Hi everyone it's Paola so I just tried to film a million times
I had to wait around because a giant truck
making a lot of noise picking up leaves everywhere was just driving on down the street takin' forever
And so I had to wait around. So then I started making this Polaroid wall thing, and I just have a mess here,
but you know what? We're gonna keep it moving.
So hello everyone it's Paola and today
I am going to be talking about applying to school,
applying to college, applying to art school, all of that because I've gotten some requests to talk about that and I was like,
You know what? That's a really good idea I should be doing that
It's the middle of like the time to be applying to school and it was so long ago for me
I'm like so friggin old
I don't even remember what it was like. No, I do but I thought it would be helpful because
I've been seeing a lot of videos about applying to school and the ones that I've seen for artists are like,
"here's how I got accepted to my top school!" And it's all these high end, fancy,
like RISD and all these cool schools that I didn't even apply to because I was like, "I'm not gonna get in"
I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those videos, but it just seems like it's not really trying to be helpful
it's just trying to show how amazing they are.
I'm sorry, that's not like if that's not what they're trying to do
I'm sorry, but it's just like the titles they're just not very helpful. I want to give you like actual,
practical tips instead of just like,
"Um, here's my art and I'm amazing" because you might be in this position and I don't think I would benefit
from watching a video like that when I was in high school because I was really not confident in my work
and I didn't even feel like an artist. I was kind of like, "why am I even applying to school to be an artist?"
Like, what am I doing?
It was always the primary goal was the career I wanted which was to work in a magazine.
Which now has changed but I wasn't confident and I was like, okay
I'm only doing graphic design cuz that's like what I want to do kind of- I don't know,
I'm lost - and it was just scary. So I don't think I would have benefited from watching a video
that was like, "here's how amazing I am at art and why I got accepted to my top choice art school!"
So if that's you this will be helpful [pause]
hopefully, so let's do it!
The one thing I want to start out by saying, which I guess I've already said a bunch of stuff
but this is the start right? that I want to start out by saying is that I feel like
the whole application process is really unfair,
especially for art schools or going to college- like a liberal arts school for art,
you have to submit all this work that is like your current work and what you've been doing, and for me
I really didn't know exactly how to do a lot of art,
I just didn't feel prepared and maybe that was just all in my head, but I felt like I
was more prepared after college now, like I feel qualified now to go apply to an art school and get in.
You know what I mean? Like that's how much my
my art has grown. But of course you can do it, I believe in you and
they're not looking for perfection, they're just looking for potential and they're looking for a wide variety
of work, and you don't have to be an expert at everything
it was just all in my head that I felt like it was a
slightly unfair process, because I felt like I was just behind from other people.
But if that's you too don't let that knock your confidence, just do whatever you do
and if you're doing art - if you want to study art, you've obviously done some work and
that's okay. You can show what you have and feel good about it.
The first thing I would really encourage you to do - I keep saying this is the first but this is like the third thing
I've talked about. The first thing I would really encourage you to do is your research,
so you definitely want to look into if you want to go to a liberal arts school, or an art school
or any kind of college...
I've gotten a lot of comments about that in different videos, like "what kind of school did you go to?"
"Is it better to go to an art school? Is it better to go to this kind of school?"
I've gotten so many comments about it and I've answered them individually, but obviously y'all aren't seein' it,
so I would definitely say that it's up to you and what kind of experience you want. I went to a liberal arts
four-year university, so there were lots of different colleges at the school. There was
a law school, education, social work, medical school,
you could study anything basically and I was just in the art department.
So that was a really good experience!
I had a great experience at my college and I met a lot of different people not just artists.
I became best friends with the artists, but of course because I'm
in classes with them all the time.
But yeah, it's definitely up to you - like art school,
I probably would have had just as great of a time if I went to an art school, like all art
That's the only majors are different fields of art.
So really do your research into what you want to do, there's so many good art schools, especially in the United States and
even abroad! I've already I've looked into it going to grad school abroad. I don't know if I will,
let's not get ahead of ourselves, but yeah, it's just there's so many options and
you just have to really find what's best for you, and what kind of program you like. Definitely visiting campuses is great
I was gonna apply to a school and then I went to the campus and I was like, this isn't my vibe, ya know?
It just didn't feel like me, and so I didn't end up applying! So it really depends on what you want to do,
do it all! Google's your best friend right now. Start going on all those college websites, get that info, request info
they'll send you packages. It's the best.
So now you're in the application process and that can be very tedious,
it costs money, and there's lots of different factors, it takes a while, but it's very rewarding because at the end
you'll get to go to college, and everyone goes through it. So you're not alone.
But you know, it can be fun if you want to talk about yourself
If you're like that kind of person that really likes to talk about yourself
And you made a whole channel where you just get to talk all the time...
mhmm
So if you are applying the main thing that they are going to look at when they take you into consideration for acceptance is
your portfolio.
*dun dun dun*
It's your portfolio. It's the main part of everything that you need to get into school.
But I will say if you're going to an art school
your portfolio is probably the most important thing on your application. They're going to look at that,
they're going take that into consideration the most and if you're going to a liberal arts school
they probably
will focus on your essays and your test scores as well
just as high up there
in regard as your portfolio, because it's really important to them as a school that
they have all the "perfect students," it's so annoying. So you definitely have to make sure that you don't forget about
your essays and your testing and all that stuff because
your portfolio
is not the only thing that makes you up. Like, you still have
school to do, you still have to go to school and take a science class and take an English class.
So you're not just gonna be doing art all the time, even at an art school, but at an art school
they will definitely be looking at your portfolio and your talent first.
Here's the thing!
I keep rambling and the lighting keeps changing but we're gonna keep going because we are in it to win it!
So for your portfolio,
I'm not going to show you my portfolio because my portfolio is a
professional portfolio now. It's not a student one, it's not a high school one, when I was in high school
I had a completely different work. I have a portfolio my website,
I'll link it down below, and I also have a video that I'll link that
shows my student portfolio when it was student, it's definitely changed since then, but yeah!
You guys can look at that on your own time, but
the portfolio is very important and you definitely need to show a wide range of your work. If you just
draw and paint then that's okay
You don't have to do like, photography just because the portfolio said so, but sometimes the portfolio has
specific requirements that it needs and sometimes it doesn't, so
Just make sure you're doing your research when you're looking into what school you want to apply to, what they expect
I know for RISD, if you're applying to the Rhode Island School of Design
they have a specific
list of things that you need like, "draw this", but if you're going for graphic design
like I was, I did lots of different things. I did a little bit of photography,
I did a painting that I did of myself,
I had a watercolor diamond thing that I drew, and you know what? These things weren't that amazing,
I'll be honest. But they still got me into school, 1,
and 2,
they were fine for what they were! I was 16, 17, when I was applying for school and
you know what? They understand. They understand you're on a journey,
they just want to see that you are working hard and that you have potential
in what you want to go into.
So that's why I feel like the essay and the portfolio really pair well together because you really want
to talk about
your passions and what you want to go into and what you strive to do and aspire to be and
so I think that will come across when you pair your essay and your portfolio together.
But definitely focus on your portfolio, focus on being diverse and
creative, and just create this whole year long. If you're a junior right now in high school create for the whole next year
a bunch of different stuff. Just experiment and then you will have a very well-rounded portfolio.
And if you are still in the application process and you have a portfolio that you would like to
get look at, get critiqued,
there is an amazing thing called national portfolio day and it's all over the country here.
It's really cool and people from all over, from different schools, they come in and they look at your work,
so what you would do is you bring in basically a portfolio of all your work, all the photos,
and then you talk about yourself and you show your work, and they give you really helpful tips! They are not there to
slam you or reject you on the spot. They're there to tell you what you can improve and what is really strong!
So that's a great way to
figure out what you're doing in this application process.
It's going around right now!
I'll link it below, I'll link all the resources below, and I'll link some
resources where you can look into what kind of schools you want to go to, and
what schools are the best right now for certain things,
I'll link a lot of resources for you. So hopefully this was helpful! If it was give it a thumbs up
Let me know if you have any questions in the comments
I would love to talk to you! We can talk about school, we can talk about whatever.
Whatever you want! If you want to ask me where I got
this outfit...
ask away! I don't remember! I'll let you know if I look it up and
I will see you next video. Bye!
That's a big truck, oh they're stopping, lovely mmm, they're gonna make noises with leaves.
Oh, no.
Kill me.