Online Admission
(for physical admission at the Academy scroll down)
The entrance exam is the formal moment when you are assessed by the program on your creative ability, critical reflection and communication skills. This takes place in an interview with a lecturer. For the entrance exam we ask you to prepare a portfolio and a motivation letter. You can upload these soon on our admission website.
PORTFOLIO
Create 1 pdf containing the following sections:
1. Images of your work.
2. Explanation on work you have created.
1. Imagery of your work.
Create an overview of work you have created to date. Start the PDF with the most recently created work. You can add finished work, photos, drawings, video and audio. We would also like to see sketchbooks, for example you could film these in 1 minute while browsing them. If you add video/audio, make sure the material does not exceed 15 minutes in total. Some tips for putting together your portfolio:
Your portfolio does not have to be perfect; we like to see finished and unfinished work.
– We also like to see your own work in addition to school assignments. So work made in your spare time.
– We like to see work in process, so in addition to finished work we like to see sketches, concepts and ideas.
– Put enough work in your portfolio, between 20 – 100 works.
– Above all, be yourself. Put together a portfolio that reflects your personality.
Also, make sure your PDF does not exceed 50 MB. You can make your PDF smaller by, for example, linking to videos via video-streaming platforms. Find more info on technical specification at the bottom of this post.
2. Explanation of the work you have created
(maximum 3 pages)
Describe what your work is about and what you have done to develop yourself. You can add the explanation below your work, or as separate pages at the end of the document. You can indicate whether the work was made for a school assignment, for your own research or for other reasons. If the work was made for a collaboration, describe the part that you played in it.
MOTIVATION LETTER
Write a motivation letter of a minimum of 300 and maximum of 500 words explaining why you want to study at the AKI, what you possibly want to achieve, what you want to learn and what you think might be challenging for you. (pdf)
Specs and help for making an online portfolio.
– PDF no larger than 50 MB.
– Audio/Video no longer than 15 minutes in total.
– Video/Audio material can also be uploaded to e.g. Vimeo/Youtube and linked into your document.
Just make sure the video/audio is set to public.
How do I create a pdf?
There are several ways to create a pdf:
Word / Excel / Photoshop /Indesign
If you have a file in, say, Word, most word processors will allow you to simply save the file as a pdf. This also applies to programs like Excel, Powerpoint, Photo-shop, Illustrator or Indesign.
Scanning
If you have a paper document you can make a scan with most (also simple) printers. Choose output to pdf. If you do not have a scanner you can take a picture with your phone or a digital camera and upload it to the computer. You can insert the photo into a word processing document and save that document as a pdf. If the document consists of several pages, try scanning all the pages into one pdf. If you want to convert another format digital file to pdf, you can also download a freeware pdf-writer from the internet (e.g. cute pdf).
PHYSICAL ENTRANCE EXAM AT THE ACADEMY
The entrance exam is the formal time when you will be assessed by the academy for your creative ability, critical reflection and communication skills. This takes place in an interview with a lecturer. For the entrance exam we ask you to prepare an overview of all your work and a motivation letter.
OVERVIEW OF YOUR WORK
Create an overview of work you have created to date. In putting together your portfolio, we expect you to give us a good impression of your personality, talent and interests. To be able to assess this properly, we expect you to bring along both ‘finished’ and ‘un-finished’ work: paintings, drawings, photographs, films, posters, music, but also sketchbooks and ideas, rough drafts and collages. That which you cannot physically bring to the academy you can document in film and photography and show on your own laptop or take it with you on a usb.
Some tips for putting together your portfolio: Your portfolio does not have to be perfect, we like to see finished and unfinished work.
– We like to see your own work in addition to school assignments. So work made in your spare time.
– We like to see work in process, so in addition to finished work we like to see sketches, concepts and ideas.
– Put enough work in your portfolio, between 20 – 100 works.
– Above all, be yourself. Put together a portfolio that reflects your personality.
MOTIVATION LETTER
Write a motivation letter of a minimum of 300 and maximum of 500 words explaining why you want to study at the AKI, what you possibly want to achieve, what you want to learn and what you think might be challenging for you. (pdf)
