Admission International Students

1st round

The consultation hour / Sending in your portfolio

For the first admission round, candidates are expected to book an appointment for a consultation. If you are coming to our academy for a consultation, you SHOULD NOT send in your portfolio for assessment, but will bring it with you to the consultation.

Sending in your portfolio

Candidates who are unable to attend a consultation in person at our academy, instead, must send in their portfolio for assessment. On the basis of the portfolio, the admissions committee will determine whether the candidate will be invited for the entrance examination.

A portfolio must satisfy the requirements below.

NOTE: Portfolios that fail to meet one or more requirements will not be considered.

• The portfolio must contain between 30 and 100 pieces of visual work (not on CD!), no more than three years old. Do not just send in final results. Initial sketches, ideas and plans can also provide insight into your work process. Examples of the work you can send in are: drawings, paintings, photographs, collages, graphics, textiles, garments, ceramics, items of jewellery, floor plans, models and texts if applicable. You can send in photographs, instead of originals, of large or heavy pieces. Internet presentations and/or CDs/DVDs will not be considered.

• The portfolio must include a printed and completely filled out
  'Application form – portfolio candidates 2012-2013'.

This application form should include the following:

• your personal details;
• details about prior education, courses taken (enclose copies of diplomas);
• your preference for foundation year or higher course year (be sure to indicate only one of these two possibilities);

And also include:

• a copy of your passport/ID-card;
• a copy of your high school diploma (if completed already);
• a copy of IELTS certificate or other proof of English proficiency;
• proof of bachelor art studies (if applicable – required for higher course year applicants);
• a motivation letter (which covers your reasons for choosing the Rietveld Academie, your expectations regarding the study programme, your future plans, your development so far, your interests);
• a table of contents of your portfolio;
• an explanation of the work in your portfolio;
• answering coupons/money to have your portfolio returned to you (if you wish).

The submitted package may not be larger than 55 cm x 70 cm x 10 cm.    
NOTE: NO insured value may be indicated on the package!

deadline:

Candidates who wish to apply for the 2012/2013 academic year (starting in September 2012) can submit their portfolio from 1 October 2011 to January 2012. The deadline is 31 January 2012; this is the date by which the Rietveld Academie must have received your portfolio. However, we urge you to submit your portfolio well before the deadline.

Post your portfolio to:

Gerrit Rietveld Academie
Bureau Toelatingen / PORTFOLIO
Fred. Roeskestraat 96
1076 ED Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Also send an e-mail to apply@grac.nl to confirm that you have sent your portfolio. The receipt of your portfolio and the results of the assessment will always be communicated by e-mail. Assessment of a portfolio will usually take four weeks, but will probably take a few weeks longer if you submit your portfolio during or after the Christmas holidays.

RETURNING YOUR PORTFOLIO:

A portfolio will only be returned if the package you sent does not exceed the maximum measurements above and if sufficient international answering coupons have been enclosed for its return; in most countries these coupons can be purchased at the post office. The value of the coupons must represent the same amount as the costs of sending the package to the Rietveld Academie. If you are unable to obtain international answering coupons, you can enclose a sufficient amount in euro instead. DO NOT put coupons/cash in the packaging material, but with the application form in your portfolio.

NOTE:

If the package does not include sufficient coupons/money, the portfolio will be stored temporarily until September 2012, after which the portfolio will be destroyed!

2nd round

The entrance examination

If you receive a positive assessment for your portfolio, you pass on to the second admission round; the entrance examination. The entrance examinations will be scheduled in April. There will be an extra exam round in May for candidates who cannot attend in April.
All candidates must come to the academy in Amsterdam to attend the entrance examination.

A few weeks before the examination, you will receive an invitation and two home assignments by e-mail.
The entrance exam consists of an admission interview with one or two separate admissions committees. During these interviews, you will present a large and varied selection of your visual work, no more than 3 years old. Candidates for the first year must also show the development and results of the two home assignments. Based on your presentation, the committees will ask you questions, for instance on your work, the home assignments, your motivation, your background, your sources of inspiration and your expectations regarding the study programme. The interviews will take a maximum of 20 minutes. Before the examination, you will have a little time to set up your work in the classroom in which the examination takes place.
You will receive the results by e-mail three weeks after the examination.

Application for a higher year

Candidates who have studied at an art academy (at bachelor level), in principle, can apply for a higher course year. If you have completed at least 1 bachelor course year at an art academy in one of the following countries:

Netherlands,
Germany,
Belgium, 
France,
Switzerland,
Denmark,
Norway,
Sweden,
Finland,
United Kingdom,
Austria,
Ireland

you can send in a request to receive an application form for the entrance examinations. You must provide proof of having completed the first year of an art academy’s bachelor’s programme, by e-mailing it in JPEG or PDF format to apply@grac.nl. This way, you skip the first admission round and will not have to attend a consultation, or send in your portfolio for assessment.

If you are still studying in the first bachelor course year at your art academy, or have studied at an art academy in a country that is not on the above mentioned list, you cannot skip the first admission round and are obliged to attend a consultation, or, if that is not possible, send in your portfolio for assessment.

Visa

Members of the following countries are exempt from MVV visum requirements:

All EU/EEA countries; Austria, Belgium, 
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, 
Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, 
Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, 
Italy, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, 
Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, 
Romania, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, 
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, 
United Kingdom; and Australia, Canada, 
Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, 
United States.    

Students from all other countries ARE obliged to obtain an MVV visa.

More information here

Residence permit

If you are not from EU/EEA, you'll need a Residence Permit. More information here