School of Critical Studies Program Requirements

Fall 2009

Writing Program
(MFA only)

A portfolio of current work is required. The portfolio should represent your best work and your aesthetic sensibility. An artist’s statement is required of all applicants and is a significant element in the portfolio review process. The statement should address your writing/artistic practice and current direction, and reference your creative and/or critical influences.

The portfolio should include up to 40 double-spaced typed pages submitted as a hard copy. There is no minimum length. Poetry does not have to be double-spaced. Applicants are invited to submit work in multiple genres. The MFA Writing Program encourages interdisciplinary work, which can be submitted on slides and/or Mac-readable DVDs or CD-ROMs. The maximum running time for video material should be no longer than 10 minutes. Label each disc with your name, number of pieces on the DVD or CD-ROM, and the title, date and running time of each piece. Approximately 10 still images may be submitted and should be sorted in chronological order, ending with the most recent work. All Web sites should be submitted as PDF; do not merely supply us with a URL.

Please include a completed Portfolio Information Form with each mailed portfolio package. Address your portfolio to the Office of Admissions at CalArts using the attached printable Portfolio Mailing Label. Do not send your portfolio directly to the School of Critical Studies. Doing so will cause a delay in the review of your work.

Students who would like to apply for a first-year graduate or teaching assistantship should enclose a résumé and request in the application package. Teaching assistantships are more likely given during the second year of residency.

MFA Interschool Degrees

To pursue an interschool course of study in writing and another arts discipline, students must be fully accepted by both the MFA Writing Program and a second CalArts program. Prospective students interested in such a curriculum are required to submit separate applications to the MFA Writing Program and to the second CalArts program. Applicants should clearly state any interschool plans in their statement of intent.

Aesthetics and Politics Program
(MA only)

A portfolio is required in addition to a statement addressing your academic and/or artistic interests, the ways in which they relate to aesthetic and political concerns, and your goals in enrolling in the program.

The portfolio should include a writing sample with a theoretical or political focus and be up to 20 pages long. An optional portfolio of visual works may be submitted in the form of slides, video or DVD. Please include a completed Portfolio Information Form with each mailed portfolio package. Address your portfolio to the Office of Admissions at CalArts using the attached printable Portfolio Mailing Label. Do not send your portfolio directly to the School of Critical Studies. Doing so will cause a delay in the review of your work.