Admissions

Meadows Film Application, Admission and Portfolio

B.A. in Film and Media Arts: In order to pursue the B.A. in Film and Media Arts at SMU, applicants need to apply and be accepted to SMU. No portfolio is required for the B.A.  in Film and Media Arts.

B.F.A. in Film and Media Arts: In order to pursue the B.F.A. in Film and Media Arts at SMU, applicants must be admitted to both the Meadows School of the Arts as well as to SMU and must also submit a portfolio to Meadows via the Meadows Film Application. It is recommended that applicants apply to SMU and to Meadows in the same semester. Read more about the film portfolio and how to access the Meadows Film Application below.

The Portfolio

All students applying for study in the Division of Film and Media Arts for the B.F.A.  degree program must submit a digital portfolio within the Meadows Film application. (The Meadows Film Application portal is found further below).

All submitted portfolios are automatically considered for Meadows artistic scholarship. The portfolio can consist of up to five examples of your work and can be of a variety of media. This is an opportunity to showcase your best work. The portfolio must include at least one film/video sample in which you were a primary creative voice (such as writer or director) and no more than 10 minutes of video TOTAL between all of your submissions. Edited excerpts of longer pieces are acceptable – note that applicants will have an opportunity to provide an explanation of the full piece and the significance of the excerpts within the Meadows Film Application. Other types of portfolio components can include short scripts, visual projects such as short films/videos or photography, film stills or samples of editing, audio, or motion graphics in which you contributed the bulk of the creative work.

We suggest that large video files be uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo, and links to the videos be provided within the Meadows Film Application. For all works submitted, please indicate (either in the video credits or on your application) your specific role(s) on each piece.

Note that within the Meadows Film application you will be asked to provide additional information about the work and answers to questions such as:

  1. Have you attended any workshop, summer programs, internships or been involved in any extracurricular groups related to film and media arts? 
  2. Tell us something about one of your works in this portfolio. Why is it important to you? What inspired it? Did you encounter any obstacles while working on this project? 
  3. Describe a particular film, TV show or other media text that influenced you to pursue studying film/media. What specifically about it affected you? Did it inspire you to learn a particular aspect of creating film/media?
  4. Why are you interested in the study of film in general and at SMU? Do you have any specific interests you’d like to explore? Is there something specific about our program at Meadows that you feel will aid that exploration?

Portfolio and Application Deadlines

The film portfolio is submitted within the Meadows Film Application. Submission deadlines are the same as the SMU application deadlines:

  • November 1 – Early Action, Early Decision I and Spring Transfers
  • February 1 – Regular Decision and Early Decision II
  • April 1 – Fall Transfers

We strongly recommend applicants submit their SMU application and their Meadows Film Application within the same semester. After faculty have reviewed all portfolios, applicants will receive an email from Meadows regarding its admission decision; approximately two weeks later, applicants will hear from SMU regarding its SMU admission decision.

Early Action versus Early Decision application: Early Decision is a binding agreement to attend SMU if you are accepted to the university, even if you are not also accepted to the Meadows Film Division. For those who wish to apply by the November 1 “Early” deadline, we recommend that film applicants select “Early Action” instead of “Early Decision.” By applying Early Action, film applicants can keep their options open while expressing strong interest in SMU.

Meadows Film Application portal

  • When you click on the “Start Your Meadows Application” button below, you are taken to a page titled “Your Application to SMU.”
    • If you have already submitted an SMU application and have previously logged in to your personal status page, click “Log in” under “Returning Users,” using the same username and password.
    • If you have not yet applied to SMU and therefore have not received your SMU personal status page login credentials, see “First-time users” and click on “Create an account” to log in.
  • After logging in, scroll to the bottom of that page and click “Start New Application.”
  • In “Select application type,” choose “2025,” then in the drop-down menu select “Meadows Film Application.” Click on “Create application.”
  • Once you have started or submitted your SMU and your Meadows Film Application, you will be able to access your status page using your login credentials. At the top-right of the status page you will see a small toggle arrow where you can toggle between your SMU and your Meadows applications.

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Contact us at: meadowsadmission@smu.edu
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