i'll be curious how your other applications go, reverie.

your work shows that you're pretty accomplished. depending on what yale actually received (hard copy? slideshow like this? other?) it may have had an effect on their reaction. i don't know that the work itself or your abilities will have been the issue so much as the high level of competition for slots, attention they may give to class makeup, their read on how receptive/open you may be to the yale curriculum and culture, etc.

it also may be that they are looking for a level of rigor and discipline about your individual design direction. while all of your work looks good, it's also very varied - a big range of stuff - not suggesting a particular design personality or direction or intentionality. while in the profession i would usually say this can be good, maybe not so much what they're looking for?

as i said though, the medium may have been the issue. did you have them look at a slideshow? did you send a print copy, and was is printed in a high-quality way?

who knows how these decisions get made.

I think it definitely was because of the portfolio.
Some quick thoughts:
Everything in your portfolio needs to support the description of your projects' ideas, its parti. Your presentation sometimes isn't clear, in terms of text, conveying the concepts, etc. One problem especially is that you have a lot of extraneous repeated images that don't say anything. There are whole pages/projects which you should get rid of. And for most of the projects, you never say (let alone attempt to diagram) what they mean conceptually. You do at least include some conceptual sketches of the beginnings of some of your projects, but they aren't explained well enough. The impression that I get from all the technical drawings and generic renderings, with no accompanying descriptions of what the projects mean, is that the applicant appears to be (according to the portfolio) a technician with no imagination. Top architecture schools, on the other hand, are looking for potential (imaginative/artistic/conceptual) more so than current skills. You need to get rid of at least 80% of your current portfolio and substantially rework everything else.
With that said, I think that you might be able to get into a less selective technically-oriented school, but it doesn't have a chance at any Ivy.

@ Steven, I sent both hardcopy & CD (softcopy) , but believe hardcopy looks much better. I agree that the work is varied & doesn't show a particular direction/interest/style... but thats the kind of work I got to do at the office I worked in for last 7 years.
I would have to do some hypothetical projects /competitions to make it better I guess.
thanks for your time.

@nonneutral thanks .... all what you mentioned seems correct. I should have taken the suggestions earlier. :(

Have to work on the portfolio again.

Deep breaths. Your portfolio looks very good, and you appear to know how to write coherently. So you didn't get into Yale. Only assmunchers go there :) Be prepared for much better results from your other applications.

obviously you have strong technical skills, but you're showing way too much work and I have a hard time trying to understand your point of view as a designer.

I think the skill that takes precedence in portfolio design is the ability to edit - and I know several people with really marginal drawing/technical skills get into good architecture schools just because they were really good at editing and communicating design intent.

You have too much going on (100 pages is a really long portfolio), and it makes it seem like you lack rigor (as steven said). also - a rule of thumb is to show only a few projects - you need to figure out what your best projects are - the ones that you can spend several pages describing. They want to figure out how you approach and think about design problems - and they want to know that you're looking critically at your own design process.

a few strong drawings can communicate that you know how to draw and detail - you don't need to beat people over the head with it. it's a bit relentless

You don't design like the old fart running the place.

First, how/why schools accept/decline is anyone's guess, not to mention something that can change



My first thoughts:

1 - Why are all the photos greenish/reddish and seemingly low quality? It was very distracting to me

2 - Why all the construction drawings? I understand one or two, or a few if they are really important, but an clean elevation/section (think "presentation") would look much nicer and be more legible

3 - Don't most U's still have a limit of a dozen pages or so? I would think you need about 4 projects for your portfolio
Some very interesting work, but it kinda blurs together (the foggy images don't help with that)

4 - Again, too many construction drawings. Take a look at a Hadid or Morphosis monologue - TONS of drawings, but they are "finished" presentation drawings, not drawings for construction. To me, it says "I didn't have time to make them presentation drawings".

5 - Clarity. Better to have 5 images per project and 4 projects that are very clear, understood in seconds, than a book.


Some great work, some great sketches, but the very good gets lost with the many.


But again, don't fret. That's one school and God only knows what/why.


Good luck, I wouldn't really worry.

Agree with trace about the photo quality. What happened there? It looks like thy were all run through some neon filter.

Otherwise I really dig the folio, even at this length.

I agree with the comments about it being too long. (At least for Yale in particular)

At the Yale open house they emphasized that they prefer portfolios that have been highly edited to show the work that expresses your design ideology. Editing it down to 1/3 the size with the most important images to convey your design is more effective than sending them all the work you have done.

That said I don't think I rejection from Yale equates to a rejection from all the schools that you applied to. Wait a little bit longer before getting down on yourself.

@ toasteroven ,Trace & laurem...Its just wonderful the way you all have responded...
I will surely keep in mind all those things n work on it. I agree that i should reduce the length & work more towards the quality. I just didn't work on the presentation much... not even in putting down the idea behind the design, the process by which i arrived at it. Yes , it looks like its a whole lot of drafting work :(
While at work many times the conceptual stage happen only in your mind & never come to the paper... because the client may not really want to know or we don't document it the way we should. But I know that cant be an excuse. More effort would have been better.

@ rustystuds ,Laurem, .... the color... yes, there is something wrong with it. Its all blue ,green. The one I sent was not like this... let me check.
And thanks for building hope.

These comments are quite valuable, and have definitely made me stronger to face whatever may come coz now i know the shortcomings of my presentation.

@ reverie

food for thought as you work to distill your portfolio...

www.gridness.net
a website with great examples of grid-based graphic representation

http://www.vignelli.com/news.html
from the le corbusier of graphic design

i believe that your work was strong enough for admission to yale, it was simply the manner in which it was presented that got you rejected. like the others said, four to five projects with clean presentation drawings and a more conceptually rigorous strategy for presenting your work--this would have done wonders for your work. namely, a more judicious use of color and blank space... room to breathe.

as it stands, i think you'll get in to a good number of the schools you listed. Maybe not Yale, or GSD, but 'only assmunchers go there' after all.

i don't think you need to throw together any new hypothetical/theoretical projects, just focus on cleaning up what you have. and--i've got to say this--what's with the typeface??? stick to helvetica, helvetica neue, eurostile, sans serif classics. helvetica neue is my personal favorite, you can pull this font family from most any torrent search engine.

Keep your head up.

I can certainly relate- my first and only notice thus far has been a rejection. It stings a bit given the weekend condition, but it is far too early in the game to be getting worried.

Content wise the portfolio is very good.

But presentation wise...not so much. Most of the time, I'm not sure what/why I am looking at what I am presented with...too busy with little to no hierarchy.

As mentioned by others...image quality is not crash not.

Fix those and you'll be away..

No - it's the fact that it's Yale.

this looks more like a work application portfolio than an academic one.

Reverie, though your portfolio is much better than a lot of the ones I have seen, it falls short of showing what your research would be at yale, or at least a strong point-of-view. sometimes it is just about 'selling' something in a way that they want to actually see.

great work, not so great portfolio.

Biggest criticism was that there was no filter. You just overloaded me with information. I think Yale has a project/page limit and you have to find a way in a small number of projects to say who you are and want to be.

Overall you have nice work. Just way too much. I got in with just 10 pages. It also helps so much with the Ivy schools who you know. I made sure in my undergrad internship to get a job with a well know visiting professor at the school and use his advice and help to get in.

i think your work is too commercial (for yale). once you go so far in this direction, some academic programs may consider you not 'teachable' or flexible enough. they might just assume you're going (or have aready gone) in a different direction from what they have to offer, and wouldn't be a good fit.

as others have stated: WAY TOO LONG!!!

My portfolio to grad school was less than 25 pages long and I was accepted everywhere. You really need to edit and narrow it down to the strongest images/projects. Someone going through this isn't going to remember what was on page 68 or 84. The only thing you will leave them wondering is why you didn't edit the work. I think it might even offend them that you submitted a portfolio this long.

I know a few kids who recently graduated from some of the schools above and found no work. What is your background academically and what is your future goal, what do you plan to get out of grad school? If you have a BArch and are currently employed, you may want to think twice about dumping good money and another two years into what may lead to unemployment...

hmmm.... another rejection from University of Michigan...
5 left!

Which program, March or MUD?

the portfolio is too long and not very clear.

to be blunt, it is filled with novelty but not much evidence of critical thinking.

it looks like you have already answered all the questions you might possibly have about architecture and design. looking at this i might wonder what i could teach you that you would be willing to hear...

if it comes to it and you are applying again academia is about questions not answers. i don't see that you are asking anything or particularly interested in the possibility of tough questions either. once you find out what kinds of questions interest you i suggest presenting the projects to reflect that. doesn't mean you need new projects only that you need to show another side of the work you did.

otherwise its just a fairly straightforward work portfolio for a commercial firm...

nothing wrong with that by the way.

reverie, dont be too hard on yourself for the rejections - there are way too many people applying to grad school these days.

@Jumperman18 ... Michigan- MUD.



Waiting to hear from Washington-st.louis today... thats what they told me yesterday in a mail , decisions will be out today.

Well... not losing hope... but preparing for the worst....
How is the idea of application for non-degree enrollment for an year or may be a term? And probably apply for next fall & use the credits of non-degree enrollment to get an advanced standing in the same university.
Has anybody you know done such a thing ?

Don't know.... does that make sense? ... just a random thought.

This portfolio is not appropriate for MUD applications. They tend to give preferences to more real world work/ professional experiences. MUD rejected you but Umich's Arch program probably wouldn't. They had the highest acceptance rate a couple years ago...Each page seems pretty well laid out on their own but the entire portfolio needs to be dramatically reduced. There are so many images of equal strength that if someone has the patience to go through it all, it just leaves a very bland feeling.

Also, it's not so much that too many people apply to school. I think each applicant is also applying to too many schools. It's common for kids to send a dozen applications these days. Eight, IMO, is still too many. It just tells me that there is no real direction in the decision making, it seems there is more emphasis on getting into a good rep school than knowing what you really want to get out of it. If you can't narrow it down to 3-4 schools, you are wasting your time with "safey" schools, and just making more work for yourself, the recs, and making it harder for the next kid to go to the school of their choice.

Finally some good news after rejection from Yale, Harvard, & Michigan.

I have been approved of admission to Washington University,St.Louis for Urban design, masters- three semesters.
Certainly happy to have a place secured..

Good thing is that i requested critics before I heard about acceptance... keeps me on ground, makes me realise of my mistakes.
Thanks to all archinectors who gave critics on my portfolio...

I am still waiting to hear from Urbana champaign, UT Austin, UC Berkeley & UCLA...

But again... I am happy to be somewhere at-least.

Thanks to all those who commented.

Congrats! Good for you!

wash st louis ain't too shabby either. congrats.

Good for you!

Can you repost the link to your online portfolio I am a recent grad of the M Arch at U of I Urbana and I am curious what you sent in.

Don’t go to a school just because you got in U of I as well as other have sub programs that they are famous for, U of I is known for Structures and a dual degree in Civil Engineering, so bear in mind you getting in is one thing, getting the program and studio you want is another and the funding they can give you is important to. Don’t take up an offer if you are not confident in the schools stability, funding and if it is the right fit for you. Another year and careful advisement from a trusted mentor could give you a better position such as a fellowship, or a coveted seat at an Ivy League school. Also ask the people giving you recommendations to review your portfolio before they send their letters, if you do this again, non matching recommendations and portfolios can cause problems.

Were you accepted to UC Berkeley?

not yale worthly. perhaps your statement letter did not communicate well with your porfolio. good luck with the other schools.

Not that I am completely educated on how to make a perfect portfolio...

But 4 of my friends just got into Harvard. I've looked at all of their portfolios and they are ALL extremely simple, artistic, and clear. The writing is all very poetic as well. Everything is fluid and works together. 

But congrats on Washington :)

good potential content but not well presented, which is much better than weak content and good presentation! 

with all the feedback, maybe consider re-applying next year? you might be able to get into Yale, or wherever you want to go, if you tell the story of the project more clearly. the one thing i would add is the lack of what you as a individually thinking designer contributed to the design process. i mean, instead of narrating the project like you worked for this guy and did all of these things, approach it from a much more....i was responsible for this part of the project and this is how i creatively executed it. they're not looking for technical proficiency, they're more looking for someone who can think. 

good luck, whichever way you go.