Portfolio Guidelines
Portfolio Instructions
What if I don’t have a portfolio?
If you are new to art and design and do not have a portfolio yet, please create new pieces of artwork to submit. Artwork may include hand drawings, paintings, digital art, photography, and more. If you’re applying to the Music Production Program, a portfolio can include any variety of high-quality audio projects or musical pieces.
All portfolio submissions should be your original work and showcase your artistic and technical skills. Remember, creative work taken from other sources without appropriate credit will be considered plagiarism and your portfolio will be rejected. All qualities and skill levels will be reviewed and will not affect admission to the college.
Step 1
Create an account with SlideRoom.
Step 2
Review the submission information within Slideroom.
Step 3
Label all images and submissions.
Step 4
Compose a Statement of Intent.
Step 5
Submit your Portfolio and Statement of Intent
Need more instruction? Read the step details below.
Step 1
Create an account with SlideRoom
- Create a SlideRoom account at rmcad.slideroom.com/#/login.
- Follow the instructions to sign up for an account.
- Be sure to include your full name and information in your SlideRoom profile so that your portfolio submission will be correctly identified to you.
- You will need to confirm your account via a confirmation email that will be sent to you.
Step 2
Review the Submission Information within SlideRoom
- Browse through the SlideRoom application so that you are familiar with the process.
- Nothing will be submitted until you complete the necessary document uploads and confirm the submission in the last step.
- You can save your submission at any point and come back to work on it later.
Step 3
Select Your Best Work
- For students applying to Art + Design programs, please select 10–15 pieces of your own original artwork. For Music Production students, please select 2–3 audio-related projects.
- Review the RMCAD Artistic Entry Scholarship Rubric to understand how your portfolio will be evaluated. Please find the Art + Design rubric here, and the Music Production rubric here.
- All pieces should be clearly and professional documented, indicate original sources for all appropriated or sampled media, and credit all collaborators.
- If you are documenting your work through photography, please consider the lighting, focus, and composition. Please avoid harsh shadows and distracting backgrounds.
- If exporting audio files for your portfolio, please consider the overall loudness and equalization. Please avoid unnecessary distortion or overly heavily compressed audio.
- Accepted SlideRoom media files and sizes can be found here.
Step 4
Compose a Statement of Intent
- A Personal Statement of Intent is a written document that explains your areas of interest within art, design, or music, your creative goals, and your interest in RMCAD.
- The statement should be 1–2 pages long.
- Please submit this document as a PDF.
Step 5
Submit Your Portfolio and Statement of Intent
- Upload your documents in SlideRoom.
- Please note that you will need to enter a title, year, media, and additional details for each portfolio piece.
- The “additional details” should be 1) a sentence or two that describes your motivation or inspiration for each artwork, and 2) (if applicable) a list of credits describing what any collaborators or other artists contributed toward the creation of the work that also indicates your contribution or role.
- Double check that your SlideRoom personal profile information is correct before confirming the final submission!
