If it’s before November 30, contact UCLA Undergraduate Admission using the correct contact form on this website: https://admission.ucla.edu/contact. From there, you can request that your first choice major on the UC application be updated.

If it’s after November 30, major changes into UCLA Arts are not accepted. You can change your major into the College of Letters and Science or the School of Engineering through January 31. https://admission.ucla.edu/apply/updating-your-application

In the supplemental applications, all of our majors require writing that is specific to your intended area of study. The supplemental essays that accompany the portfolios, auditions, and other creative materials are always read, and these essays are typically read prior to looking at the PIQs.

It is absolutely fine to use the same writing for both. Many of our applicants write about their arts practice for the UC PIQs because creativity is something that is valued across all UCs, for any and all majors. If you have written about your art in exactly the way that you want to say it, and it addresses both the UC PIQs and the department statement, then there is no need to reinvent the wheel.

We remind our evaluators that the college admission process is extremely labor intensive, and arts applicants are dealing with added administration around supplemental materials, portfolios, and auditions. If you have found language that you feel represents you authentically and it happens to work perfectly in multiple places, then we trust you.

UCLA only considers your first choice major in our admission process. If you put your first choice as a UCLA Arts major and do not pass the supplemental evaluation, you do not go back into the general pool for consideration under a different major.

*An exception to this rule is if you are a Transfer student from a California Community College who is in your college’s Honors/TAP program. To learn more about this option, please speak to your campus transfer center/honors counselor.

No, we do not. The College of Letters and Science, as well as the Samueli School of Engineering, have Undeclared options when selecting your first choice major to UCLA in the admission process, but for UCLA Arts your choices are Architectural Studies, Art, Computational Art, Dance, Design, Games, or World Arts and Cultures when applying for admission to UCLA.

No. The major that you apply for and submit supplemental materials to, is the major we review for. We do not move student materials between departments/majors.

Yes, the majority of cases you can double major in the arts + another non-arts major at UCLA. In the application process, you can only pick one major, so you will need to decide if you want to submit a creative supplement, or if you want to be considered through another program. Here are all of the majors we offer: https://admission.ucla.edu/apply/majors

If you are admitted through a UCLA Arts major by submitting a supplement, once you arrive on campus you may follow up with the academic counselors to see about double majoring.

If you are admitted through a non-UCLA Arts major (ex. Letters and Science, Engineering, etc.), once you are on campus you may make an appointment with a UCLA Arts department counselor to see about adding a double major in a UCLA Arts area. You will have to complete a creative supplement at that time.

Most majors at UCLA will allow double majoring provided you are in good academic standing with both departments. If you have a major of interest, you will want to check with each respective department to ensure that double majors will be permitted (ex. the School of Theater, Film and Television does not allow double majoring).

Double majoring is not automatic— most majors have a process to add the major which involves taking prerequisite classes, submitting material for evaluation, etc. You will need to check with the department that houses your destination major, to see what requirements they have.

While we technically can't say a flat "no" to this, at the end of the day we do not see many student-athletes majoring in the arts because of the significant time commitment involved for athletics and arts majors. Student-athletes usually choose majors where you can attend class/do homework remotely in order to balance their schedules relative to practice, games, and travel, which is often incompatible with in-person attendance and access to on-campus equipment and facilities that arts majors require.

This is possible, but it is extremely rare due to several factors. Challenges of double majoring in two arts areas:

Scheduling - arts studios are hours long, so there is less calendaring flexibility when arranging your course schedule.

Attendance - arts studios require attendance, these are not classes you can miss and make up the work later.

Homework - One studio class typically requires 5-10 hours outside of class for homework. These time demands add up, and the quarter system moves very fast. For one class you can expect at least 1-2 midterm assignments and one final assignment, all completed in 10 weeks.

Finals - Arts majors usually have finals in 10th week (a week earlier than UCLA's regular finals week) to take advantage of class time for group critiques and evaluations.

Exceeding Unit Count - You have a maximum of 216 units allowable for your baccalaureate. The arts majors are high unit count majors, and some combinations put you over the allowable unit count.

Again, it's not impossible... but because of all the reasons above, we usually see one student doubling in two arts areas every few years. Usually students who are able to do this, completed a good number of GE credits in high school via AP / dual enrollment / community college classes, were admitted to UCLA as First Years, and have a lot of ideas that they can execute very quickly/efficiently, as you are not permitted to use assignments for one major that you completed for another.

We are not trying to be a bummer! We love that you love the arts and want to take advantage of everything we have here at UCLA. We also want you to have a balanced experience that involves socializing and rest, as that contributes to your success and happiness here, too :)

Many of our students minor in areas that fill out their knowledge around business, entrepreneurship, mass media communications, visual literacy, monetization of creativity and artistry, emerging technology, and education/teaching.

Entrepreneurship Minor

Digital Humanities Minor

Music Industry Minor

Applied Developmental Psychology Minor

Film, Television, and Digital Media Minor

Visual and Performing Arts Education Minor

That being said, you can do whatever you like! Here is a full list of Minors at UCLA.

The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture offers a Individual Field of Concentration B.A. in Arts and Architecture. This option is for students who have already been admitted to UCLA and have completed a minimum of 45 UCLA units with a 3.4+ GPA.

Highly motivated students who find that no single major accommodates their specific interest in a given subject, may propose designing their own major. A statement is required defining the purpose of the major and its relation to the student’s academic and career goals. The reason(s) why the program cannot be accommodated within an existing UCLA major must be clearly articulated. The IDM should not be designed as a short cut to graduation or to circumvent conventional major requirements. Proposals are prepared with faculty guidance and sponsorship and are thoroughly examined for cogency, completeness, and academic merit, and require final approval from the Faculty Executive Committee.

An IDM must have a title that reflects the central theme of the major. A final paper or project is required. The paper/project should synthesize and integrate a principal theme or themes common to the courses comprising the major. An outline of the paper/project, developed with the assistance of the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the department chair for approval.

Please note that the Individual Field of Concentration is not available to incoming Transfer students.

UCLA Arts does not facilitate classroom visits, nor meeting current faculty and students for the following reasons: 

1) UCLA does not consider Demonstrated Interest in admission. Demonstrated Interest in the admission process can include: opening emails from a college, attending a tour or info session (in-person or virtual), interactions with admission counselors... And for arts programs specifically, this can look like visiting classes and meeting with current faculty and students. Unfortunately we do not have the resources to steward these kinds of interactions with our programs, so we do not consider them in the admission process. 

2) The classes in UCLA Arts are typically very small and intimate. The majority of our undergraduate classes enroll around 5-20 students, so having visitors in those spaces creates teaching and learning challenges. 

Some ways to research our majors/departments: 

• Do an internet search of the faculty in your desired major. Their research interests are public, so it's a great way to learn about who is designing and leading the curriculum. 

• Look up learning outcomes and class descriptions on the UCLA General Catalog. Tip: any listed class that is numbered 0-199 are undergraduate courses, so those are the ones that you are likely to take. To break it down a little further, 1-99 are lower division (so those will include your core courses in the major), and 100-199 are upper division (where you have more freedom to choose based on your individual interests). 

• Go on LinkedIn and do a word/phrase search for "UCLA" as well as "[the major you are interested in]". You can look up people who have graduated from our programs, and see what they are doing/where they have worked. Since we are a research university that endeavors to prepare our graduates for many different directions after they graduate, seeing what our graduates have gone on to do can be helpful. 

• Look up our programs on social media, starting with @uclaarts, and then searching related tags for the departments as well as current students. You can usually find current students and alumni in the comments section, and look up their handles from there.

We do NOT request, nor consider, Letters of Recommendation for our undergraduate majors in Architectural Studies, Art, Computational Art, Dance, Design, Games, and Arts and Cultures.

You’ve submitted your application materials in December/January and now you are waiting for your decision— which for First Year applicants will be released in mid- to late March, and for Transfer applicants in mid- to late April.

Now what?

With regard to new artwork— updated portfolio, updated audition videos, etc.— if you’ve submitted your supplement (the department-specific information that was due on December 15 or January 20), then we do not accept new work for consideration.

If you have academic updates (ex. schedule changes for Spring classes, grades, etc.) you can report them in your UCLA Application Portal.

They will do that sometimes for academic updates, clarification on something you wrote in your application material, etc. Please do not worry! We just need more context around something in your application. Respond promptly, please!

Technically, no. There is existing coursework at UCLA that will touch upon skills and concepts that will be useful should you want to work as an animator, but we don’t have a degree that focuses entirely on animation.

If you are interested in animation, you have a few choices/directions here at UCLA: the Computational Art, Design, or Games majors in the School of the Arts and Architecture, or the Film, Television, & Digital Media (FTVDM) major in the School of Theater, Film, and Television.

Broadly speaking, animation as a craft is often thought of in three ways: traditional/hand-crafted (drawing, cel-style, frame-by-frame technique), computer animation (2D or 3D digital tools), and experimental animation (non-narrative, abstract, or conceptual work, where the point isn't a story but an exploration of form, motion, or idea). All of the majors touch upon all three, but in different ways and contexts as influenced by the major and the surrounding curriculum.

Computational Art, Design, and Games (within the Department of Design|Media Arts) all touch upon visual storytelling, creative coding, 3D modeling, and motion graphics, as well as the history of design and visual media literacy from a design perspective.

The FTVDM major (within the Department of Film, Television & Digital Media) has an animation concentration in the major, so the animation coursework is rooted in film culture, industry, and history.

The clearest way to sort this out is to ask yourself: what is the animation for?

• If you want to animate characters, environments, or cinematics that players move through and interact with, or experiment with animation across game platforms → that's Games.

• If you want to make motion graphics, animated branding, title sequences, or animation that communicates information to an audience → that's Design.

• If you're drawn to experimental, abstract, or generative animation — where the code or system itself is generating the movement, not illustrating a fixed story → that's Computational Art.

• If you want to make traditional character-driven short films with a linear narrative → that's the animation concentration in Film, Television, and Digital Media (FTVDM).

None of our majors are built around animation as a stand-alone technique. They're built around a bigger creative question— interaction, communication, or computation— and animation shows up inside that question in a different way each time. If you're not sure yet, look at student work in each department and notice which context the animation lives in: is it in a game, on a poster or screen, or as an experimental piece on its own?

You can also refer to the UCLA Registrar's website where all of the course descriptions for all majors are housed. Maybe a particular major will jump out to you as a best fit.

Computational Art courses

Design courses

Film, Television, and Digital Media courses

Games courses

All of the majors require a supplemental application, but they are radically different.

Computational Art, Design, and Games require primarily a visual arts portfolio, and studio coursework begins in the first year and is consistent throughout all four years of the B.A. curriculum.

The FTVDM major asks for writing only— no visual material whatsoever. The first two years are dedicated to completing the lower division general education requirements for the university, and also taking film and media history and criticism academic courses with your FTVDM cohort. The animation coursework is all upper division and accessible in your junior and senior year.

No. UCLA only looks at your first choice major in the admission process, so you will have to pick one.

Even when you get to UCLA, you cannot double major with FTVDM; they do not allow double majors at all.

Maybe. This opportunity depends entirely on the space in each major and how many units you have, so you can try but if you can’t, then you need to be happy with the major you have. This would be a discussion with your academic advisor once you are here at UCLA.

For what it’s worth, though, some Computational Art/Design/Games majors will do the Minor in FTVDM, because their current major allows for visual media exploration and studio coursework, and the FTVDM minor provides the academic context for film and media studies.

Even though our majors are in professional schools, tuition is the same for all undergraduate students: tuition for California Residents at the University of California is around $16.5K for the academic year. Please see the Tuition and Fees page for more information about housing and materials cost breakdowns, as well as information for students applying from Out Of State/International.

The UC system has many programs for California students with substantial financial need:

UC Blue & Gold Opportunity Plan

Middle Class Scholarship Program

We do distribute the Arts Regents Scholarship in concert with Financial Aid, but this is a nomination-only scholarship.

For undergraduate students, the best place to search for scholarships is with the Financial Aid Office, they have the most resources to understand and address your needs.

If you are considering a gap year, you cannot take any college coursework after you graduate from high school. Gap year requirements for colleges and universities are all different: some schools will allow you to take college credit courses while on gap year, and some don’t. UCLA is one of the schools that will not allow it.

If you take any credit-bearing coursework at any higher ed institution after you graduate from high school— doesn’t matter if the class is non-arts, vocational, academic, fitness, etc; this applies to ANY college level credit-bearing class— then you need to apply as a Transfer student.

This information applies to students who have applied to UCLA for First Year admission.

If you are graduating HS by the end of Fall Semester of your senior year, and you are in the UCLA application process for First Year admission, do NOT take college credit-bearing classes after you graduate. If you take college credit-bearing classes after you graduate high school, you are considered a Transfer applicant.

No, we do not. We do, however, support illustrative work in both the Art major and the Design major.

The Art major is likely going to be a place where you can have space to explore illustrative techniques specific to painting and drawing, but the program on the whole is more fine arts-oriented.

The Design major is going to interact more with technology aspects that are more common in illustration work, as well as considerations around visual media on a mass communication scale.

We would suggest exploring both of the majors and looking at course descriptions and student work to see which one resonates with you:

Art Course Descriptions / Art website

Design Course Descriptions / Design website

All of this being said, our most well-known alumni who works as an illustrator (among other things) graduated from the Art Department, and she didn’t necessarily mean to be an illustrator, either. “I’d tell my younger self that it’s hard to plan ahead for a career in the arts—you follow whatever opportunities come up and you have to trust your gut on what kind of art to make. I never intended to do illustration or work in animation, but I got into those fields when I realized I couldn’t get by doing fine art and comics alone. You also can’t rush into creating a distinctive style; that’s something that develops as you continue to make work. It all takes longer than you’d expect.”—Lisa Hanawalt, producer of BoJack Horseman/creator of Tuca & Bertie

Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing we can do if you missed the UC Application deadline. You will have to apply for the next cycle. UCLA admits for the Fall quarter only.

If you missed your deadline, the applications are closed. Our deadlines are strictly enforced due to the fact that our departments must be allowed enough time to equitably and comprehensively evaluate supplemental materials. Students are given the maximum amount of time possible to submit their applications, but we also must respect departmental administrative procedures and remain in compliance with other university deadlines.

If you did not submit in time, you will have two options:

1) Request that UCLA change your first choice major from UCLA Arts, into Letters & Science or Engineering (the two schools that will take major change requests after November 30). This action will include you in the general applicant pool to UCLA and you will be evaluated on the basis of your general UC Application only, no information from the UCLA Arts supplemental application will be considered. Should you be admitted to UCLA under Letters & Science, you will be welcome to pursue admission to UCLA Arts upon matriculation to campus. You must make your major change request by January 31, using this contact form: https://bruins.admission.ucla.edu/ContactForm/Applicant.aspx

2) Withdraw your application from UCLA entirely. If you wish to re-apply to UCLA Arts in the future, please feel free to reach out to us.

We make every effort to inform our applicants of our supplemental materials and deadlines. Applicants are made aware of our supplemental requirements and deadlines in the following ways:

• Embedded information in the UC application. If you choose one of our majors as your first choice to UCLA, there appears a text box which notifies you of the required supplement, along with a direct link to our FAQ for more details so you can see if the major + supplement is the right fit for you.

• On the UCLA Undergraduate Admission website.

• On the front page of the UCLA Arts Admission FAQ.

• We directly email all of the applicants who have listed our majors as their first choice to UCLA, with direct links to their supplement as well as deadlines and fee waiver information.

No. We understand that sometimes deadlines get missed for all kinds of reasons, none of them personal. If you want to apply again, you will not encounter any prejudice as we look at the application information for that cycle only, and do not have access to previous/other cycles.

For the majors in Art, Architectural Studies, Computational Art, Design, and Games, which all require a visual arts portfolio… no, we do not offer portfolio reviews, nor do we have sample portfolios.

• Our admission recommendations rely on more than the portfolio to get a sense of an applicant. The associated writing— departmental statements, UC PIQs— carry significant weight, as do academics and how you engage with your community. Our faculty feel that offering portfolio reviews does not accurately reflect the way our supplemental evaluation actually works.

• Portfolio reviews are usually a one-on-one conversation, but our evaluations of the portfolios and supplemental materials are done by committee, with anywhere from 3-12 faculty, graduate students, and alumni weighing in on a single applicant. For one person to do a portfolio review, it feels like they would be speaking for all of their colleagues, which nobody is comfortable doing.

• We do not have the resources/staffing to provide a comprehensive portfolio review to everyone who asks. From an equity perspective, our departments do not offer portfolio reviews.

In the absence of portfolio reviews and samples, we hope you, the applicant, assume the perspective of: "If they aren’t going to tell me what I should put in, then I’m going to show them what I want." This is the perspective we hope you will take.

Please explore the department websites to get a sense of the program(s) you're interested in, and look at student work. Think about what you want to show us that would help us understand more about you, and what kinds of conversations you want to start in the application, that could continue at UCLA.

No, we don’t; we leave our SlideRoom site open at the same time as the UC application, so you can access our SlideRoom site anytime.

You DO need to finish your UC application before you can submit your UCLA Arts SlideRoom supplement, because when you complete the UC application, you get a 7-digit application ID, that we ask for in SlideRoom so that we can match your UC application with your SlideRoom supplement.

Don’t do that! Our majors are all distinct, the supplemental requirements are unique to each major, and we don’t swap supplemental material between majors.

Your UCLA major and your SlideRoom supplement HAVE TO MATCH or else we don’t review your supplement… and that can jeopardize your entire application to UCLA.

We do not refund fees if you complete the wrong application, or more than one UCLA Arts application.

UCLA Arts majors don’t always go to waitlist— sometimes we reach our enrollment targets with our admitted applicants, and do not go to waitlist. Unfortunately there is no way to predict if we will go to waitlist for our majors or not.

We will make our decisions to go to waitlist after May 1 (for First Years) and after June 1 (for Transfers).

If you want to be considered for waitlist, you have to opt-in to waitlist via your UCLA Undergraduate Admission portal.

You do not need to submit any additional creative work in support of your waitlist opt-in. On the waitlist opt-in form, there is only space for a written narrative, and we will not click through external links. You can write a brief narrative expressing your continued interest, but it is not necessary as our department evaluators have already assessed your creative and cultural fit for your intended major, so all we need you to do is opt-in so that we can move you to admit if that opportunity becomes available.

We do not rank waitlisted students. If we do need to go to waitlist, our departments will hand-select students off the waitlist based on the composition of admitted students who have deposited.

Please know that appeals are rarely granted. Between our admitted and waitlisted students, we consistently meet our enrollment targets, so we typically do not have room in our programs to overturn appeals and admit additional students. In the past twenty years, we have overturned exactly three appeals across all of our undergraduate majors. We share this not to discourage you, but so that you have accurate, realistic information to help direct your efforts going forward.

That said, you are welcome to submit an appeal. The formal appeals portal is located within your main UCLA admissions portal. Within that portal, there is no option to submit additional or updated creative work — only a brief written narrative in your own words. The appeal must be submitted by you, the applicant, and not on your behalf by anyone else. We do not consider letters of recommendation and will not click through on external links.

For an appeal to have merit, it must bring to light new academic and personal information, as well as information pertaining to extenuating circumstances, that had not been present in the application—information that clearly shows the student to be stronger than had been earlier evidenced.

Of course! You can take a gap year, or you can transfer from a community college or another 4-year institution.

If you decide to attend another college/university and the first year curriculum is all arts classes and you’re not taking English and Math… just know that we need to see English and Math in order for you to meet minimum academic requirements for transfer. Please look at our Transfer information for more details.

If you are thinking about attending another UC school and are hearing that UC-to-UC transfers are difficult, please know that for us, since we are professional programs, we can consider and accept inter-UC transfers due to the differences in arts curriculums at the campuses. We’ll still need to see those English and Math courses, though!