Hey! Don’t worry I don’t mind answering these questions for you! 

So this is actually my second time applying to the program and the first time I didn’t hear a response of any kind so that was how I knew I didn’t get it. As for this time around it was a pretty long process for me. I submitted my app on the April 1st deadline and I got my first phone call about a month later. The first phone interview was with a program recruiter and then my next phone call came about a week later letting me know that I would be doing a skype interview with the production team of Wallykazam later that week. I did the Skype interview with everyone and then I received my program offer the following week. So in total the entire process took about a month and a half from submission of my application to being accepted.

If you don’t get a response back from them I wouldn't take it personally though. I know they are really busy and have a lot of submissions to go through at this time and they can’t respond back to everyone. When I didn’t hear anything the first I was really bummed out but definitely don’t give up on applying again! This time around I spent a lot of time customizing my resume, cover letter, and website so it was all consistent with my personality and my work. I also had a lot of practice writing cover letters this last semester from applying to multiple positions at other studios which I didn’t get but learned a lot from. If you can find someone to proofread your cover letter that would be great and also do research on the studio! Other than that, I can’t think of any other advice to give but I definitely wish you the best of luck with things!

Hey! I hope you don’t mind that I answer this publicly since I’ve been receiving a few questions about applying and entering RISD.

The summer before I entered foundations year I just continued what I was already doing, which was figure and observational drawing. They sent all the accepted students a sketchbook to draw in over the summer, so I worked mostly in that since I had to send it back to the school at the end of the summer. If you really want to get ahead of the game I would say start experimenting with different techniques and materials because you will be doing A LOT of experimentation foundations year. The main purpose of foundations year is to break all of the incoming students out of their old/bad habits and get them to be more open-minded about their process and how they approached drawing and design.  It’s hard to tell you what to work on specifically because each foundations teacher is very different, so you might get a teacher that’s all about technical drawing or you could get one that’s all about making a huge mess and trying new methods out. 

A few exercises you could try is drawing with a medium you’ve never used before and also giving yourself limitations to draw within (set time limit, size of project, using your non dominant hand, stuff like that) Other than that, you could also try to do something you’ve always wanted to do or learn like making a sculpture or improving on perspective, if that’s what interests you. The summer before RISD is really yours to decide what to do with since you can’t tell what’s going to happen once you get here. Just do something that makes you happy or that you’re interested in and you’ll be fine :)

Thank you so much Joyce, I appreciate your kind words!