The Carnegie Mellon University School of Art MFA

To learn more about our program, please join us for a virtual open house on November 14, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM ET. Advance registration is required.

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The Carnegie Mellon University School of Art MFA Program is an interdisciplinary, experimental, research-based program that provides students with a challenging and supportive context to expand and develop their work and thinking as artists. As one of the top-ranked* graduate programs in the country, we view art-making as a vital social, critical, and intellectual pursuit. Graduate students are encouraged to employ a comparative and intersectional approach to critical and cultural theories, and to allow this inquiry to inform and expand what it means to be an artist and to make art within our contemporary condition.

With four core faculty members committed to a cohort of up to 18 graduate students, and an additional 24 tenured and tenure-track professors within the School, the MFA Program fosters intensive intellectual relationships with each of our Masters candidates. The Program is housed in a new, purpose-built facility that opened in January 2020.

The application for Fall 2025 admission is available from September 5, 2024 to January 15, 2025. The required materials for the application are discussed in detail below.

Please note: All applicants to the MFA program must have a Bachelor’s degree. Applicants are considered for Fall semester admission only.

With the exception of official transcripts and TOEFL scores, all application materials and portfolios must be submitted through SlideRoom. You will need to submit the following materials in your application:

– Completed application form
– Completed portfolio/creative work submission
– Professional resume
– Official transcripts of all college work
– Artist’s Statement (max 500 words)
– Statement of Interest (max 500 words)
– 3 letters of reference (from professionals who can speak to your work)
– TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo scores (All non-native speakers of English must submit TOEFL or IELTS language assessment scores, regardless of previous U.S. study)
– $68 application fee (non-refundable)*

The Portfolio

The portfolio is the most critical component of the application. Applicants need to submit 10-25 slides of their work.

Please note that SlideRoom only accepts images (up to 10MB each), video (up to 500MB each), audio (up to 60MB each) and PDFs (up to 20MB each).

Students may also submit slides that demonstrate their interactive work: Document interactive software projects with screen-captured demonstration videos, ideally with narration. Please keep documentation under 3 minutes in length, and under 500MB. Let us know which programming languages you used.

Statement of Interest (max 500 words)

The Statement of Interest details why you want to attend this particular program and how you see the program furthering your artistic practice.

The Artist Statement (500 words)

The Artist Statement should lay out your working process and critical influences while contextualizing your work in relationship to contemporary artistic, social, and cultural practices.

Official Transcripts

All applicants are required to send official copies of all college transcripts in order to be considered for admission to the MFA program. We prefer transcripts be electronically to our Admissions office: (MFAadmissions@andrew.cmu.edu). If this is not possible, transcripts may be sent by mail to the following address:

Carnegie Mellon University
School of Art Graduate Admissions
College of Fine Arts 300
5000 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Non-Native Speakers of English

All applicants who are non-native speakers of English are required to take the TOEFL, Duolingo, or the IELTS examination regardless of previous U.S. study. This year, due to the global pandemic, we are accepting Duolingo test results. The Duolingo English Test is an online English proficiency test that can be taken online, on-demand, in under an hour. The test is taken via a computer with a camera and includes a proficiency score, video interview, and writing sample which are shared with Carnegie Mellon when you send your results. Certified results are available within 48 hours of the test session.

Please note the minimum acceptable scores:

TOEFL: 25 in Reading, Listening, Writing, and Speaking, with a total score no less than 100.

IELTS: 7.5 overall, and with minimum band scores of 7 in Reading, 7 in Listening, 7.5 in Speaking, and 6.5 in Writing.

Duolingo: 125 overall.

Students can mail all transcripts and TOEFL scores to the School of Art Graduate Admissions address above. Our TOEFL code is 2074.

Candidates should provide English translations for any transcripts that are not in English.