Admission procedure 2025-2026 for Dutch candidates
The admission procedure for the bachelor's programme of the Gerrit Rietveld Academie consists of two rounds:
First admission round:
- for Basicyear & DOGtime candidates: assessment of your work during online consultation interview (book your appointment a.s.a.p.);
- for full-time 2nd/3rd year candidates: assessment of your work after submitting your portfolio online (before the deadline!);
Second admission round:
- For all candidates: the entrance examination.
For all information regarding these admission rounds, dates, deadlines, etc., scroll down in the text below.
Application through Studielink
Application for our bachelor programme 2025-2026 is open from 4 November 2024. All candidates for our bachelor programme have to apply through Studielink first. To start your application, first go to the Studielink website: www.studielink.nl to read their guidelines to register. NOTE: once you've submitted a registration request for our program, you can still decide to withdraw or change it and start an application for other academies too. So participation in our admission procedure does not obligate you to study with us.
Once you are registered in Studielink, you have to submit a registration request for our bachelor programme in Studielink, with the blue button 'Add new course'. In the search filter Educational Institution, put 'Gerrit Rietveld Academie' to find our 2 courses at HBO Bachelor level (so do not search with 'basicyear' or the name of a specific department).
If you use the search filter 'Gerrit Rietveld Academie' in the Educational Institution search field, you can generate the two HBO Bachelor level choices below:
- Fine Arts and Design fulltime, or;
- Fine Arts and Design parttime (= DOGtime).
Select your choice for fulltime or parttime, and then you have to select the next choice:
- first year;
- advanced year (which you select if you want to apply for the 2nd/3rd year, directly into one of our departments).
NOTE: In Studielink, you cannot select a specific department! So you only choose for our bachelor fulltime or parttime, and for first year or advanced year. After completing the registration request in Studielink, on our closed application page, you indicate your specific department choice.
Once you've submitted your registration request in Studielink, you will receive automatic e-mails with info about the next steps in your application process.
Questions? Contact: apply[at]rietveldacademie.nl
First admission round: consultation interviews
Our regular online consultations for application 2025-2026 started in November 2024 and run till mid-February 2025.
OUR ADVICE: don't wait too long and book your appointment before the X-mas break, so you have more time to prepare for the entrance exam and don't run the risk that all consultations are fully booked, and that you are too late to participate in our admission procedure.
Appointments can be booked by all Dutch applicants for the 1st bachelor Basicyear or for DOGtime (part-time 1st year or higher year) once Studielink is open for application, and maximally 3 weeks in advance only.
NOTE: you have to register for our bachelor programme through Studielink first. Once you have registered through Studielink, you will receive an automatic e-mail with the link to the appointment form. If no dates appear when selecting a week on the appointment form, it means all slots are fully booked in that week and you have to wait for a new week to be released on the form. New dates are usually released weekly on Fridays, around 10.00 AM.
Which candidates should book a consultation appointment?
All Dutch candidates for the 1st bachelor Basicyear full-time, or DOGtime (part-time, 1st year or higher year) have to book an online consultation appointment.
NOTE: Dutch candidates who want to apply for the 2nd/3rd year full-time, have to submit a portfolio in our online portfolio machine for the first admission round (so no consultation appointment). Scroll down below, to First admission round: submitting your portfolio for info.
Book your consultation appointment
You can only book your consultation appointment after you submitted your registration request through Studielink. Don't wait too long, because consultation slots fill quickly, especially after the X-mas break.
Appointments can be booked maximally 3 weeks in advance only, and on the basis of availability.
What can you expect from the online consultation interview?
The online interview is conducted through Microsoft Teams with the aim to assess your possible suitability for our academy, which you will discuss with a teacher. During the interview you will share a pdf in Teams giving an overview of your work of the past years and you can show as much of your phsycial work as possible on camera (make sure you collected your work in the room with you before the interview).
If your work receives a positive assessment, you pass on to the second admission round; the entrance examination. To be scheduled for the entrance exam, you have to provide the required information and documentation in your Osiris application first.
ADVICE: we strongly advise you to study our complete website and at least take note of our academy philosophy (which can be found at menu option About) before participating in our first admission round.
To maximize your chances, we advise you not to wait too long, and book your consultation appointment before the Christmas break. The consultation teacher can give recommendations on how to prepare for the entrance examination (second round of the selection procedure). If you participate early, you have more time to prepare for the examination.
NOTE: 2nd/3rd year full-time candidates have to submit a portfolio application for the 1st round, instead of the consultation appointment (scroll down for info below).
Selection of works for the first admission round
In your pdf document for the 1st admission round, show a wide variety of visual work, taking into account:
- to make your selection as diverse as possible, with a main focus on work of the past three years.
- to not only show final results, but also include initial sketches, ideas and plans to provide some insight into your work (process).
- to show plenty of work, at least 20-30 pieces (but possibly more!). These can be drawings, sketches, design sketches, sketch books, paintings, photographs, collages, graphics, textiles, garments, ceramics, items of jewellery, floor plans, models and, if applicable, texts , etc..
- when applying for the first bachelor (basic)year, make sure the work you show is not too one-sided, so if you have an interest in photography or graphic design, do not only show photos or graphic work, but also work in other media.
- do not only show assignment-based work but also include your 'free work,' based on your personal ideas, created at your own initiative.
- to keep the document size of your pdf as small as possible, maximally 30-40 MB (reduce the resolution of your photos/images, if necessary).
First admission round: submitting your portfolio
Dutch candidates applying for the 2nd or 3rd year full-time, have to submit their portfolio in our online portfolio machine, for assessment by the department you applied for. First, you have to register through Studielink and then you will receive automatic e-mails with information about the next steps and how to submit your portfolio application for assessment.
Deadline to submit your portfolio for 2nd/3rd year
PORTFOLIOMACHINE is available around mid-January.
DEADLINE to submit your portfolio application = 1 March 2025.
We do urge you to submit your portfolio well before the deadline! Definitely do not wait until last-minute, to avoid missing the deadline due to unexpected technical problems.
Second admission round: the entrance examination (for all candidates)
After a positive assessment of your portfolio in the first admission round, you pass on to the second admission round; the entrance examination. Once you provided all the required information and documentation through the Osiris application page, your participation in the second round is guaranteed and your entrance exam will be scheduled.
Dates entrance exams
The entrance exams will be scheduled in:
- the week of 17-21 March 2025 (extra round 14-17 April 2025) - for candidates full-time Basicyear;
- the week of 14-17 April 2024 (15 or 17 April) - for candidates DOGtime (extra round 20 or 21 May 2025);
- the week of 19-23 May 2025 - for 2nd/3rd full-time programme year candidates. NOTE: the exact date varies per department.
NOTE: approximately 2 weeks before the exam week, registered candidates who passed the first round successfully will receive all relevant information by email. Candidates for the first bachelor course year will then also receive the home assignments.
Information about entrance exam
All candidates are obliged to attend their entrance exam in person at our academy in Amsterdam (on 1 morning or afternoon in the exam week). Bring an elaborate and diverse selection of your art/design work of the past 3 years, including the home assignments, to the entrance exam.
With your input during the entrance exam, the admissions committee hopes to gather enough information about your visual abilities, your work and the various media you have worked with, your work process and outcome of the home assignments (if applicable), your motivation, background, sources of inspiration, expectations of the study programme, and the quality of your English communication, so we can get an idea of your possible suitability for our programme.
The entrance exam consists of an admission interview with an admissions committee (two interviews for Basicyear candidates). The interviews takes approximately 20 minutes.
One month after the exam week, the exam results will communicated by e-mail.
Application for entrance into 2nd or 3rd bachelor year
In principle, all candidates who have studied at an art academy at bachelor level, and have completed the 1st bachelor year of studies successfully (before their possible studies here), can apply for entrance into the 2nd (or in exceptional cases the 3rd) year (instead of the 1st bachelor Basicyear). NOTE: in our bachelor program the 2nd year is the first department/specialization year of the 4 year full-time BA course.
After successful participation in the entrance exam, you do have to complete your 1st bachelor year of art/design studies and submit proof of this in your application in Osiris, before the start of your possible studies here.