1)      Meet minimum academic requirements for the University of California system. First Year requirements are here, Transfer requirements are here. UCLA admits for Fall Quarter only. This material is due at the end of November.

2)      Submit a required supplemental application. The supplement is typically due in mid-December and consists of additional artist statements and a portfolio of visual artwork. This supplement is submitted through SlideRoom.

(Link to previous cycle Fall 2026 supplemental requirements for reference)

If you are a currently enrolled UCLA student in another major who wishes to be a UCLA Arts major, please look up the application information for Current UCLA Students.

There are approximately 180 undergraduate students in Design|Media Arts, across all four years.

We do not, we only have the major. A close cousin of Design|Media Arts is the Digital Humanities minor, but that does not have an explicit art-making component.

The Design|Media Arts major is NOT a formal or recognized pathway to the Architectural Studies major, which only admits Transfer students. All of our majors have distinct faculty, facilities, and curriculum; we do not swap applicants between majors at the point of admission review.

If you are interested in architecture but cannot apply to that major because you are not a Transfer applicant, please read this FAQ.

This depends on how you define your relationship with technology and digital media. As a public institution, the department understands that even though technology seems ubiquitous, not everyone has meaningful access to specific programs.

Do you need to know certain software for admission? No. Visual artwork that has been generated by/involves technology is not a requirement for admission into the program. We are looking for your sensibility around design thinking, which can be expressed in many different ways.

For both First Year and Transfer applicants, the evaluation considers the following:

• Portfolio of creative work (submitted in SlideRoom)

• UC PIQs (from UC application)

• Academic History (from UC application)

• Extracurriculars/Honors/Awards (from UC application)

We do not. The SlideRoom supplement is visual artwork only.

The department will look at your UC PIQs in order to learn more about your interests in design at a public research university, as well as your writing skills.

While we do not have portfolio samples, or offer portfolio reviews (more info about this here), here is some guidance from Design|Media Arts faculty, on how to prepare supplemental materials:

"This is a program meant for the development of conceptual and aesthetic critical thinking, and many different ways of looking at media. It is not meant for commercial graphic design. Take the time to learn as much as you can from the website, and look at examples of our past student's work."

"This is a research university, where students get access to humanities, to sciences, to different ways of thinking. It's a different context from an art school."

"We work with a lot of different media, so it's helpful in your portfolio to see work with different kinds of media. Digital media is a real focus for us, so tailoring your portfolio as much as possible to the focus of our program will give us the best sense of whether it’s the right fit. If you haven’t worked with digital media before, it’s helpful to use your written answers to explain how you envision your practice transitioning to include new types of media."

"It's important to see your technical skill set, but your work does not need to be highly representational or heavily using technical effects. We’re more interested in the conceptual focus behind your work."

"We want students who are curious, experimental, and open, with a rich inner artistic voice."

"For the written response, we encourage you to be as specific as possible and tell us what excites you. The written response can be particularly illuminating and connecting if your portfolio is not explicitly design/digital media (ex. painting, drawing, etc.)."

"Be cautious about including very standardized assignments from a class if they're not showing your unique vision or creativity."

"We like to see some cohesiveness across pieces. Each part of your application is one piece of the larger picture, be mindful of those relationships between your application elements as you edit and organize your story."

*

Here is more information about how to format your portfolio.

In concert with the portfolio, take care with preparing your UC PIQs.

The Design|Media Arts supplemental review does not have a place to submit a supplemental essay; rather, the department is interested to read your UC PIQs to get a sense of how you engage with ideas of community and scholarship. All of the UC campuses are research-based, as is the UCLA Department of Design|Media Arts. What does it mean to put your talents to work in design and visual communication at a research university where you have a wide variety of opportunities to engage with the world as an artist citizen?

A great place is https://classes.dma.ucla.edu/. You can look up all of the courses in the department, see course syllabi, and often see student work that responds to class assignments.

From Assist.Org:

The Department of Design|Media Arts (DMA) emphasizes visual, audio, analytical theoretical, and technology-mediated work in design and media arts. Please note that this is NOT a graphic design major, but an academic program that supports a diversity of interests around design, media, technology, and culture. Our integrative curriculum invites students to balance their aesthetic sensibility with logical reasoning, formal theories with practical application, and contemporary thought with a historical perspective. Most transfer students take three years to complete the program.

The most important admission criteria are the supplemental application which involves additional essays, a design portfolio, strong academic performance, and evidence of community engagement relative to interest in the major. 

Please refer to this document that DMA has prepared, that outlines learning outcomes for their lower division classes and possible equivalents from community college: https://www.uclaarts-admission.com/dma-transfer-guide. Look broadly across your available course curriculum, in any and all areas having to do with art, architecture, design, computer science, information systems, multimedia, interactivity, communications, journalism, et al, to identify possible matches for coursework in drawing, color theory, two-dimensional and three-dimensional form, digital media/computer design, programming for media arts, letterforms and typography, design history, design culture, and interactivity and media arts.

The availability of arts coursework at community colleges can differ, so you may not find exact equivalents for all classes. However, this will not negatively affect your admission. Look for the closest matches in your curriculum, and if a course wasn't completed at your current institution, you can take it at UCLA. Substitutions for lower-division requirements will be determined by the department in the summer following admission. Syllabi or other descriptive course documentation may be required for consideration. 

Recommended (not required) preparation for the major*:

• One course each in drawing, color theory, two-dimensional and three-dimensional form, digital media/computer design, programming for media arts, letter forms and typography, design history, design culture, and interactivity and media arts.

*Most transfer students complete these courses at UCLA.

Supplemental Requirements:

In addition to the general UC Application, applicants must submit a supplement that consists of a visual arts portfolio and additional writing statements. Additional fees may apply.  

All students must have a cumulative 3.0 GPA at the time of application November 30).

Students MUST complete the requisite two English courses and one Math course by the end of Spring prior to transfer. Students are encouraged to take their required English and Math courses as early as possible with at least one English course completed by the end of Fall. Completion of IGETC is not required but strongly recommended.

Design|Media Arts considers sophomore transfers. For more information about eligibility and criteria, please visit this link.

Most, if not all, transfers to Design|Media Arts require three years to complete the curriculum.

Why is this the case? Given that the coursework in Design|Media Arts is highly interdisciplinary, the majority of coursework at other schools doesn't match up in terms of learning outcomes and scope. Particularly at California community colleges— which is where most of our Transfer applicants are coming from— design studio coursework is more vocational, where UCLA DMA is more research-based.

For example: one of UCLA DMA’s lower division course requirements is DESMA 22, “Fabrication and Materials.” At a community college, there might be possible matches to this course in a variety of departments (ex. Art, Design, Technology, etc.). There might also be multiple courses that could possibly articulate (ex. “3D Modeling for Buildings and Cars”, “Sculpture”, “Rapid Prototyping using 3D Design”). Any one of these courses could articulate, but this decision depends on a combination of the department being able to consider the course curriculum and learning outcomes, AND considering the type of work the student is doing.

There is nothing wrong with the coursework at either institution; it is all valuable. While UCLA Design|Media Arts seeks to articulate as many lower division courses as possible, it is often that difference of institutional cultures and learning outcomes that happens to contextualize course articulation.

You may have noticed that there is more California community college coursework that is marked for CSU transfer, than UC transfer. Again this has to do with the orientation of the coursework at CC, which is more geared towards preparing workforce, and how that translates to the intentions of degrees at CSUs and UCs. Since CSU campuses also tend towards applied learning, workforce development, and creating educators, the coursework has more commonality in terms of being triangulated towards credentialing. At the UC, the mission is research, which is more interdisciplinary and therefore doesn’t line up as easily with credentialing.

It is possible to have CSU-transferable coursework apply towards UCLA DMA coursework, but that is a case-by-case evaluation after you have accepted your offer of admission, and not something that is pre-articulated.

Unfortunately, no. Formal course articulation is a complex process involving departmental review and the Registrar’s office, and this process happens in the summer after students have accepted their offer of admission.

Unfortunately, we can't guarantee that the classes you might need are offered in summer, so we have to base our estimates on what students complete in 6 quarters (two years = Fall, Winter, Spring quarters). If the right courses come up during the summer, then that may help in finishing the coursework a little faster.

The department has prepared a guide sheet that outlines the learning outcomes for the lower division courses in Design|Media Arts, so that you can identify best matches at your current institution.

For California community college students, you can check Transferology.com to see if any coursework from your institution has previously been articulated to UCLA. Please keep in mind, though, that just because a course was articulated in the past, does not necessarily mean it will for you.