The next application deadline for the Art Practice Major is Friday, September 26, 2025, 11:59pm.
Art Practice is a high demand major. Before submitting an application, carefully review the requirements in the document How to Apply to the Art Practice Major or read below to determine your eligibility. The last semester you can apply is your first semester of junior year.
Art 160 Radical Wearables students after their Final Project presentations of wearable art, Spring 2019
The UC Berkeley Art Practice Department offers an undergraduate program in studio art which provides a firm grounding in basic techniques and principles while encouraging guided experimentation. Our curriculum is designed to teach students to think visually and develop a creative intelligence through the disciplined practice of art.
The Art Practice Department has a fine arts focus and requires rigorous studio work of all its majors. Our areas of studio concentration include: painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture (wood, metal, ceramic, and mixed media), digital photography, installation, performance, social practice, and video. A few select classes in comics, experimental animation, and sound art are also taught.
We do not specialize in commercial art fields such as character animation, illustration, graphic design, logo design, fashion, or UX design. Students seeking these specific disciplines are encouraged to find an alternate program.
Art Practice majors are expected to round out the required studio courses with Art History and theory classes. Each semester the Honors Studio Program awards studios to nine senior Art Practice majors who show exceptional commitment and promise.
The Art Practice Department seeks to graduate students who demonstrate an original vision in their approach to practice, form, and content and who have the potential for significant artistic and cultural impact. Successful Art Practice graduates understand the professional art world and are articulate about their work. They are deeply engaged with their art forms, rigorously committed to their craft, and interdisciplinary in their media, methods, and creative research. Students graduating with a major in Art Practice go on to pursue careers in a host of creative fields, including as professional artists, art directors, arts educators, and arts-related jobs with museums, galleries, arts management, creative firms, publishing, and artists’ organizations.
The Art Practice Department is a high demand major which means that not all students who apply to the major will be accepted. Applications are competitive and include a portfolio review. Applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible as long as they have completed the prerequisites. The last chance to apply is the beginning of your first semester of junior year.
Please remember that the Art Practice Department is a fine arts program and we do not focus on character animation, design, illustration, fashion, and other commercial art fields.
Beginning with the first-year student entering class of Fall 2023, there are two pathways to declare a high demand major:
While we do our best to accept all qualified students, there is no guarantee that any one particular student will be admitted into the major. Discoverer students may apply to the Art Practice major once and all admissions decisions are final. When completing the prerequisites required for the Art Practice major, students should take the necessary steps to prepare for an alternative major in order to ensure a timely graduation.
Intended double majors: Prioritize the Art Practice major FIRST, as the required courses are difficult to get into and you should focus on Art Practice if you want it as one of your majors. For more information on double majoring, consult the L&S page.
For first year students admitted Fall 2023 or later who applied to Berkeley with Art Practice as an Intended Major: you will need to meet the following criteria and deadlines. Do not declare another major prior to declaring Art Practice as this will remove “Applied HD Art Practice” from your CalCentral.
Submit the Major Declaration Form provided by the Student Services Advisor by the start of the first semester of your junior year. You do not need to submit a portfolio review or formal application.
For students applying through the Discoverer Path: students admitted into UC Berkeley in Fall 2023 and onward who did not select Art Practice as a major when applying to UC Berkeley, you will need to meet the following criteria and deadlines.
For Junior Transfer Students, there are two pathways:
Art 185 Senior Projects installation at the Worth Ryder Gallery, featuring a Final project by Julia Scheinman (BA’19)
The UC Berkeley Department of Art Practice offers an undergraduate program in studio art which provides a firm grounding in basic techniques and principles while encouraging guided experimentation. All the courses we offer in a given semester are listed at guide.berkeley.edu
By the completion of their degree, students will have acquired:
Studio classes with frequent group critiques are designed to foster a supportive community, productive debate, and collaborative thinking. Students are encouraged to be both open-minded and tough-minded: to look closely, think critically, and challenge assumptions. Field trips to area museums, galleries, and artists’ studios provide an important on-site learning tool, one which emphasizes the pedagogical primacy of direct contact with works of art.
While the undergraduate major is made up largely of Art Practice studio courses, it also requires at least three courses in Art History. Our students are required to be broadly familiar with the aesthetic strategies that artists have devised to understand and invent their worlds.
Most upper-division studio courses involve an exhibition component where students are asked to consider questions of audience, context, site, and time. Several gallery spaces, among them the Worth Ryder Art Gallery (located in the Anthropology + Art Practice Building) and Platform Art Space (Bauer Wurster Hall) provide students with exhibition venues.
In order to complete the Art Practice Major students must complete a total of 12 courses. Please see the approved course listings in the checklist: “How to Complete the Art Practice Major”
Art Practice majors interested in Study Abroad courses to be counted toward the major should:
Transfer students from community colleges form a core part of the BA program.
Transfer students form a core part of our BA program. We welcome approximately 30 transfer students per year from community colleges and junior colleges. Graduation requirements for transfer students are the same as for all other students.
Up to four fine art lower division studio courses are transferrable and can be counted towards the BA degree. Please note that we are not able to transfer courses in the areas of design, illustration, fashion, and other commercial fields. The Student Services Advisor helps transfer students get credit for their junior college coursework. Transfer students typically complete their BA degrees in four semesters. Being a major is required to enroll in upper division courses.
UC Berkeley welcomes and supports military veterans. CalVeterans is a support organization that helps veterans access their benefits as they pursue higher education. It is staffed by Cal Alumni veterans who can guide applicants through the process of completing their degree at Cal.