Applying

The 2025 Summer Session dates are June 2 – July 26, 2025. Attendance throughout the summer is mandatory for all accepted students.

Artists who seek the stimulation and challenges of an interdisciplinary environment in their pursuit of the MFA degree are invited to apply for admission to the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts. Applicants are cautioned that, while the program convenes during the summer months, it is not a residency.

The application and all supporting materials are to be submitted online. Applications for admission are accepted once per year. Applications and portfolios are reviewed and evaluated by a committee of faculty within the applicant's chosen discipline. Approximately 12 candidates per discipline are selected from this pool and invited to interview at Bard. Interviews will be held in March. Initial admission offers are made shortly thereafter; admitted students must pay a $515 enrollment deposit at the time of acceptance in order to secure their position in the program. If you are interviewed and not accepted, you are automatically placed on the wait list.

Application Checklist

We do not require the GRE, and we do not have any grade point average requirements. An undergraduate degree is not required for admission; an applicant's life experience may take the place of an undergraduate degree. Students must commence the program with the upcoming summer session. Deferment of admission is not permitted. Admitted candidates who cannot attend the upcoming summer session must reapply to the program for consideration in a future year.

1. Completed Online Application
Don't wait until the last moment to start your application! You are not charged the application fee until you submit, so there is no harm in starting early.

Bard MFA is no longer using Slideroom for our applications. Please follow the instructions for our internal application.

Select the link to the discipline you are choosing to apply to (Film/Video, Music/Sound, Painting, Photography, Sculpture, or Writing). You will create a username and password. An email will be sent to your personal email address. Save this verification email for further use.
You may apply to more than one discipline if you like, but you will have to submit a separate application to each discipline and pay the fee for each application. Each discipline has its own admissions review committee made up of faculty from that department.

You may log in and out as many times as you need to complete the application. You will not be able to submit until you have completed all sections, uploaded all required items, and paid the application fee. You CAN submit before all of your recommenders have uploaded their reference letters; letters of recommendation are due on January 17, 2025.
2. Non-Refundable Application fee of $65
Paid online by credit or debit card. This is non-refundable. We do not offer application fee waivers.
3. Personal Statement
1–2 pages discussing your work and artistic goals or considerations in a personal as well as critical context. Similar to an artist statement, but should also include the reason(s) you want to attend Bard, and what you hope to gain from graduate study. You will upload this online as a PDF file.

Note: please only upload your statement as a PDF, as other file types may be difficult for the reviewers to open.
4. CV/History of Work in the Arts
1–3 pages listing current and recent employment, artistic involvement, and related skills/experience. Can be in resume or paragraph form. You will upload this to your online application as a PDF.

Note: please only upload your CV as a PDF, as other file types may be difficult for the reviewers to open.
5. Letters of Recommendation
At least two letters of recommendation, submitted with your online application. We recommend a maximum of 4 letters. Letters can be from anyone who knows you and your work well; a recent teacher, colleague, gallery owner, fellow artist, etc. The deadline for submission of letters of recommendation is January 17, 2025.

In order for recommenders to submit their letters through the online application you must provide their contact information under the Recommendation Letters section of the application. An email from Bard with instructions for uploading a letter will be sent to each recommender you register. We DO NOT accept letters by postal mail, email, or fax.

Please notify us if you would like to us to upload your previous recommendation letters to your 2023 application.
6. School Transcripts
Unoffical transcripts from all undergraduate and graduate schools (Associate, Bachelor, Master, Doctoral, or the equivalent) and certificate programs attended for at least one academic year. We don't require transcripts from non-degree programs, study abroad, or exchange programs.
If you never received an undergraduate degree, please indicate life experience (in your personal statement) that you feel takes the place of a Bachelor's degree.

Upload your unofficial transcripts to your application in the 'Education' portion of the application, after entering the name and code of the institution. Unofficial transcripts should list the courses you took within a degree program, and include the dates of attendance.
If you are invited for an interview, we will require that you submit official paper copies of all of your transcripts from schools you attended.
Official transcripts must be mailed directly from the issuing institutions to:

Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts
Bard College
Attn: MFA Admissions
30 Campus Road
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000
USA

International applicants should consult with the Milton Avery Graduate School admissions office about submission of international transcripts.
7. Portfolio
Portfolio representing a variety of work from the past three years. Work submitted may span more than one discipline, but the applicant must choose one primary discipline for the application. Portfolio requirements and submission formats vary for each discipline, as listed below.

Portfolio Requirements

Your portfolio should demonstrate what you consider to be your best work over the past three years, with an emphasis on work from the past 12 months. Work-in-progress is welcomed. You may include multiple works from a particular series, but it is recommended that your portfolio not consist entirely of one series of work. If your work spans more than one discipline or medium, you can include work from the other mediums as well. All portfolios are submitted entirely online.

Moving Image
Several short videos, or excerpts from longer pieces, submitted online as part of your application. You may upload video files or provide links to files on Vimeo. You may also submit image files, PDF documents, and work from other mediums; whatever best represents your recent artistic work. 15 sample maximum; total duration of all time-based samples should not exceed 30 minutes. Please include a brief description with each sample.
Music/Sound
5-10 samples of creative work, submitted online as part of your application. You may submit audio and video files, PDF documents (such as musical scores), YouTube, Vimeo, or SoundCloud links, and work from other mediums; whatever best represents your recent artistic work. Total duration of all time-based samples should not exceed 30 minutes. Please include a brief description with each sample. Note: a work and a document supplementing it - such as a score - count as one sample.
Painting
15-20 images or short audio/video files (no more than 5 minutes long) of creative work submitted online as part of your application. You may include both overview and detail images of the same piece. Your samples can be from any medium--whatever best represents your recent artistic work. Please include a brief description with each sample.
Photography
20 images or short audio/video files (no more than 3 minutes long) of creative work submitted online as part of your application. You may include both overview and detail images of the same piece. Your samples can be from any medium--whatever best represents your recent artistic work. Please include a brief description with each sample (no more than 150 words).
Sculpture
25 images or short audio/video files (no more than 5 minutes long) of creative work submitted online as part of your application. Include 20 images of work from the past three years and 5 images of older work. You may include both overview and detail images of the same piece. Your samples can be from any medium--whatever best represents your recent artistic work. Please include a brief description with each sample.
Writing
Samples of writing(s), 15-20 pages total, as a single PDF file, submitted online as part of your application. Prose submissions should be double-spaced. Please indicate title and date of composition for each piece, and label each page with your name and the page number. You may optionally submit up to 10 images, videos, and audio files digital portfolio section of your application in addition to the writing sample. Please include a brief description with each sample.

+ Interdisciplinary Applications

+ Reapplying

+ International Applicants

English Fluency
Because Bard's MFA program relies heavily on (English language instruction), one-to-one conversation and dynamic group discussion, it is critical that our students have an ease and familiarity with the English Language. To show English language competency, a foreign student applicant must provide proof of one of the following:

A score of at least 90 on the internet (iBT) Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
A score of at least 6.5 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test

Language tests must have been taken in the past two years, and no earlier than December 31, 2022. A score report is to be submitted directly to Bard from the testing service. Those with scores lower than the above may still apply, but will need to take one of the tests mentioned above prior to March, if selected as an interview candidate.
Those who studied at an academic institution where the primary instruction is based on English language and has taken at least one English literature or ESL course at that institution, will be exempt from TOEFL or IELTS test score once they provide an academic transcript from their previous school.

Visas
To enter the United States for full-time study, a foreign student will be sponsored on an F-1 visa where the form I-20 Certificate of Eligibility for Nonresident (F-1) Student Status. The Office of International Student and Scholar Service (OISSS) is not eligable to issue a form I-20 visa document until all requested information and documentation is received. All documentation required towards processing your visa document is listed below. Once your visa document is processed and mailed to you, you are expected to apply for the F1 student visa prior to your arrival in the U.S. for the MFA program.

Bard will issue a new form I-20 visa document for each full-time summer session and students will need to pay the appropriate visa fees each year. Bard cannot sponsor visas for the winter periods; international students must return to their home country during those periods or obtain alternate visas to stay in the United States. MFA students are not eligible for OPT off campus work authorization upon completion of program.

International Financial Aid: International students are not eligible for U.S. Federal Loans. Bard College scholarships for international students are need based and are extremely limited. If you wish to be considered for a scholarship, please submit the 2025-26 Bard College International Student Financial Aid application by February 1, 2025.