Understanding what happens after submitting your art school
application — what to expect in the weeks and months following…
Submitting your art school application is a significant milestone — but it is not the end of the process. Understanding what happens after submission, what to expect in the weeks and months following, and what (if anything) you can and should do while waiting helps Korean students navigate this often anxious period with clarity.
Immediately After Submission: Confirmation and Completeness
Within hours to a few days of submitting:
Application confirmation: The Common Application (used by RISD, Parsons, Pratt, and most art schools) generates a submission confirmation email. Save this email — it confirms the submission timestamp and application ID.
Portfolio platform confirmation: If you submitted your portfolio through SlideRoom (RISD, Parsons, and others use SlideRoom), you will receive a separate confirmation from the portfolio platform. Confirm that your portfolio materials uploaded correctly and appear in the “submitted” state in your SlideRoom account.
Applicant status portal: Most schools activate an applicant status portal — a school-specific online dashboard — within 1 to 2 weeks of your application being received. This portal shows the status of each required component (application, portfolio, transcripts, recommendations, TOEFL scores). Check it regularly to confirm all materials are received.
Critical action: Request TOEFL score sending through ETS before or at the time of submission — scores take 1 to 2 weeks to reach schools, and missing TOEFL scores are one of the most common reasons applications remain incomplete past deadlines.
The Weeks After Submission: What Schools Do With Your Application
After all materials are received, schools begin the review process:
Administrative review: Staff verify that the application is complete — all required components received, all forms properly signed and submitted. Incomplete applications are typically held rather than reviewed.
Portfolio review: At RISD, portfolio review is conducted by faculty from the specific department the student applied to. At Parsons, the Parsons Challenge and portfolio are reviewed separately. At most schools, portfolio review begins in January or February and continues through March.
Holistic review: Admissions committees consider the complete application — portfolio, GPA, personal statement, letters of recommendation, TOEFL scores — alongside the portfolio evaluation.
This process is opaque. You will not receive real-time updates about your application’s progress through review. The applicant status portal shows document receipt, not review progress.
What You Can Appropriately Do After Submission
Update your portfolio if genuinely significant new work is completed. Most schools allow applicants to submit a brief update with new work after submission. However: only do this if the new work is genuinely stronger than what you submitted — not to add more pieces for the sake of adding them. Contact the admissions office to understand each school’s update policy.
Check the applicant status portal weekly. Confirm that all required materials show as received. If a component is missing (missing TOEFL score, incomplete recommendation), contact the school immediately.
Send thank-you notes to recommenders. This is appropriate and appreciated.
Continue creating. The best use of the waiting period is continued creative practice — maintaining the artistic momentum that produced your application portfolio.
The RISD Hometest for Regular Decision Applicants
If you applied Regular Decision to RISD, the Hometest must be completed and submitted by the RD portfolio deadline (approximately January 15–20). If you have not yet completed the Hometest, this is your most urgent priority after submitting the Common Application component.
Decision Release Timeline
공식 정보: College Art Association
| Application Round | When Decisions Are Released |
|---|---|
| RISD Early Decision | Mid-December |
| Parsons Early Decision | Mid-December |
| RISD Regular Decision | Mid-March |
| Parsons Regular Decision | Late March / early April |
| CalArts | March–April |
| Most other schools (RD) | March–April |
| May 1 | Universal commitment deadline |
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I email the admissions office to confirm my application was received? Check the applicant status portal first — if it shows all components as received, that is your confirmation. Email is appropriate if the portal shows a component as missing after 2 to 3 weeks, or if you have not received any confirmation communications.
Can I add new portfolio pieces after submission? Policies vary by school. Some schools (including RISD) allow applicants to supplement their portfolio with genuinely new, significant work. Contact the admissions office directly to ask about the specific process.
What happens if my TOEFL score arrives after the application deadline? Contact the admissions office immediately if your scores may be late. Schools typically have a brief grace period for TOEFL scores, as ETS processing is outside the applicant’s direct control. However, do not rely on this — send scores well before the application deadline.
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