1) not bad, but not strong enough for AP.  Not that strong for M.Arch I, to be honest.  No shade at your design skills, but you show a lot of beautiful renderings which the GSD gives zero shits about, and actually pisses off instructors.  GSD faculty see photorealistic renderings as a waste of time.  They are for marketing, not design.  The review committee wants to see how you think, and there are very few thinking drawings here.   You introduce the project, maybe there's a single process image or two, then a plan+section.  My portfolio was 63 pages with zero renderings.  Yours is 30.  Include more drawings.

 

2)  IMHO AP isn't worth it.  You miss first year studio, which is the best studio.  AP's get plunked down into existing social circles and they miss out on bonding time, which is essential--these are your future colleagues, making friends is hugely important.    

 

3) If you're dropping the $$$$ on Harvard, you'll want to take advantage of cross registration.  AP's don't have the same freedom as the 1's because they're compressing more core into less time.  Adding a year so you can take a few leadership classes @ the Kennedy school and negotiation classes @ HBS/HLS is worth it.

I agree with the abundance of renderings and lack of drawings. I also think the work and the audience's intelligence is being undermined by the amount of words. Let us read more into the work without being told what it is. I think the work has a lot to say for itself! There is also an abundance of photography. Let us see only your best of the best. Unless there is some collage intention behind having your pages saturated with images, choose 2 or 3 to display, each with their own page. I hope this helps. Thanks for sharing!

I agree with the abundance of renderings and lack of drawings. I also think the work and the audience's intelligence is being undermined by the amount of words. Let us read more into the work without being told what it is. I think the work has a lot to say for itself! There is also an abundance of photography. Let us see only your best of the best. Unless there is some collage intention behind having your pages saturated with images, choose 2 or 3 to display, each with their own page. I hope this helps. Thanks for sharing!

To me personally it feels too much like a real-estate brochure, it could do with some more process and also more zooming out to the urban scale and zooming in to the details simply to understand where things might come from and where they might go to. Also those renderings don't really explain a project they just show it in their final manicured state. You seem to be a big fan of undulating roofs, have them in three of your projects, but it is never made clear how such images could be engineered, at least as a structural principle. I don't know, maybe that's too much to ask for at this stage in your education but it just surprised me that it nowhere goes beyond the image. But kudos for putting your work out there, hope the feedback helps!

Guys, thank you very much for your time and effort, I really appreciate your feedback!

So apparently the approach is like I feared - with more focus on the path to the final result rather than the latter itself, presented in a representative way. This is actually what the Polish education, focused on marketing, instilled in me, which I've developed with a passion for visual arts. Do you think that if I add some more diagrams explaining the concepts and how they relate to the context, it would make a better whole, worthy of MIT and GSD on regular 3.5-years March I?

@Dangermouse, applying for the AP, in case of failure you get considered for the regular MArch I anyway, correct? Plus in most schools there is 30 pages limit now. Thank you for great advice!

@paulgermaine, thank you for your feedback! I feel like most of the words add some background info that wouldn't be clear otherwise, though. You can always not read it! I will work on it though, some of the subtitles are indeed excessively instructive. 

@randomised, thank you very much for your feedback, I will try to dig out those structure details. 

Cheers guys!

It's a lot of work to go through each project and elaborate with a new approach. It's a tough spot to be in but pivotal. To me, remaking all plans sections and diagrams seems dishonest to ones work. Because as you said, your education has led you to this, let's say "render marketing approach." Use the finished image to your advantage and find something you can add that will spark your projects without making it seem like you had to redo half of your work. Also, I forgot to add that it could be nice for you to use your photography for transitions between project sections as a break from the projects. Maybe since you have photo realistic renderings this idea of switching between the artificially crafted and the naturally captured can develop an interesting discourse to serve as an undercurrent to your display.

This is just my 2 cents, but in short, use what you have, stay honest to your work and find something new to add that will spark it to where it needs to be. I hope this helps!

I think its OK to have a different background and you should absolutely mention in your statement of purpose that your education emphasized an approach to marketing.  At the GSD roughly 50% of the MArch I's don't have a design background, so its not like every person getting in has this amazing portfolio with drawings that'll end up on permanent collection at MOMA.  For example, you could say that an emphasis on rendering has made you interested in digital space/digital wayfinding, and you'd really love to explore that further with X professor or by applying to an MDes.  

 

I think you do get bumped into the regular pool if not accepted into AP, but I'd check with someone at admissions

@paulgermaine, @Dangermouse, thank you for invaluable advice again! As you recommended, ofc I am not making major changes in my portfolio, which would make it not true to my work and myself. Instead I'm writing about the reason for that attitude. You also persuaded me to apply for the regular 3,5-years MArch I. No high hopes, but let's see what it brings.

Thank you all again, all the best!

Those links are solid ^

@Black_Orchid GSD apps are due in 7 hours 55 minutes

@Black_Orchid Thanks for your feedback, so glad you like the images! The links are awesome, I wish I had them before...

Cheers!

PS. @Black_Orchid I was afraid that I might have relied on the renderings too much according to the others' comments, but your feedback gave me some hope and proved that there are different attitudes out there. In the end, I didn't really change much anymore, I felt like all the text gives some more background to the projects, and again, you don't have to read it. As you said, it could be more minimalist, but it was a bit too late for major changes. Oh well, we'll see!

Really, man, thank you again and all the best.

Did you get accepted?