Prospective Students

This webpage provides a broad overview of our program, along with several links to other resources for prospective undergraduate students. Additional information can also be found in this digital booklet, and by exploring other sections of the School of Art website.

To start, Head of School Charlie White and Assistant Professor Imin Yeh discuss what interdisciplinary research and artmaking—a foundational to our education—means at the School of Art.

To help give you a sense of what life is like at CMU’s School of Art, we’ve recorded a few brief videos that you can watch below.

Assistant Head of Academic Affairs Mark Cato delves into the two tracks for undergraduate students: the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and the three interdisciplinary degrees collectively known as the BXA Intercollege Degree Program. He explains some key differences, and provides an overview of the curriculum:

Details on the BFA Program
BXA overview
Details on BCSA Program
Details on BHA Program
Details on BSA Program
Examples of advanced studio electives: Fall 2020
Undergraduate catalog

School of Art students have the option to study abroad in locations around the globe. Mark discusses the options and process a bit more:

More information on study abroad

The School of Art occupies over 50,000 square feet of fabrication facilities, multi-purpose classrooms, media-specific studios and workshops, student and faculty studios, presentation rooms, and exhibition space, offering students access to both traditional and state-of-the-art tools. See an overview of our facilities here.

In addition to the resources available within the School of Art, CMU offers many opportunities to expand your artistic practice outside the classroom, collaborate with students and faculty from across the University, and to gain important technical skills. Charlie is joined by Golan Levin, Professor of Art and Director of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, to discuss just two of these resources:

Art and Technology Options for School of Art students
Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry
Example STUDIO Projects
Integrative, Design, Arts, and Technology (IDeATe) Program
Human Computer Interaction Institute

Alumni from the CMU School of Art pursue many different career paths, from studio artist to UX designers, from arts nonprofit leaders to movie and television animators, from illustrators to game designers. Mark is joined by College of Fine Arts Career Consultant Caedyn Busche to discuss these different paths and how CMU prepares alumni for success after college:

CMU Career and Professional Development

We hope that this helps provide some additional information on our program. For any questions, please reach out to Mark at any time!