Undergraduate Admissions

NYU's final application deadlines to begin as a first year student for the 2025-2026 school year are November 1 (Early Decision I), January 1 (Early Decision II), and January 5 (Regular Decision).

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Admission to the Tisch School of the Arts is a highly selective process. Applicants are held to rigorous academic and artistic standards, and evaluated through a two-part admissions process, which includes submitting the Common Application and an additional program-specific review. As Tisch is a community of storytellers, consider both parts as an opportunity to share your story — we want to know who you are, and what you care about; what you've done, and what you intend to achieve.

Application Process

You can apply to the Tisch School of the Arts by using the Common Application, answering NYU-specific questions and submitting additional required materials. Learn more about the requirements and deadlines through NYU Undergraduate Admissions or by selecting one of the following:

Applicants to programs which require an audition or creative portfolio are not required to submit standardized testing for consideration, and doing so is entirely optional.

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Additional Application Materials

Below are general guidelines and details for departments and their additional program-specific application requirements. This process is designed to gauge whether or not an applicant is going to be a good fit for the program and within the overall artistic community at Tisch.

General Guidelines

Deadlines

Be sure to submit your Common Application in advance of our deadlines, noting the following:

  • For all programs using Slideroom (Cinema Studies, Film & Television, Photograph & Imaging, Recorded Music), in order to submit your creative portfolio via SlideRoom, your Common Application must first be submitted.
  • For all other programs (Collaborative Arts, Dance, Drama, Dramatic Writing, Game Design, IMA, Performance Studies) you will receive an email from NYU a few days after you submit the Common App containing a personalized link to the Artistic Review portal, where you can submit all artistic materials and/or schedule an audition.

SlideRoom

Applicants to Cinema Studies, Film & Television, Photograph & Imaging, and Recorded Music must integrate their Common Application and SlideRoom accounts. Furthermore, you cannot submit your SlideRoom unless you have already submitted your Common App. Learn how below.

  • As you answer the NYU-Specific questions, under “Academics,” you should select the Tisch School of the Arts and the program to which you wish to apply.
  • If you select any program which requires an artistic review, you will then be prompted with the following question: Applicants to the artistic programs at NYU, including the one which you indicated above, are required to audition or submit a creative portfolio. You can begin the process by linking your Common Application with SlideRoom. Select 'Yes' to link your Common Application to SlideRoom.
  • Select 'Yes,' and continue, completing the Academics section.
  • Once you save and continue to the next section, you will see an additional Portfolio section under the NYU sidebar.
  • Once you reach the Portfolio section, you can create your SlideRoom by selecting “New York University Portfolio Site.”

Institute of Performing Arts

Intense professional training in acting, dance, musical theatre, directing and theatrical production is offered in the Institute of Performing Arts. Additionally, the Department of Performance Studies provides an innovative approach to the study of the history, theory, and practice of human performance.

Dance (BFA)

Tisch Dance seeks to develop and prepare fully realized dance artists to be critical thinkers, fearless leaders, and fluent performers, emphasizing the techniques of ballet and contemporary dance, with equal emphasis on performance and choreography.

  • Please see here for artistic requirements.
  • A couple of days after you submit the Common App, you will receive an email from NYU with a personalized link to the Dance Artistic Review portal.
  • Questions? Call Tisch Dance at (212) 998-1980.

Drama (BFA)

Tisch Drama is dedicated to giving you the artistic and intellectual know-how for a successful life in the performing arts, exposing students to different approaches to acting, musical theatre, production, design, theatrical management, and directing. We train thinking artists who have the skills to ask questions, find answers, tell stories and engage — creatively, intellectually, and professionally.

  • Please see here for artistic requirements.
  • A couple of days after you submit the Common App, you will receive an email from NYU with a personalized link to the Drama Artistic Review portal.
  • Questions? Call Tisch Drama at (212) 998-1850.

Performance Studies (BA)

Performance Studies uses performance as a lens to study the world. Interdisciplinary, Performance Studies draws from theories of the performing arts, anthropology and sociology, literary theory, and legal studies.

Collaborative Arts (BFA)

Collaborative Arts is an innovative new degree program at Tisch where students get hands-on training in a wide variety of artistic disciplines. Our students acquire foundational knowledge in acting, dance, filmmaking, design, creative research, emerging media, and dramatic writing.

Kanbar Institute of Film & Television

Tisch’s Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film & Television is internationally recognized as a leader in cinema and media studies, film and television production, and writing for film, television and the stage.

Cinema Studies (BA)

The Martin Scorsese Department of Cinema Studies is devoted to film and television history, theory, and analysis of the moving image, with alumni working in museum film departments, archives, as journalists, and even in the industry itself.

Emerging Media

Emerging Media students discover new ways to communicate as an everyday part of life, and an extension of their creative voice.

Game Design (BFA)

Dedicated to the exploration of games as a cultural form and game design as creative practice, the NYU Game Center is training the next generation of game designers, developers, entrepreneurs, and critics, to advance the field of games by creating a context for advanced scholarship and groundbreaking work.

Interactive Media Arts (BFA)

IMA provides students with an opportunity to study the intersection of technology and human interaction, learning forms of digital interactivity, alongside an education in both the arts and liberal arts.

  • An artistic review is required. Students need to submit creative materials to supplement the Common App. After submitting your online application, you will receive an email from NYU with a personalized link to the artistic review portal. Please upload your materials as soon as you receive the link so your application is complete and ready for review.
  • Standardized testing is now optional for students applying to IMA. Learn more about NYU’s standardized testing policy, here.
  • Learn more about the Creative Materials submission requirements.

Photography & Imaging (BFA)

Centered on the making and understanding of images, Photography & Imaging offers students both the intensive focus of an arts curriculum while demanding a broad grounding in the liberal arts. Students will embrace multiple perspectives, with majors working in virtually all modes of analog and digital photo-based image making and multimedia.

Recorded Music (BFA)

Considered the first and only program of its kind, the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music provides professional business and artistic training toward, aiming to provide students with the necessary skills — business, creative, and intellectual — needed to emerge as visionary creative entrepreneurs in the evolving music industry.

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