Parsons School of Design: A Guide to Undergraduate Portfolio Requirements

Parsons School of Design, a division of The New School in New York City, is renowned for its commitment to social justice and environmental sustainability, evident throughout its LEED-certified buildings and student work addressing pressing social issues. Parsons leverages its New York City location, providing students with opportunities to work in their chosen fields while studying. Impressively, 81% of Parsons graduates find employment in their fields, supported by a career services office and experiential learning opportunities.

As part of The New School, Parsons students can access courses and activities at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and the College of Performing Arts, including the Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama.

Academic Divisions at Parsons

Parsons is organized into five schools:

School of Art, Media, and Technology (AMT): Offers undergraduate BFA degrees in Communication Design, Design and Technology, Fine Arts, Illustration, and Photography.
School of Fashion: Offers an undergraduate BFA degree in Fashion Design.
School of Constructed Environments (SCE): Offers undergraduate BFA degrees in Architecture, Interior Design, and Product Design.
School of Design Strategies (SDS): Offers undergraduate BFA degrees in Integrated Design, Strategic Design and Management (BBA), and Urban Design.
School of Art and Design History and Theory (ADHT): Primarily for graduate MFA students.

All BFA students at Parsons complete a Freshman Foundation Year consisting of five core courses: Drawing and Imaging, Space and Materiality, Objects as History, Sustainable Systems, and Time. Students also take five additional courses (Inflections) in their areas of interest. The curriculum emphasizes digital tools and technology, with less focus on hand drawing.

The Portfolio: Showcasing Your Creative Voice

Applying to Parsons' BFA programs requires a portfolio that demonstrates your creative voice and how your art expresses it. Parsons is more interested in your artistic thinking and the alignment of your ideas with your work than in technical perfection. The application includes the Parsons Challenge, where you expand on a portfolio piece visually (potentially with video) and write a 500-word essay about its development and personal significance. Parsons School of Design assesses portfolios on the basis of the technical and conceptual abilities displayed in the work.

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The portfolio is an essential piece of the application and the scholarship consideration process.

Portfolio Content and Submission

Freshman and transfer applicants to BFA programs must submit a visual portfolio after submitting the Common Application. The portfolio should consist of eight to twelve slides and may include a range of visual media such as drawing, painting, sculpture, fashion design, animation, performance, graphic design, sketchbook pages, etc. Transfer students may submit up to twenty slides. The portfolio is optional for applicants to the BBA in Strategic Design and Management. BBA applicants may submit from two to twelve slides in their portfolio.

You may submit sketch book images, including videos of yourself leafing through your sketchbook pages. You are also encouraged to include video clips or images of your process or the creation or making of your work (up to five additional slides), but it is not required. Your portfolio does not need to include work specific to your chosen major, unless you are applying as a transfer student, in which case we do encourage major-specific work as well as images of work completed in any studio courses you’ve taken. Note: You may upload several images or process materials in one slide.

Transfer applicants are encouraged to include examples of work from any studio courses completed. All applicants submitting a portfolio are required to use the available description/text boxes to give brief descriptions of their process, including their ideas and concepts, sources of inspiration, and use of materials, etc., for at least two of their favorite pieces in the portfolio. Please do not submit autoCAD drawings, anime drawings, or images that directly copy another artist’s work. Any work supported or created by AI in your application or visual portfolio must include a description of your process and the machine learning tools used. Applicants are encouraged to learn more about the visual portfolio by reviewing our portfolio help tips. For the full portfolio requirements, review the instructions for BFA program applicants.

After submitting your Common Application, you’ll receive a link to submit your portfolio. You should submit your portfolio as soon as possible after receiving that communication. You may not make changes to your portfolio once submitted. You must submit individual images of your work. You must also explain how you used AI for the written sections of the application.

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Parsons and Parsons Paris applicants must submit their portfolio (required for BFA programs and optional for the BBA in Strategic Design and Management) through The New School's Online Application Center.

AI and Your Portfolio

The admission committee strongly recommends that you do not submit work created entirely by AI. We ask that you do not include fully generative AI-created images in your portfolio or fully generative AI-created essays in your application. The admission committee reserves the right to request additional materials from students whose portfolios include AI-generated work. If you are submitting work that involved collaboration, you must explain your role in creating that work.

Recommendations and Transcripts

Recommendations may be submitted online through the Common Application. The Common Application School Report is also required. Recommendation letters may also be written by someone who can speak highly of you as an artist, scholar, or student, like an employer or mentor. They may not be written by family members. Students transferring from other colleges or universities must submit one recommendation from a professor with whom they have studied. All applicants must provide official high school and/or college transcripts from all institutions attended.

Application Deadlines

All listed deadlines, with the exception of Early Action and Early Decision, are priority deadlines. The Admission Committee will make a decision on your application only after all the required materials have been received.

Fall First-Year Early Action and Early Decision: extended to November 15; visual portfolio due as soon as possible
Fall First-Year Regular Decision: extended to March 1; visual portfolio due by March 10
Visiting Students: March 15; visual portfolio due by March 24
Transfer Students: March 1
Spring All Freshman and Transfer Applicants: extended to December 1; visual portfolio due as soon as possible

Essays

Applicants must submit two essays. The Common Application essay is not required.

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Essay 1: In your study or work at The New School, what social issue or system would you make the focus of your efforts to effect change? (300-400 words)
Essay 2: What specific aspects of The New School's academic programs or community drew you to apply?

Additional Requirements for Specific Applicants

International students may have to provide additional information. Homeschool applicants must provide the equivalent of a high school transcript with course or subject titles, duration of study for each title, content of study for each title, and an assessment of performance or “grade” at the time of application.

Financial Aid and Scholarships

All admitted students are automatically considered for scholarship awards. No separate application is required. If you are a U.S. citizen or eligible non-citizen, you must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in order to be considered for need-based financial aid. Students who wish to further supplement their financial resources should consider applying for external scholarships.

Domestic students, permanent residents, and other students eligible to submit the FAFSA who are applying Early Decision must submit the Net Price Calculator by November 10 in order to receive a need-based aid package with their Early Decision admission offer.

Standardized Tests and English Proficiency

The New School does not require submission of SAT or ACT scores, and they do not play a part in our review process. All applicants who are native speakers of languages other than English must submit valid English language proficiency test results taken within the past two years.

Tips for Portfolio Preparation

Showcase Self-Expression: Your portfolio should uniquely reflect your artistic identity. Personal and conceptual work is preferred over generic assignments.
Highlight Your Process: Explain your intentions, decisions, and inspirations behind each piece, not just the technical execution. Use the available description/text boxes to give brief descriptions of your process, including your ideas and concepts, sources of inspiration, use of materials, etc., for at least two of your favorite pieces in your portfolio.
Curate and Edit: Present your work effectively with careful attention to lighting, cropping, and grouping. Consider including videos of 3D work or sketchbook pages. Emphasize simplicity and clarity.
Document Your Work: Ensure each image is well-documented to allow the Admission Committee to fully assess your work. Include dimensions, titles, and a short narrative about the piece, including any use of AI.
Avoid Clichés: Refrain from submitting work that directly copies another artist’s work, autoCAD drawings, or anime drawings.
Attend Open Days: Gain insights into program values and expectations by attending open days and interacting with faculty and students.
Seek Feedback: Attend National Portfolio Day for expert tips and portfolio reviews.
Focus on Concept Over Aesthetic: Show that you are intentional with the theme, research, materials, use of color, symbols, mediums, format, etc.
Present Professionally: Honor your work with clear, clean, balanced, high-resolution, and well-lit submissions.

The Importance of Extracurricular Activities

Participating in extracurricular activities demonstrates your passion for art. Consider volunteering at a museum, gallery, or studio; mentoring youth in the arts; starting a creative club; or initiating a community art project.

Graduate Portfolio Requirements

Most graduate degree programs at Parsons School of Design require that applicants submit a portfolio in order to be considered for admission. Applicants must submit the complete portfolio through the Portfolio component of their online application.

Required Portfolio Items

Architecture and Lighting Design Programs: Prepare a sequence of 15 to 25 images that best communicate your visual thinking. Include work that best demonstrates your skills from your educational and/or professional experience. Sketches and conceptual work can also be included. Where appropriate, include descriptions of the projects, explanations of your role (if the project involved a team), and/or a thoughtful description of the context of the project.

Communication Design Programs: Choose works that showcase your understanding of communication design fundamentals (typography, composition, hierarchy and scale, visual rhythm, color, and sequencing), so that the committee can assess your acumen as a visual designer. Where possible, please include descriptions of the projects, explanations of your role in the project (if it is team based), or a thoughtful description of the context of the project.

Data Visualization Program: You can submit a visual portfolio of up to 20 visual items to support your application. Submission of a visual portfolio is optional, and the items should reflect your motivation for study in the program. Sample visuals may include digital work that best demonstrates your skills from previous educational and/or professional experience; sketches and conceptual work can also be included. If you do not have prior training, you can demonstrate your aptitude by submitting examples of freehand drawing, photography, painting, sculpture, graphic design, three-dimensional work, product design, digital media, or other materials.

Design and Technology Program: Submit up to 20 items. Your portfolio should be a visual and narrative reflection of the work listed and described on your résumé and in your statement of purpose. Your projects and portfolio pieces should tell a story about you and what is important to you. Your application’s narrative should make the case for why you are a good fit for the Design and Technology program.

Fashion Design Program: Submit a minimum 25 to maximum 50 pages that provide a clear representation of your concepts and skills as a designer, with an emphasis on process-driven work-giving insight into how the work is developed from concept to final outcome.

Fashion Management Program: You may submit a portfolio (up to five slides) that supports what you wrote in your statement and/or highlights key accomplishments that strengthen your application to the program. The items must be directly related to your motivation for studies in the program and should be linked to the program’s ethos.

Fashion Studies Program: Fashion Studies applicants are not asked to submit a traditional portfolio. Rather, applicants are asked to provide a program essay (250-500 words) or a video recording (five minutes maximum).

Fine Arts Program: Submit 20 images of finished artwork, which may include painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, photography, video, installation, or performance.

History of Design and Curatorial Studies Program: A visual art/design portfolio is not required for the MA in History of Design and Curatorial Studies.

Industrial Design Program: Prepare one PDF document of 15 to 25 images that best communicate your visual thinking. Each slide, including individual PDF pages, is counted as an image. The purpose of the portfolio is to show your individual perspective and creative skills.

Optional Portfolio Items

Architecture and Lighting Design Programs: A video introduction, maximum of three minutes. What do you see as the major challenge of your generation? How is it manifested where you live? In your opinion, how can architecture, lighting design, and built environments help to address this challenge?

Communication Design Programs: MPS Communication Design applicants are encouraged to submit a personal URL that contains links to functional prototypes, if applicable, in addition to a portfolio.

Data Visualization Program: A programming sample, and/or a writing sample.

Design and Technology Program: A video introduction, maximum of three minutes. At the start of your video, please introduce yourself, including your gender pronouns. We would then like you to select one of your previous projects to share in this video. You can narrate a screen recording of yourself describing a work while contextualizing your concept and methods, for example.

Industrial Design Program: A video introduction, maximum of three minutes. Please record and upload a video of yourself in which you describe the ways in which you wish to engage with the program and your thoughts on how you can contribute to the world as an industrial designer.

Parsons School of Design: A Legacy of Innovation

Founded on the vision of integrating art and design with industry, Parsons has a rich history of pioneering design education. Frank Alvah Parsons, a key figure in the school's development, established the first programs in fashion design, interior design, and graphic design. Parsons advocated for democratizing design education, believing that art should be accessible to all.

Parsons continues to evolve, embracing new technologies and collaborations. The school partners with organizations like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the United Nations, providing students with opportunities to address real-world challenges. With a strong focus on social impact and a commitment to fostering creative talent, Parsons School of Design remains a leading institution in art and design education.

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