SUNY NEW PALTZ BFA IN GRAPHIC DESIGN TRANSFER APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS
The Graphic Design program welcomes applications from students wishing to transfer in.
Here’s information we hope will be useful.
Transfer applicants with 45 or more completed credits must be accepted into their desired major before they are accepted to SUNY New Paltz. Applicants with fewer than 45 completed credits can apply undeclared or to their desired major. Undeclared students may take graphic design courses as space in the classes and the student’s qualifications permit.
The Graphic Design BFA program is competitive–for Fall 2024 we accepted 22% of transfer applicants–and space in the major is limited. Our program requires a gpa of at least 3.0 and a successful portfolio review. When we review portfolios of applicants who’ve completed an Associate’s degree, we’re looking for indications that you’ll be able to do well when you join your colleagues.
Please be aware that because the programs transfer students are applying from vary in terms of how closely their curriculum matches up to what SUNY New Paltz Graphic Design BFA students take during their first two years, the path to a transfer student’s graduation may exceed two additional years of study. A determination of cohort placement may be made upon acceptance or after reviewing a student’s progress at the end of their first and second semesters in our program.
We review prospects once a year, every Spring for Fall admission. March 1 is the priority deadline for portfolio submission. Our review begins on that date. Please make sure your application is complete. We do not review incomplete applications or incorrectly formatted files.
Apply as early as possible. Note that the College reserves the right to close admission at any time without prior notification to applicants.
Please note: our program is a broad-based graphic design program. It does not prepare students for careers in illustration, animation, or game design. If you are strongly interested in these areas, it’s best to consider programs at other schools that focus on these specializations.
Our process includes a review of:
- grades for Graphic Design courses
- grades for other courses
- your GPA
- the quality of the work in your portfolio
- your responses to the writing prompts for insights to how you think and talk about design and your role as a designer; this is as important as the quality of your work
If you’re accepted to the Graphic Design BFA we’ll apply up to 27 credits of studio art and design courses in which you’ve earned a B- or better. Sometimes we are able to apply your past work to specific courses here. In other situations, we’ll apply the credits as electives. Art History credits are also transferable. The College will transfer in all applicable GEs.
PORTFOLIO REQUIREMENTS
- Your online portfolio should consist of 20 examples of your best design work (for example: logos, interfaces, brochures, layouts, typography, posters, packaging). Up to five of these can be in other media. Only include original work: no derivatives of existing work such as copied illustrations. This work can come from your classes, from design you do for yourself, or for clients.
- Images should be saved in JPEG or PDF format, and no more than 4 megabytes per file.
- Time-based work, such as video, may be up to 5 minutes in length. Please provide a still image and a link in the space provided.
- Caption each work with answers to these questions: What did you do? Why did you do it? What would you change next time? In order for us to consider your portfolio it’s essential that you include this information. Applications without these captions will not be considered.
- Please respond to the prompts below in writing. Your essay should be no longer than 400 words. Compose it in a word processing program and paste it into the space provided. We are interested to read your writing and hear your thoughts! This is an essential component of your portfolio.
- What is design?
- What can designers do in the world?
- Referring to your experience studying, making and thinking about design so far, why do you want to be a designer?
