How to Apply to Art and Design at CSULB: Eight BFA Studio Areas by Portfolio after Entry, No Portfolio for First-Year Design Applicants, International First-Year Deadline 1 April, with Portfolio Requirements and Timeline for Chinese and Canadian High School Students and Transfer Students

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is part of the California State University (CSU) system. Its art and design degrees are in the School of Art and the Department of Design within the College of the Arts. This guide sets out degrees, portfolios and requirements for students at high schools in China, students at Canadian high schools (including British Columbia and Vancouver) and transfer students.

1. Degrees and programs

• School of Art BAs: Art (Studio Art option), Art Education and Art History.
• School of Art BFAs: the admission page lists eight studio programs: Ceramics, Drawing & Painting, Graphic Design, Illustration (including Animation and Pre-Production), Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture and 3-D Media (Fiber, Metal, Wood); the school’s program list shows Animation separately.
• Department of Design: BA in Design, BFA in Interior Design and BS in Industrial Design.
• First two years: first-year students are advised into general education and art foundation courses; in the first year advisors ask which program interests you, and exploring is fine.

2. Admission: BA and BFA differ

• BAs in Art, Art History and Art Education: admission to the university is enough; no portfolio.
• BFAs: by portfolio. First-year students typically apply around junior year; transfers can submit during their admission cycle or as CSULB art majors, usually in their second or third semester.
• Attempts: two BFA attempts in total, not per program; a portfolio submitted with a transfer application counts as the first.
• BFA eligibility (all required before you may submit):
  • no more than 96 Timely Graduation Units, and able to finish within 120% of the units required;
  • at least 2.5 in overall, CSULB, major and upper-division major CSULB GPAs (Graphic Design needs a 3.0 major GPA);
  • major preparation with a 2.5 GPA and C or better: AH 111A, AH 111B, ART 130 and ART 131; Graphic Design adds ART 181 and ART 223;
  • GE English composition, critical thinking, oral communication and quantitative reasoning with C or better or credit.
• Program extras: Graphic Design also requires ART 318 and 321 with ART 327 and 365 in progress or done; Animation also requires ART 390 or 393 with ART 391 in progress or done. Faculty recommend one or two upper-division courses in the program before applying.
• Department of Design: no portfolio for first-year applicants, who apply through Cal State Apply.

3. BFA portfolio requirements

• General: images up to 5MB each (jpg, png, gif, tif, bmp, tga), resized to fit 1280 × 1280 pixels; each needs title, dimensions, medium, date and whether it was a class assignment. Videos can be embedded from YouTube or Vimeo or uploaded (60MB max). An artist statement of 150 words or less (1,000 characters) addresses your portfolio and interest in the program.
• By program:
  • Ceramics, 3-D Media, Illustration, Animation, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture: 10–15 images (Sculpture may include videos; Printmaking needs at least five hand-pulled prints and five other 2D works; for Illustration and Animation ten seconds of animation counts as one piece, and Animation applicants choose the Animation or Pre-Production track).
  • Graphic Design: up to 15 images showing at least six projects, such as posters, book covers, multi-page brochures or magazines, motion or screen design, packaging or branding, UX/UI or web design and a free choice; discuss one piece’s process in the statement.
  • Drawing and Painting, two statements: the BFA page says 15 images, at least five forming a unified, ideally self-directed body of work and ten from classwork; the transfer page says 10–15 images with at least five unified works.
• Timeline (current students; may change): fall eligibility applications early to late September, portfolio uploads early to mid-October (about 10 days), decisions early November; spring eligibility early to mid-February, uploads late February to early March, decisions end of March.
• Transfer applicants: those meeting major requirements and competitive on the CSULB Supplemental Application are invited to upload a portfolio, with the deadline in the invitation; a positive faculty recommendation is required. New transfers not admitted to a BFA are considered for the BA in Studio Art and have one more BFA attempt.
• Design transfers: Interior and Industrial Design applicants are invited to submit an optional portfolio in the supplemental application; without one, or if it is not accepted, they may be offered the Design BA if they meet other criteria and space allows. Interior Design portfolios are judged on freehand and technical drawing (CAD, Revit and similar), physical models, 3D visualisation, space planning and design process; Industrial Design criteria are listed as coming soon.
• No interview is mentioned.

4. Timeline (fall 2027)

• Platform: Cal State Apply. The dates below are from another guide on this site, checked this month.
• First-year page: fall applications are submitted 1 October to 30 November.
• International page: international first-year fall applications open 1 October and close 1 April, with documents by 15 April; spring opens 1 July and closes 1 October, documents by 15 October. The two pages differ; international applicants should confirm with International Admissions (cie-admission@csulb.edu).
• Testing: CSU admission does not use SAT/ACT; recommendation letters and personal statements are not considered.
• Application fee: not stated on the CSULB pages read; check Cal State Apply.

5. Students at high schools in China

• Admission measure (from another guide on this site): non-STEM majors use the CSULB Index = (A-G GPA × 200) + (500 × maths GPA) + (500 × English GPA), based on grade 10–12 college-preparatory courses; other non-residents need an A-G GPA of 3.0 or higher.
• Transcripts: include first-semester grade 12 grades; unofficial versions are accepted from non-U.S. schools at first.
• English: TOEFL 61 (3.5 for tests after 21 January 2026), IELTS 6.0, Duolingo 105, PTE 43 or Cambridge English 162. Duolingo scores are sent directly to CSULB after applying.
• Gaokao and art exams: whether they are considered is not published; ask International Admissions.

6. Students at Canadian high schools (including BC and Vancouver)

• English: Canada is on the list of countries exempt from English scores; Quebec students must provide proof.
• Grades: specific requirements for BC courses are not published; ask International Admissions how grades are converted.

7. Transfer students

• University level (from another guide on this site): 60 transferable semester units with a 2.00 GPA, 30 units of CSU GE, and C or better in written communication, critical thinking, oral communication and mathematics. Transfers must apply to a major.
• Art BAs: university admission plus the major’s declaration requirements.
• Art BFAs: submit when invited during admission or after enrolling; advisors suggest preparing in the first semester and applying in the second or third.
• Design: see section 3; Interior and Industrial Design portfolios are optional.
• Deadlines: international transfers apply by 1 April for fall, with documents by 15 April.

8. Costs and scholarships (US$)

• International page (from another guide on this site): tuition and fees 19,646, living costs 26,332, health insurance 1,900, total 47,204 a year (academic year not stated). Whether art carries extra materials fees is not published.
• College of the Arts scholarships: the college and CSULB award more than $500,000 a year in scholarships, awards and private lessons through one application at csulb.edu/scholarships, open only in the spring period (January to March); most include an audition, portfolio review or artistic submission, and some require FAFSA or CADAA for need. Whether international students can apply is not published.

Checklist

Students at high schools in China:

• Apply through Cal State Apply to an art BA or a design major; plan for the international first-year deadline of 1 April (documents 15 April) and confirm with International Admissions
• No portfolio at application; for a BFA, complete foundations and meet GPA rules after enrolling
• Prepare IELTS 6.0, TOEFL 61 (3.5 on the new scale) or Duolingo 105

Students at Canadian high schools:

• No English scores outside Quebec; ask International Admissions about BC grade conversion
• Otherwise as above

Transfer students:

• 60 semester units, a 2.00 GPA and the four foundational courses
• For direct BFA entry, prepare the program portfolio in section 3 and wait for the invitation; Interior and Industrial Design portfolios are optional

Sources: California State University, Long Beach, School of Art; School of Art undergraduate admission requirements; Applying to the BFA; BFA transfer applicants; Department of Design; Design admissions; College of the Arts scholarships; First-year admission eligibility; CSULB Index; International application and document deadlines; English language requirement; International tuition and fees; Transfer admission eligibility. The timeline is for fall 2027 entry. Check CSULB’s website for the latest.