Application Requirements

There are two required steps to successfully complete your first year application for admission:

1. Complete the Common App - with the NYU Supplement - and submit to NYU Undergraduate Admissions. *The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music Admissions Committee does not review the Common App.

2. Prepare a creative portfolio and submit via Slideroom (you will be charged a $10 fee to use this service, payable with credit or debit card). *This is reviewed by the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music Admissions Committee.

IMPORTANT: Please note the Common App and the Slideroom Creative Portfolio both need to be submitted by the specified ED I, ED II, or Regular Decision deadline.

If you do not submit your Slideroom Creative Portfolio by the specified deadline for your applicant pool, we will not accept any late Slideroom applications.

If you are currently an NYU student NOT enrolled at the Tisch School of the Arts, you should complete these two required steps to successfully submit your external transfer application for admission:

1. Complete the NYU Internal Transfer Application

2. Prepare a creative portfolio and submit via Slideroom (you will be charged a $10 fee to use this service, payable with credit or debit card).

Note: Internal Transfer applicants DO NOT need to submit a Common App. Transfer students are required to maintain a minimum of five full-time semesters per the Tisch School of the Arts’ residency requirement. For more information about transfer student eligibility and requirements, refer to our Transfer Policies.

IMPORTANT: Please note the Internal Transfer App and the Slideroom Creative Portfolio both need to be submitted by the specified Internal Transfer deadline.

If you do not submit your Slideroom Creative Portfolio by the specified deadline for your applicant pool, we will not accept any late Slideroom applications.

If you are currently an NYU student enrolled at Tisch School of the Arts, you should complete these two required steps to successfully complete your change of major application for admission:

1. Complete the Tisch Change of Major Form.

2. Prepare a creative portfolio and submit via Slideroom (you will be charged a $10 fee to use this service, payable with credit or debit card).

Note: Internal Transfer applicants DO NOT need to submit a Common App. Transfer students are required to maintain a minimum of five full-time semesters per the Tisch School of the Arts’ residency requirement. For more information about transfer student eligibility and requirements, refer to our Transfer Policies.

IMPORTANT: Please note the Change of Major form and the Slideroom Creative Portfolio both need to be submitted by the specified Internal Transfer deadline.

If you do not submit your Slideroom Creative Portfolio by the specified deadline for your applicant pool, we will not accept any late Slideroom applications.

If you are currently a college student enrolled at another institution, you should complete these two required steps to successfully submit your external transfer application for admission:

1. Complete the Transfer Student Common App
2. Prepare a creative portfolio and submit via Slideroom (you will be charged a $10 fee to use this service, payable with credit or debit card).

Note: Transfer students are required to maintain a minimum of five full-time semesters per the Tisch School of the Arts’ residency requirement. For more information about transfer student eligibility and requirements, refer to our Transfer Policies.

IMPORTANT: Please note the Common App and the Slideroom Creative Portfolio both need to be submitted by the specified External Transfer deadline.

If you do not submit your Slideroom Creative Portfolio by the specified deadline for your applicant pool, we will not accept any late Slideroom applications.

Please tell us in a two-page essay, why you believe you are a good fit for the Clive Davis Institute, a holistic program where every student is required to study a core curriculum that includes production, business and technology, music history and writing, musicianship and songwriting, and aspects of performance.

Your essay should demonstrate that you have researched the Institute’s curriculum and understand the department’s aim to produce well-rounded graduates who will help define the future of the music industry. Help us to understand you as a person, a scholar, a creative, an entrepreneur, and an aspiring professional. You may include relevant background information and experiences, personal traits that you believe will help you succeed at NYU and at the Clive  Davis Institute. You may include any past experiences (in and outside of music)  that have informed your growth as a student and aspiring professional. These experiences may include work you have done in your school or in your community. You may also include ideas about how you hope to contribute to the community and the culture of the Clive Davis Institute. Finally, please include a few words about areas of study you are interested in at the Institute that fall outside your current focus or strengths. 

2 pages, 12pt font, double-spaced, .pdf format

Assemble and present a 5-minute sample of your best creative work.

This could include any work you have done that demonstrates your interest and experience in music (music, business, journalism, social entrepreneurship, etc.). Please note that this creative sample helps us to determine if you are a fit for the creative and curricular aims of the Institute and NYU. Your sample should not exceed 5 minutes. Your presentation should provide insight into who you are, what you do, what interests you, and what makes you unique as an applicant to CDI. You have  5-minutes of our attention, so use this time carefully. We are looking for a sense of personal consistency and cohesion within the samples. Your submission may consist of one unified sample of your work, or multiple works that add up to a maximum of 5-minutes. Your creative sample could include (but is not limited to) audio, video, articles you’ve written or published, a business plan you’ve developed, designs for a home studio, flyers or promotional materials you’ve designed, evidence of live event production, evidence of experience with new media or entrepreneurship in the virtual space, films you’ve scored, clothing you have designed, etc. For video presentations, you may speak to the camera, narrate, and/or use screen text to provide context, or convey facts and details related to the work you are presenting. It’s a creative sample, so be creative!

5 minutes maximum length

Some Helpful Tips For Applicants:

Your creative sample should align with the skills you’ve described in your application. For example, if you are an aspiring songwriter, your sample should highlight your songwriting rather than being a series of clips of you performing other people’s songs. If you are an aspiring music executive, performance is less important than giving us a glimpse into shows you’ve promoted, bands you’ve managed, events you have organized, etc.

You must be the primary contributor to, or creator of the work you present. Collaborative work is permitted, but your creative sample must show clear evidence of your contributions. For performers, if you’re applying with heavily produced songs that feature your voice, we'd also appreciate hearing your voice without heavy production elements. This may be as simple as you sitting in front of your computer camera and performing for 30-90 seconds. 

Aim to balance breadth and depth. How much of your work should you include in your creative sample? Attempt to strike a balance. Use your best judgment in selecting works and decide how much of each to showcase in order to give us the best and clearest overview of your talents. For example; if you submit multiple songs, performances, etc., make the samples long enough for us  to assess their quality, while doing your best to keep your presentation focused and coherent. If you submit a unified sample, please ensure that it demonstrates the breadth of your abilities/skills.

Show your entrepreneurial potential. Are you a self-starter?  Have you pursued opportunities to bring your talent, and voice to the outside world? If you are a performer, for example, where have you performed? If you are a producer or songwriter, have you done anything with those songs once completed? Did you start a school newspaper, community organization, etc.

Are you skilled in areas of technology and/or digital media? You may include details and insight regarding your experience, expertise, and relationship to technology. 

Avoid common cliches in your creative sample, such as footage of your music or dance recital when you were a child or performing as a toddler; general declarations about music being a crucial part of your life — we already know that. Focus instead on showing us what is unique  about you, and who you are in the present. 

Do not use previous student samples you may find on social media as a definitive guideline, as our requirements change from year to year.

In one page or less, tell us specifically how you created and/or contributed to the work or works included in your creative sample.

For each individual piece, identify the full extent of your creative involvement, and, if applicable, all credits due to other contributors. You must provide, as applicable and when possible, the name of the composition, composer(s), producer(s), engineer(s), mixer(s), arranger(s), programmer(s), location of recording, and date of recording. 

1 page, 12pt font, double-spaced, .pdf format

Talk to us for two minutes about your interests outside of music that help us better understand who you are as a person, creatively and intellectually.

You might share how these interests inform your process within music (and its industry). We aren’t simply interested in what you “like to do,” but more so to gain an understanding of the diversity of your interests and activities, and how they inform who you are as a person and potential student. It is important to us that our students come here not just to “do music,” but to gain a larger training and critical understanding of a range of topics and approaches that might inform their approach to being a music industry professional. Using a computer webcam or mobile camera to record yourself, share a bit of those interests, and why The Clive Davis Institute at the Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, may be a place for you to further explore those interests, if applicable.

2 minutes maximum length

At the Clive Davis Institute, in addition to coursework focused on professional training and your development as a creative entrepreneur, you will be spending three to four years as a scholar taking a wide range of challenging liberal arts classes. Please understand that large amounts of reading and writing, commensurate with university level study, are assigned and required each semester. Writing is an integral part of our curriculum. To graduate from the program, you must succeed intellectually as well as creatively. 

With that in mind, write a two-page essay describing a personal experience where you faced a significant challenge, or challenges. Did you overcome these challenges? If so, describe how. Are you still working through these challenges? If so, describe your approach and process. What lessons have you learned facing these challenges, and how have these lessons impacted your personal growth?

2 pages, 12pt font, double-spaced, .pdf format

Create a list of ten songs that illustrate who you are as a creative person and a music fan.

Paste a link to a customized playlist via any suitable streaming service (i.e. Spotify, Tidal, YouTube, etc.) of your choosing. Include a paragraph about why you picked the material you did.

1 paragraph, 12pt font, double-spaced, .pdf format + 1 accessible link

Identify your previous/current artistic, entrepreneurial, and work experience.

This may include promotional activities, jobs and internships, businesses that you have started, magazines or newspapers that you have written for, volunteer work experience, extra-curricular activities, projects, and school leadership positions, creative leadership in activism or organizing, musical skills, church choir, school chorus, band involvement, and amateur or professional performances. It may also include formal training on an instrument, voice training, technology (such as MIDI), or technical skills in music performance and recording, such as arranging and composition, DJ-ing, and producing. Please include instructors, courses taken, and the duration of study or engagement.

1 page, 12pt font, .pdf format