Graduate Admissions

All application materials are submitted through your admission application portal. We recommend beginning your online application at least one week prior to the deadline.

Access the graduate application via the Office of Admissions. There is an application fee of $70. You will be prompted to upload unofficial transcripts within the application.

In addition to the graduate college application requirements, applicants to Master of Design programs are required to submit a portfolio, statement of intent, résumé, and three letters of recommendation. Submission of these items will be prompted within the application.

A complete application and a portfolio review is required for acceptance into any graduate program. It is imperative that all your application materials arrive by the application deadline. Do not email portfolios or application materials, as they will not be reviewed. There are no exceptions to this policy.

Upload your portfolio as a single pdf of no more than 20 pages, with a file size of 10mb or less. If your file exceeds the size limit, you may upload a second multi-page pdf. You can also upload individual image (jpg) and/or video (mov) files. Images should be no larger than 1280 x 1280 px @ 72 ppi; video files should be no larger than 20 mb.

We look for evidence of work that demonstrates and articulates an emerging and serious interest in design. Successful applications have included self-initiated art and design projects; art or design work produced in extension courses; professional work wholly designed by the applicant; photography showcasing thematic perspectives or aesthetic approaches; and past degree projects that illuminate the application in specific ways. Strong applications connect portfolio images with ideas and visions expressed in the essay. The essay should also clearly indicate your interest in and path to design. How do you understand design? What do you want it to accomplish? What do you want to help to accomplish through design?

Students applying to the MDes Industrial Design Three-Year Program may submit two at-home design exercises in lieu of a traditional portfolio. Additional portfolio materials may also be submitted but the portfolio requirement is fulfilled by the two exercises.

In lieu of a traditional design portfolio, MDes Industrial Design Three-Year Program applicants may complete and submit the at-home exercises below. Please review the design briefs carefully and create the corresponding documentation in whichever program you are most comfortable using. When completed, export the pages as a PDF and upload the file through your admission application portal using the portfolio submission link.

You may upload additional work in a separate PDF but the portfolio requirement for MDes Three-Year Program applicants is satisfied by submitting solutions for the exercises explained below.

If you have questions about the exercises, please email Kevin Strickland.

EXERCISE 1: PANDEMIC TAKE-OUT CONTAINER

We would like you to spend no more than 2–3 hours redesigning a carry-out container. You are responsible for deciding and communicating the who, what, and where that defines your design and its use. We would like you to focus on the container’s use and functions, but, if you have time, you may also highlight possible ecological and economic impacts.

1. Carefully observe more than one instance of take out scenarios, and identify intriguing problem areas. State in a simple sentence which specific problem you intend to resolve. Present this observation in simple snapshot photos.
2. Ideate (generate approximately 5 rough ideas/scenarios) some potential solutions and settle on one you will pursue. Annotate your sketches.
3. Iterate your chosen idea approximately 5 times. We would like to see your ideas expand and contract (be reconsidered and refined). It is usual and expected for some of this work to be presented as dead ends.
4. Refine your idea and construct a very rough physical prototype with material you have on-hand in your home or can pick up at a grocery store. Photograph your prototype in “staged use.” (Do not worry about including all object details in this model. It does not need to be the correct color or even look like the correct material. Instead, if possible, make the object the scale it is meant to be in real life. Photograph on a non-busy, contrasting colored background.)
5. Present and reflect. Assemble your work from each stage above in a simple but orderly multi-page pdf (up to 4 pages). Include a final drawing, communicate what your design responds to and is about, and tell us what about your solution is especially successful in responding to the identified problem and why.

EXERCISE 2: CORD MANAGEMENT
Design a solution for managing charging equipment. Present your work in 4 pages. Spend no more than 2–3 hours responding to the prompt.

1. Page 1: Context
   Use a combination of text, illustration, and image to explain issues you have experienced with or have heard anecdotally about charging equipment (e.g. cords, batteries, etc.). Present the issues you’ve identified as a list of challenges and/or opportunities.
2. Page 2: Conceptualization
   Explore your own ideas about a design response. Through sketches, explore variations of form, features, and the object’s construction. Present a wide range of sketches.
3. Page 3: Prototyping
   Make a low-fidelity, full-scale model of what you consider to be your best idea. With any material of your choosing, quickly build a model to evaluate the object’s dimensions, features, and actual function. You do not need to include all details in this model—for example, it does not need to be the final color or material. Instead, concentrate on making the object a functioning prop. Photograph the model on a clean, contrasting colored background.
4. Page 4: Test
   Demonstrate and document how your new object functions. Photograph the key aspects of its use and function, and clearly relate each to the challenges and/or opportunities you identified earlier. Include captions that explain your images

No. For students who do not have a design degree or design portfolio, we offer a three-year option in both Graphic Design and Industrial Design. Applicants who do not have a design degree but are able to meet the portfolio requirements for the two-year degree do not have to apply to the MDes Three-Year Program.

No. Any student who is able to meet the two-year portfolio requirements can apply.

Our program is not structured for part-time study, MDes students take no less than 16 credits (4 classes) each semester while enrolled.

No.

Students who meet the January 15 deadline should receive an admission update by the second week of March.

All applicants are considered for any available School of Design funding allotted for incoming students when reviewed for acceptance.

Typically, students seek additional funding from UIC in the form of graduate assistantships, which covers the cost of tuition and some fees, and/or graduate hourly positions on campus. Many of our students are able to obtain on-campus employment during their graduate studies.

Yes. During the final year of study, all students are considered for limited and highly competitive teaching assistantships in the School of Design’s Foundation program.

While the university offers centralized student employment services, the recruitment and hiring process for teaching or research assistants and other positions in non-academic departments is often conducted through individual departments. Seeking and securing employment necessarily will be a hybrid experience and will, at times, feel intimidating, but the potential rewards are worth the effort. Some students even find that their experiences in other departments inform research related to what becomes a thesis project. The easiest place to start looking for positions is the UIC Job Board and via Handshake, UIC’s Student Employment hub.

No. Currently, neither of our MDes degrees are STEM-designated programs and do not qualify international graduate students for extended OPT.