After You Apply

There's a lot to know about the steps to take between applying and starting your first courses. You can find lots of tutorials and tips by starting on the main homepage, but here's some basic information to help:

• Vital Information for All Applicants
• Timeline for BA Art & Design majors
• Timeline for applicants to the BFA or BDes Program
• BFA and BDes Applicants Only - Portfolio Submission and results
• Waiting for Admission from Final High School Marks
• Accepting Your Final Offer (Summer)
• Changing Your Program (If Admitted to More Than One Program)
• Registering for Classes - BFA and BDes Students

Vital Information for All Applicants

Application Period and Early Admission

Dates and Deadlines

• October: Application period begins
• March 1: Application deadline for most programs
• May 1: Application deadline for BFA and BDes programs

Application Tips and Notes

• During your application process, at some point you will get a temporary PIN for your launchpad account. Be sure to save this information.
• BFA and BDES applicants must list this program choice first in their online applications due to our late application deadline. If you are not also considering another program, please list the BA program with a major in Art & Design as your second choice.
• Students with high grades from Grade 11 or Fall term classes may be offered early admission sometime in the Winter or Spring.
• This admission is conditional upon you successfully completing any courses you are still finishing.
• The benefit to accepting this offer is that you will be able to register much earlier, before classes start filling up.

Monitoring Bear Tracks, UAlberta Email

As soon as you get access to your launchpad, Bear Tracks and UAlberta email accounts, please log in and make sure your password and login work properly.

You can start looking through Bear Tracks and working to understand the system.

Please include your seven digit ID # when emailing any UAlberta personnel.

Supporting Documents

Once you have access to your launchpad account, you must look at the "Materials Checklist". Please play close attention to any items listed there, and make sure you take care of any documents or tasks by the stated deadline.

Note for BDes and BFA applicants: the portfolio does not appear in the materials checklist. You need to scroll down to where you see "edit portfolio" in small green text.

Accepting Your Early Offer (Winter or Spring)

If you applied early enough, and had high enough grades, you might be offered early admission. As soon as you are sure you want to attend the University of Alberta, please accept your admission offer so that you can start registering. (If this doesn't apply to you, no problem, just refer to the next step!)

Accepting Your Final Offer (Summer)

The process for accepting your offer depends on your applicant status, so please research the process on the How To Accept page.

Changing Your Program (If Admitted to More Than One Program)

If you are already registered in another UAlberta program, or if you already accepted an offer to another program, you must log into Bear Tracks and use the "Change Program" feature, under "Manage Classes". You will need to complete this process once for the Fall term, and again for the Winter term.

Info for students who want to graduate with a BA degree, Art & Design major

Registration for Courses

ART 134 and DES 135

Art & Design majors and minors should try to register in ART 134 and DES 135.

Senior level ART and DES studio courses for transfer students

If you have already taken ART 134 and DES 135, or their equivalent at another institution, you will need to request registration in senior level ART and DES courses. Email artdesug@ualberta.ca for registration requesting information.

Other Courses

• All students require 3 credits of junior level ENGL
• HADVC courses can also be used to fulfill your Art & Design major requirements
• Program requirements for each degree, major and minor can be found in the online Calendar, available on the main UAlberta home page.

Information for Applicants to the BFA or BDes Program

Early Registration for Courses - Prospective BFA and BDes Students who are able to register in during the Spring

IMPORTANT: Possible early admission to the BA Program for BFA and BDES Applicants

You can't be offered early admission to the BFA or BDes programs because the portfolio determinations are not made until May, but you may be offered early admission to the BA Program as a way to allow to you to take advantage of early registration. Please go ahead and accept this offer, so that you can start registering for non-studio courses. You should try to register in courses that fulfill BFA or BDes program requirements.

First year applicants: register in ART 134 and DES 135

Prospective BFA and BDes applicants should try to register in ART 134 and DES 135. If you listed Art & Design as your major, you should have access to online registration. These classes will be a useful back up in case you are not accepted into the BFA or BDES program; you can do one year in the BA program, make new work, and apply to transfer into the second year of your desired program (contingent upon your portfolio being competitive).

Transfer applicants: request registration in senior level ART and DES classes

If you already already an Art & Design major or minor at the U of A, you will have received an email about how to request senior-level studio courses. If not, please email the undergraduate advisor for information about how to request courses.

Other Courses

• All BFA and BDES students require 6 credits of junior level ENGL classes
• Program requirements for the BFA program
• Program requirements for the BDes programs
• In order to ensure that these classes do not conflict with the first year BFA and BDes studio schedule, please choose classes that fall between 11am - 2pm, or after 5pm, or any time on Fridays.

Please note: At this point, you are not able to register for any other ART or DES studio classes! If your portfolio application is successful, I will help you with changing your ART and DES registrations at a later date.

Students Planning to Transfer to the BFA or BDes Program in their 2nd or 3rd year

If this is your plan, try to set up your first year to follow the requirements of the degree you ultimately want. You will take ART 134 and DES 135 instead of ART 136, 137, 140, DES 138 and 139. You will make up the missing credits later in your degree, but will still have the prerequisites to move to second year ART and DES courses.

BFA and BDes Applicants Only - Portfolio Submission and Results

Dates and Deadlines

• May 1: deadline for online application process
• May 1: deadline for portfolio submission
• May 1 - mid-May: portfolio assessment
• Late May: portfolio results emailed to applicants
• May through August: monitor UAlberta email, Bear Tracks and Launchpad accounts and complete necessary to do list items.

If you will be out of town during the above time frames, it is very important that you monitor your personal and ualberta email accounts as well as Bear Tracks, so that you can respond by the stated deadlines. If your travels or home country prevent you from accessing your email, you will need to find someone who can access your accounts for you and communicate with you.

BFA and BDes Applicants Only - Portfolio Results

The Department of Art & Design will email you with our admission decisions. Therefore, it is important that you monitor your email regularly.

If the email notice recommends that you be admitted to the BFA or BDES program, you will be instructed to contact Caitlin Wells, Undergraduate Advisor, via email to confirm either your intention to enter the program for September or to decline the offer. There will be a deadline stated in the notice by which you must respond. Failure to do so by this date could result in your space in the program being offered to another applicant. Once you have responded, the Undergraduate Advisor will provide you with important registration information, including first year ART and DES studio course schedule. This schedule is set by the Department. We will contact transfer students to discuss studio course selection and reserve your courses for you.

If your email notice does not recommend that you be accepted to the BFA or BDES program, we will send you information about how to request registration in studio courses as a BA student. Never fear, you can still work on your BFA/BDes program requirements by doing a year as a BA student with an Art & Design major, and then apply again next year with new work you have made in our studio courses!

Waiting for Admission from Final High School or Transfer Grades

All final admissions depend upon successful completion of any necessary courses. Unless you were offered early admission, you will need to wait until the Office of the Registrar receives your final grades and calculates your admission average. The Registrar typically receives final high school grades from Alberta schools in mid - late July, and from other provinces a few weeks later.

Successful BFA and BDes Applicants

Once you inform the Undergraduate Advisor of your intention to enter the program, you must still wait for an official notice of final admission to the BFA or BDes program. Although the Department of Art & Design may have offered you a space in the BFA or BDES program, final admission approval rests with the U of A administration based on you meeting all admissions requirements.

Other Courses

• You are responsible for registering yourself in other (non Art & Design) courses
• All students require 6 credits of junior level ENGL classes
• Program requirements for the BFA program
• Program requirements for the BDes programs