Rhode Island School of Design Admission
Rhode Island School of Design Undergraduate Program
Rhode Island School of Design Application

The Facts

The Rhode Island School of Design is a small design institute located in the city of Providence, Rhode Island, and is home to over 1,920 undergraduate students and approximately 374 graduate and part-time professional students. The school is well-known for offering terrific programs in the areas of art, design, and architecture, and students are also required to take extensive liberal arts courses in areas as varied as art history, English composition, philosophy, and social sciences; these classes ensure that the design students graduate as well-rounded critical thinkers as well as talented designers. RISD offers its students a wide variety of majors and minors in many preprofessional areas; some of the most popular choices include illustration, architecture, graphic design, industrial design, and painting.

Admission to the Rhode Island School of Design is extremely competitive and the applicants are usually required to submit an artistic portfolio and to complete an extensive, in-person final interview. Last year, over 2,525 students applied for admission to the school, and approximately 800 of those students were accepted; of those, about 400 matriculated. The admitted students had an average combined SAT score ranging from 1090 to 1310, and an average comprehensive ACT score ranging from 26 to 30. Additionally, over 58% of those admitted were ranked in the top 25% of their high school graduating class with an average high school GPA of about 3.3.

RISD has a very manageable student to faculty ratio of 10:1, and it is rare to find any class with more than 18 students. Most of the classes are held in small seminars, and have a lot of hands-on activity, as well as one-on-one attention from their professors. Students remark that while their teachers can be quite hard on them, they really do seem to care about their progress and tend to do all they can to help them be as successful as possible. Most of the professors are professionals in their respective fields, and often give students access to a large amount of preprofessional internships and co-op jobs.

The Social Scene

The city of Providence is a vibrant metropolis that offers students all the amenities of an urban center, including terrific restaurants, museums, performances, shops, and coffee shops. Most students say that it isn’t really necessary to own a car as the public transit system is quite efficient and affordable. For those students who do own cars, weekend road trips to the nearby cities of Hartford and New York are quite popular.

There are no fraternities or sororities at RISD, but students couldn't seem to care less. Most RISD students would prefer to go to galleries and museums in small groups, and hang out at local cafes and bars. If you’re looking for a wild party scene, this probably isn’t the school for you.

There are many many eligible women here, and very few straight guys... so, women, choose wisely!

What’s Good

“This is one of the best places to be if you want to be a visual artist of any kind, and the school provides us with the best materials and facilities around.”

“It’s nice to have some classes in the liberal arts to take your mind off of your specialty.”

“I love Providence. There is a ton to do here, but it still is relaxing and naturally beautiful.”

What’s Bad

“The social life here is pretty cliquey, and people don’t mix within other groups.”

“It’s so hard to balance the liberal arts with the studio stuff. You never have time to do the best job on both at once.”

“The competition here is pretty intense, and it feels like everyone is competing for the same jobs.”

Let the Penn Group help you apply to college.

• View our services
• Send a request now
• Read articles about applying to college