Hi Everybody,

I'm planning to apply to the M.Arch programs at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UC Berkeley, SCI-Arc and probably one more school for the Fall 2012 term and would appreciate a little direction and feedback to help me along with the process.

I suppose you could say that my situation is a little unique in that I initially started my undergrad career at UC Berkeley as an architecture major, decided to pursue concurrent degrees in architecture and anthropology/archaeology, but ultimately graduated with a single degree in anthropology (GPA: 3.67). - So technically, I am applying as a non-architecture B.A. holder to the schools.

Basically, at this point, I'd like to get your feedback on a few questions I had regarding letters of recommendation and portfolio content/emphasis.

First, I wanted to your opinions on wheter or not you think I'll have sufficiently supportive letter of recs and if you think I'll need to ask other prople.

- The most important letter will be coming from my architecture instructor from Berkeley with whom I actually interned with in the summer of 2007. I'm in very close contact with him and he says he'll write a stellat letter of rec for me.

- The second person is my archaeology professor - I excavated with her in Japan and worked with her in her archaeology lab at Berkeley.

- The last one is a hard one. I was thinking of asking my scholarship counselor. Long story short, I come from a background of hardship/ strife and I was thinking she could attest to my character and dedication.


Second, I like to get you opinions on what exactly I should put in my portfolio and what I should emphasize.

- I actually switched majors/ dropped the concurrent arch. degree late in the game, so I have a good amount of experience in architecture and certainly have a few projects that I could showcase. My question is: How much should I emphasize architectural works? I was planning on featuring it heavily and even developing more projects, but I'm wondering if it might damage my chances of getting into the M.arch programs. Whichever direction, I just want to create the best possible portfolio.

I just visited SCI-Arc and reviewed their sample M.Arch I portfolios and felt that I had a good chance of getting in with what I have and what I plan to do.

I'd love to hear your opinions and feedback. If you would like to see some of my work, I'd be happy to post a few examples if you think that would help.

Thanks, - Sean
(Sorry for the horrendously long post)