the stand-alones requires SAT II. When my daughter was applying 6 years ago, at least one school wanted the SAT II writing. I believe that was CMU. She took that as well as Math II just to show she could do it. But she’s good in math.

How many pieces are there in the average portfolio? (Refer to CC’s “making a portfolio” thread and college websites.) I’ve seen 9-20, 12-20, etc. My daughter submitted 17, because she thought there was a drop-off in quality after that (as she learned also from the portfolio day critiques that she received). One of the items in her standard portfolio came from her sketchbook, two from her summer precollege program (sculpture). The rest were things she did mainly in her junior and senior years. The drawing course she took in summer after sophomore year of h.s. was important to her improving her overall skills, and so it was work after that which stood out.

Do most students submit work that was done during their junior and senior years? (Refer to “making a portfolio” thread and college websites.) Basically I agree with Taxguy, but with caveat that you want to show your best work as well as work with a variety of media, and there can be some trade-offs involved in meeting these two goals; so you may need to reach back to earlier work to provide more diversity in your portfolio. This whole process is a lot easier for kids who attend an arts highschool; they often start thinking portfolio from day 1.