Transfer Students
If you are transferring from a university without accredited programs in architecture, landscape architecture, or urban planning or if you have less than 30 college-level credit hours, please follow the same admissions process for incoming freshmen.
Admission with advanced placement is a possibility if you are transferring from an accredited program in architecture, landscape architecture, or urban planning. For credit evaluation, in your admission application materials, include your transcripts, a portfolio showing your work from each course you'd like evaluated, and a copy of the syllabus with learning outcomes for each course.
Ball State Student Changing Majors?
If you’re a current Ball State student who wants to change your major to one of our programs, please complete ECAP's supplemental application form. Deliver the form to the ECAP Office of Student Services (Architecture Building, Room 508), which can answer any questions regarding the application process.
DOWNLOAD THE FORM (PDF)
CAP First-Year Program
Lori Pence
765-285-5879
Email
Do You Live Outside the U.S.?
Do you live outside the United States and are interested in attending Ball State? Then review our admission criteria for international students and review our step-by-step guide for applying to the university. Get started.
Admission to the common first year design program in the Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning occurs on a rolling basis until capacity is reached (approximately 190 students) Applying early to Ball State and the college increases the opportunity for admission for qualified students.
If you have further questions, please contact Kate Caward at kate.caward@bsu.edu.
No magic formula exists to guarantee admission. Our most competitive transfer applicants have a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. We weigh academic standing, review submitted materials, and consider the following:
- demonstrated excellence in scholarship
- evidence of initiative, leadership experience, and interest in the environmental design and planning disciplines, as indicated on the supplemental application form
- the quality of the application essay
- A personal interview is not required, and neither is a portfolio. However, given the competitive nature of the application process, both—but particularly a portfolio—are highly recommended to demonstrate your potential achievement.
We maintain no admission quotas by race, gender, state of residence, or expressed preference of major within the department. You can read Ball State’s equal opportunity and affirmative action policy online.
Your required portfolio should be a visual reflection of how you see the world. It can contain a variety of types of representation across two dimensional and three-dimensional topics. The best portfolios include diverse content and devote more attention to creative talents than technical abilities. Some items you should consider adding to your portfolio include:
- examples of your creative work including sketches, drawings, paintings, photography, sculpture, crafts, gardening, poetry, newspaper articles, and/or other creative projects
- personal and/or academic work
- writing samples
- awards or certificates
Take time to organize your work so it tells a clear story about who you are, what you care about, and why you want to be part of the Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning. Beneath samples of portfolio work, please include descriptions (e.g. “Sketch of landscape for art class”). When reviewing your portfolio, we look for signs of creative curiosity, critical thinking, problem-solving, spatial reasoning, and your interest in making and building things. The way you organize your portfolio matters just as much as each individual piece.
Portfolio Examples
Requirements
Submitted portfolios must follow these requirements (ECAP reserves the right to refuse any portfolio that does not meet these requirements):
- Submit as a single Adobe PDF file no larger than 20 MB to upload to your Cardinal Landing Portal. The portfolio must be formatted in either portrait (vertical) or landscape (horizontal) orientation on an 8.5-by-11-inch paper size.
- No more than 10 PowerPoint slides.
- Save your file as your first and last name.
- As your first ECAP design challenge, we suggest you include a cover sheet and organize all the images, text, and pages in a way that demonstrates your creative abilities.
How to Submit
You will upload your portfolio in your Cardinal Landing Portal.