Entrance Requirements

Summer Intensive (SI) - No prior photographic experience is necessary for enrollment. You must be a high school graduate (or have GED equivalency) to attend SI. Because digital image management and editing is an important component of the Summer Intensive curriculum, intermediate computer navigation skills are required. To find out more about specific requirements please contact our office. A laptop computer is required for this session along with a digital SLR camera and accessories.

Professional Studies - Professional Studies courses are taught on an advanced level and will not cover basic photographic techniques. For this reason, applicants must be able to confidently operate their cameras in manual mode. Students must be competent in the areas of digital capture, image processing and management, and working with artificial lighting.

Past and 2013 SI graduates are accepted into any Professional Studies course upon submission of a registration form. RMSP reserves the right in specific instances to evaluate a student's proficiency in the foundation skills taught in Summer Intensive before advancing a student to continue on to the Professional Studies and Advanced Intensive. If a Summer Intensive student is not approved for advancement into Professional Studies or Advanced Intensive, tuition paid for in those sessions will be refunded. For all other Professional Studies registrants a portfolio must be submitted as well as a brief description of photographic experience, goals, and previous education. The portfolio should consist of 10 to 20 images—2 versions: RAW and processed digital files sent on a CD or via email—that represent your best work. The portfolio content does not need to include subjects related to the course for which you are applying, but must demonstrate an understanding of the elements of visual design as well as effective use of available and artificial light, depending on the class you are applying for. The portfolio must also demonstrate an intention in the sequencing of the images. Please send a self-addressed envelope with return postage affixed so that your images can be returned to you if you so desire. Your submitted portfolio will be reviewed and you will be notified within two weeks if your work meets our criteria for enrollment. We evaluate portfolios to ensure that enrolled students have a firm grasp on the technical and aesthetic fundamentals of photography. Because these courses are intensive and do not cover basic principles of photography, a student who cannot demonstrate an intermediate level of knowledge will not fully benefit from the course material.

Advanced Intensive (AI) - AI requires that a student have a solid understanding of the building blocks of photography, including digital capture, image processing, management and output, and artificial lighting. We require that students have a working knowledge of the most current versions of Adobe^® Lightroom^® and Adobe^® Photoshop^® software. For more information about specific requirements, please contact our office. Past and 2013 SI graduates are accepted into Advanced Intensive upon submission of a registration form. RMSP reserves the right in specific instances to evaluate a student's proficiency in the foundation skills taught in Summer Intensive before advancing a student to continue on to the Professional Studies and Advanced Intensive sessions. If a Summer Intensive student is not approved for advancement into Professional Studies or Advanced Intensive, tuition paid in those sessions will be refunded. For all other Advanced Intensive registrants a portfolio must be submitted as well as a brief description of photographic experience (including any experience working with studio lighting), goals and previous photographic education. Please see information above under "Professional Studies" for portfolio requirements and submission guidelines. Finally, you must be a high school graduate (or have GED equivalency).

Registration Procedure

To register for a Career Training course (Summer Intensive, Professional Studies, Advanced Intensive), please follow Steps 1 – 4 below. If you would like more information before you register, please call our office and request a Career Training Information/Registration Packet, which includes the documents detailed in Step 2. We accept enrollment into our Career Training program up to the start of the course (if space is available). However, due to limited space, we suggest you register early. In the event that a course is full, you will be notified and your name will be placed on a waiting list.

Step 1: A registration form can be downloaded at www.rmsp.com. If you are registering for more than one Career Training course, only one $50 registration fee is due. In addition to the fee, please include a brief (200–500 words) statement telling us why you wish to attend the course(s) and your goals in photography (if registering for more than one course, please submit only one statement).

Step 2: Upon receipt of your registration form, we will tentatively hold your spot in the sessions that are available. We will notify you via email confirming your registration within two weeks of our receipt of your registration form. Make sure that we have your current email address, as this is the primary method of communication to our students. Along with this letter we will send you the following:

1. An enrollment agreement
2. Information about associated costs for the summer and fall, including equipment/housing/living expenses
3. A list of graduates who are willing to speak with you about SI and/or AI
4. Frequently asked questions and answers
5. A statement of our educational philosophy
6. Information about student loans through SLM Financial, a Sallie Mae company (available after January 1)
7. A Student Handbook

Step 3: To complete the enrollment process, you must read the Student Handbook enclosed in the packet and sign and return the enrollment agreement along with tuition deposits for every course for which you are registering, within two weeks of your receipt of your confirmation letter. Students approved for a loan through SLM Financial are also required to pay tuition deposits up front. However, we recommend that you finalize your loan application prior to sending us your tuition deposit. A detailed equipment list, housing and lodging information will be made available to you once we have received your enrollment agreement and all tuition deposits. For students who are enrolling in a Professional Studies course and/or Advanced Intensive only, a portfolio of images must be submitted at this time as well. For further information on this portfolio requirement, see Entrance Requirements: Professional Studies and Advanced Intensive.

Step 4: For Summer Intensive, your enrollment is confirmed and the registration process is complete upon our receipt of your enrollment agreement and tuition deposit(s). For Professional Studies courses and/or Advanced Intensive only, your registration is complete upon acceptance into the course(s) and our receipt of your enrollment agreement and tuition deposit(s). For information on deadlines for tuition balances please see "Tuition and Deposits." For those students approved for a Career Training loan through SLM Financial, SLM Financial will make tuition payments to RMSP according to the disbursement schedule as detailed on student loan documents.