Your MiDAS Portfolio in its totality will consist of the following:

• Five short-answer applicant rationale questions
• Unofficial transcript
• Resume/CV
• One-Way Video Interview
• Skill Ratings
• Original Work (Programming/Digital Arts)

In essence, your Portfolio submission demonstrates your creativity and the current state of your foundational skills to the Faculty Admissions Committee.

A crucial part of your MiDAS Portfolio involves a body of original creative or technical work authored, documented, and presented in a digital format. The submitted portfolio should contain examples of the best original work you have done prior to seeking admittance to the MiDAS program. This could be work completed as part of your previous education, or original work completed outside of the classroom, demonstrating passion, talent, and skill in one or more areas of the digital arts and sciences.

Your representative collection of original work should be comprised of exactly 10 examples from the areas of digital arts or programming (examples below).  While most applicants may not have equal proficiencies in each of these discipline areas, it is highly recommended that students submit examples from both.

Programming

Each programming example should be submitted in the form of a PDF file and should include:

• Your name
• Computer code (copied and pasted into the pdf document)
• Explanation/description of each code sample (indicating intent, scope, input, output, etc.)
• Date when the code was written
• Representative screenshots or illustrations of the running program

If you do not yet have programming examples, complete one or more Lynda.com tutorials below. These tutorials will provide you with the necessary knowledge to succeed in our program. You’re welcome to include assignments from these tutorials into your portfolio submission as long as you follow the instructions above.

• Programming Foundations: Fundamentals
• Beginner Scripting
• Design, Develop, and Deploy for VR
• Fun with C++

NOTE: Video Game and Website programming examples may be included in this category. 

Digital Arts

Your portfolio should include examples of digital artwork that showcase your artistic talents. Each digital arts example should include a brief explanation/description. Please review the examples listed below.

• Digital illustrations/paintings (e.g. utilizing Photoshop, Illustrator, Painter, etc.)
• Animations (e.g. utilizing Maya, Flash, Toon Boom, After Effects)
• Digital photography (e.g. utilizing Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator)
• Graphic design (e.g. utilizing Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator)
• Videography (e.g. utilizing Premiere, Final Cut)
• Sound design/composition (e.g. utilizing Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Audacity)
• Video games (e.g. utilizing GameSalad, Game Maker, Unity, Unreal)
• Modeling and Textures (e.g. utilizing Maya)
• Character Design (e.g. utilizing Photoshop, Maya)

NOTE: Do not submit “project files” (for example a Photoshop .psd file). Submit the executable or high-resolution output file instead (for example a .jpg or a .png made from a Photoshop project, or a .mov or .mp4 file made from the Premiere or Final Cut project files).