you have to fill out a fafsa to get any financial aid from any school. Its not just for loans. there are exceptions to this I am sure but just about every scholarship or grant coming out of school is done so through your fafsa app. Fill one out and do it early. You can fill one out for Fall 2007 usually on January 1st.

Do what cpnorris says, or else he will give you a roundhouse kick to the face

BTW, you can fill out the FAFSA online at www.fafsa.ed.gov/. You only fill it out once per year, and indicate which schools you want the information sent to. Some schools may have supplemental financial aid/scholarship applications for you to fill out in addition to the FAFSA.

Gin's Progress Check:

As far as I know my recommenders are busy at work on my recommendation letters.

I still need to have transcripts sent from all of my previous colleges.

I'm in the process of making a few changes to my portfolio based on the feedback I got at Cornell.

The statement of purpose is the one thing I haven't started on yet... I have a rough idea of what to write and could probably knock out the first draft in about an hour or so, but I'm having a hard time motivating myself to hunker down and do it. Normally I love talking about myself, but this feels too much like homework...

I hate talking about myself...

Gin- what sort of comments do the Cornell people give you on your portfolio?

Overall they (well, she) seemed impressed by it, which was a good sign... She did suggest moving a particularly strong project to the front, and maybe doing without one or two other projects. In their stead, she felt it would be helpful to show something that expresses "more of you" (in her words), such as some sketches, photography, or even some writing samples. I don't have much in the way of sketches or writing that I would want to include, but I do have some photography that might be worth adding. I'll bump my portfolio thread when I have that stuff updated.

Gin -
cool. I had a look at your portolio from the other thread and it looks good! However I don't have a architecture background so I can't really comment. Actually my port might be opposite to yours- no architectural drawings but plenty of photography and some writing samples.

By the way, when you all visit prospective schools and feel excited about them, do you pick up any school gift items at the bookstore? I really wanted to get a Cornell beer stein when I was there, but I have this weird feeling that I'll jinx my chances of admission if I buy any school paraphenalia before I've actually been admitted. Let's say I get rejected by Cornell but end up attending Yale... Then I'd have to explain to all my Yalie friends why I have a Cornell beer stein sitting around in my apartment.

sorry -- random portfolio question. does anyone know how much berkeley (or most schools) care about adhering to page limit requirements? the school says only 12 pages single or double-sided... i'm up to 13 double-sided and want/need to push it to 14 to complete the layout of my last major project ... agh.. and the layout of everything is really really the way i want it to be, only problem is the potential of being 2 pages too long. agrghgrhghrghrghh

Gin -- i know what you mean... i still have an essay left to do, finally got a slight idea what i might focus on but hunkering down and doing it is not a talent of mine

About the portfolio, is it ok to have one project spread over 4 pages? Or is that too much?

There are a couple projects where two pages just doesn't seem like enough.

my recommeders are all from Berkeley's admission committe, and that i was told the page limit will not be a concern.

There's a good chance I'll end up exceeding UPenn's 10-page requirement by a couple pages for similar reasons, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it... If they're rejecting otherwise-qualified students over something as petty as the page count of a portfolio, then it's probably not the school for me, anyway.

thanks for your comments guys!

hm, ignoring page limits could make my life easier.

don\'t you think it's also wierd that bereley says '12 single or double sided pages' which basically means, "our limit is either 12 pages or 24 pages, you decide"

loac, 4 pages for a project is fine as long as you're sure it doesn't get long, boring, uninteresting

yeah, i have a project that takes up 4 layouts (8 pages) and another that's 5 (10 pages or sides) -- might be overkill but when i had friends look at it, they kept wanting more info or clarification, images, etc (being kinda experimental/artsy film projects, i guess that's to be expected) ...

i'm just glad berkeley's flexible.. and i originally thought mine was only going to be 12 single-sided pages total! ha!

I'm ignoring page limits. My projects decide how many pages.

I'm also starting to freak a little. Only about halfway done with my portfolio and personal statement.

when can we see some 100% finished ports on this thread?

After the deadlines.

Page limits are silly. The portfolio should be treated as a design project and it shouldn't matter if its 5 pages or 50 pages. You need however many pages it takes to display your work so I am ignoring page limits as well.

I sent my 48 page-side portfolio to Penn, Columbia, and sci-arc; all let me in. page counts don't mean a thing.

they probably only mean something if the presentation is redundant.

I need some portfolio arrangement advice. I know I want to arrange it by type of work, but the strengths vs. focuses is confusing things.... Keep in mind I'm applying to MFA Graphic Design programs, and tell me what order you would put this in:

Posters: (2) one very strong, one not so strong
CD art: (1) strong
T-shirt: (1) medium
random typography: (1) medium
logos/identity systems: (3) medium-strong
packaging/industrial design: (3) strongest
architecture: (2) very strong
invitation: (1) very strong
magazine layout: (1) strong

The problem is that the schools tend to want to see the straight graphic design stuff first, but my strongest stuff is the more industrial work. The invitation fits well with those pieces also, as does the architecture. The cd art is a good piece to transition between the logos and something else, and the magazine layout doesn't fit in 100% but is necessary to showcase typographical skills. Basing it chronologically and developmentally, I had wanted to start with architecture, go to the tshirt, cd packaging, posters, then logos, magazine spread, and finally packaging, but I've been told this will lead to confusion for the first couple of images, a reaction of, "Wait, this is the graphic design department, did some architecture applicant send their portfolio to the wrong place?" which is definitely not the initial impression I want to give. I'm so confused!!!

rationalist - I'd think that if your portfolio itself is a good graphic design with MFA quality typography, they would not be mystified by an architecture project at the front. ;) Architecture portfolios don't usually have strong typography with masterful kerning and leading, you know?

That was actually a comment I'd gotten from schools, so while I take your point, I want to take their suggestions. They said 'leave it in, but don't put it first'. Ironically, you architects are paying much more attention to layouts than MFA programs seem to want. They just want perfect photos, crisp vector art, and a couple sentences explanation.

ahhhhhhhhhhh a week and a half to go and I still don't have my personal statement done which one of my professors doing my recommendation wants to see before she writes it!!! I have a rough draft I could send her but it is absolutely horrible. I am basically writing about my travel experiences both growing up (moving from urban to extremely rural) and study abroad (barcelona) and how it has influenced my views on the built environment. Does that sound okay? It's just hard to say HOW it influenced my views. When I read it I see that I wrote that it did influence me, but I never say how. And I don't know exactly how either! Any bullshit generators for this one?

you just gotta think. and if you can't figure out how then just leave it out. or there's always the, 'i want to be an architect to make the world a better place' bit. that's a good one. they'll dig it.

The personal statement is hands down the hardest part of the whole application process. It takes a lot of time and reflecting. Just be honest and anytime you have any thought about it, write it down. I wish I could give you some generators but I am the, self-proclaimed, worlds worst writer.

i also agree with cpnorris that personal statement is way harder than the portfolio.

ClemsonDnB......for your information, alot of the 'recommenders' usually don't submit their letter of recs until mid-january. all 3 of my recommenders told me not to freak out.

=P

Yeah what axial753 said is true. you need to have all of your stuff there on time, i.e. portfolio, personal statement and all other application stuff that you are personally responsible for. letters of rec can be late and it shouldn't be a problem.

so you're saying even though the schools call it an absolute deadline, we shouldn't care if our rec writers don't do it by then?

You should care, you should try to gently prod them, let them see that it matters to you and you are worried about it, but know for yourself that it's not the end of the world if they miss the deadline.

exactly!!

schools are sensitive to the fact that you are most likely getting references from other professors and that those professors are writing letters for more than just one student, on top of finishing up there semesters. so do what rationalist said and keep on them about the letters but don't get too worked up about it.

*sigh*

In addition to all the hassle of applying to grad schools and finishing up my BA while working full-time, it looks like I may have to start a job search as well. My boss is jerking around with my compensation, and the firm is looking like a sinking ship financially. Unless something changes very soon, it's time to bail out.

The timing couldn't be worse, though, since I'm hoping to start grad school in less than a year... But at least my portfolio and resume are now up to date.

Any advice?

Well by now you probably have a pretty nice portfolio to shop around to other firms. Though it might be tough to get in somewhere if they know you are leaving for school in less than a year. I'm sure you could find some contract work or something temporary like that.

Definitely look for a temp firm. That's your best bet. I wish I knew where I was going to school right now so i could just jump ship and go work at Starbucks.

By the way, I got my first letters from my first recommender! Yay. These are the three that get sent in with my app packets. Two of them she didn't mark - booo! - but they were in different envelopes, so thank goodness I can tell them apart. THAT would have been embarassing.

Still working on my personal statement! Good thing I can review other people's though.

Temp firms may be the way to go... I know of a couple here in Chicago.

It was revealed to me this evening that my firm is having to borrow money to meet payroll, which tells me it's time to get the hell out of there ASAP.

Egads. I mean, kudos to them for not just laying people off at the first sign of trouble. But you are right, if you left, you would be helping them as much as yourself.

~~~~~

On another topic, I meant to bring this up earlier but forgot. Thank you notes to recommenders.....I am prone to send little cards to people when I think of them just on a whim, so this seemed like a no-brainer to me. I mean, it's a good idea, right? Just common courtesy. Thoughts?

That's the weird part... Up until recently they were desperately trying to hire people. We've been busy with lots of work all year, working lots of overtime and getting lots of new projects... And yet they just cancelled our Christmas party, we're getting no bonuses, and my 8-months-overdue raise remains on hold. Something is very fishy.

That blows, Gin. yeah, if you could find a six-month contract position or something, that'd be awesome. Maybe some big client is stiffing them? That would explain why they're not firing, their loaning, but they're cutting the frills- they expect it to be a temporary shortage.

DubK- def. go for thank-you's. Mine are getting combo thank you/christmas cards.

Sputum-speckled splendor!!

I starting to print out my portfolio last night on my shitty $200 HP inkjet and was sadly disappointed. I decided to head to the computer center and see if I might be able to find something affordable, and I did! For US$80 (I'm in Hong Kong) I bought an Epson inkjet that prints better than I would have ever imagined. I ran through all the ink just to print one portfolio, but well worth the cost for what I saved with the printer.
Forget what anyone says about going to a pro, or lulu.com - get yourself an Epson and some Epson paper - you can't be disappointed!

end of plug, back to work.....

sigh -- have the epson printer, but the double-sided matte paper..! nowhere to be found in japan! (not even at epson-japan online) =( finally had to settle for some no-name brand paper, but hopefully it won't have TOO much of an effect on the final output.

O.k. It's official now. I'm freaking out. Too much still to do on my portfolio and personal statement and my 9-5 won't leave me alone.

I will not fail. I must not fail. I am destined to be a great architect.

i feel the same way... although its a 9-8, and as of late... weekends too.

Speaking of double sided matte paper, anyone have paper recommendations? I just want a simple matte that can take some ink nicely. It's tough to find photo paper that isn't glossy though.

loac - I went to a really nice art supplies store and they have a ton of paper selections. I ended up getting some basic thick white card stock type paper. It came in like 24"x36" sheets but they had this nice machine that cuts it down to any custom size you want. the paper is obviously not meant for my printer but it actually prints really nice. if you go into an art store they will most likely give you samples of a paper you are interested in and you can test it out at home and see how it prints. just an idea. you aren't confined to whats available at compusa.

redriverpaper.com

If you're looking at the epson stuff, look for the 'Professional Media' line- the matte paper from that line works hands down better than their double sided matte photo paper in my printer.

Page four!

Any more thoughts on portfolio order? Or do I just need to post it for feedback?