International Students

Upon arriving at PAFA, international students are required to take an internal ESL assessment. Based on the results, they may be required to meet with an ESL tutor at the school and/or take advantage of PAFA's writing tutors.

Certificate and BFA Students

Students who plan to pursue PAFA’s BFA must score highly on the assessment.

Students who do not are required to pursue the Certificate program, and are strongly encouraged to follow the suggestions below in order to improve their academic English skills. These students may retake the assessment at the end of each semester to see if their score has reached the required level for acceptance into the BFA program.

Certificate students who plan to remain in the Certificate program and who achieve a lower score are also strongly encouraged to follow the suggestions below. A low level of academic English presents a serious possibility of failing courses and therefore being denied a degree.

MFA and Post-Bac Students

MFA and Post-Bac students who do not score highly are strongly encouraged to follow the suggestions below. A low level of academic English presents a serious possibility of failing courses and therefore being denied a degree.

Recommendations

A student who receives a very low score is strongly recommended to do at least one of the following:

• Take 1 semester of college level ESL classes

• Take 1 semester of private ESL instruction

In addition, the student should

• Meet with PAFA’s ESL tutor once a week

A student who receives a higher score is encouraged to:

• Meet with the ESL and /or writing tutor once a week.

Tutors are available for 45-minute appointments several days per week. They will read over a draft of a paper, discuss an organizational outline for an assignment, or even help you interpret an assignment and begin brainstorming. English as a Second Langauge (ESL) Tutors work with students to improve their grammar and writing skills, as well as speaking and listening skills needed to be engaged in critiques and art classes. Weekly tutoring sign-up sheets are in Student Services on the 3rd floor of the Hamilton Building. Tutor meetings will take place in the Tutoring Conference Rooms on the 5th floor of the Hamilton Building.