Film and Media Art MFA Admission Requirements
The following items are required for your application to the Film and Media Art MFA program:
- Online Application
- After submitting your application, you will receive an email with your Admission ID. Please use your username and password to log in and check the status of your application.
- Official Transcripts
- Review the official transcript requirements
- 3 Letters of Recommendation
- Admission Essay
- Who are you as an artist? How does the focus and curriculum of the program align with your experience and goals? 500 words.
- Drawing on your personal, professional, creative, and/or academic experience, please share an example of a time that you overcame an individual or collective challenge and the approach you took to address that challenge. 250–500 words.
- The mission of Emerson College is the betterment of society through communication and the arts. With this in mind, what impact do you want your work to have? 500 words.
- Portfolio
- This can be any form of visual or audio media work (film, video, sound, interactive work, etc.), photography, music, or performance documentation.
- For film and media work, please submit no more than 15 minutes of material in total. Your portfolio submission can be a single work or a collection of short completed works. An excerpt from a longer work is also acceptable, but we ask that you submit only the first 15 minutes of the piece. The total runtime of all film submissions in the portfolio should not exceed the stated time limit. Please include the date of production and the credits that make clear your role in the production. (No trailers or demo/promo reels.)
- Web-based or interactive work should require only widely available plug-ins.
- OPTIONAL: WRITTEN WORK: You may include writing samples in the form of screenplays or scholarly work to supplement your media sample(s). This is optional and should not be the only type of work submitted. Screenplays should be in standard Hollywood format or two-column script form, 10 pages maximum. Scholarly work should be no more than 10 pages (double-spaced).
- This can be any form of visual or audio media work (film, video, sound, interactive work, etc.), photography, music, or performance documentation.
- Resume
- English Proficiency: Applicants whose native language is not English must provide evidence of English proficiency by submitting official TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo, or Pearson test results.
- Advanced Standing Only: If you are applying for Advanced Standing, please submit an essay detailing your qualifications and work/educational experience in film and/or media production. It should be one page, double-spaced, 250 words.