Sorry, DubK. One of my schools did that too, so their brochures (which run on three-year print cycles so haven't been updated in two) and their website have conflicting information. But that one is probably my top choice, so I'm willing to go the extra mile for them.

I'm screwed.

?

jasoncross - i'm so jealous you get to design band posters!!!! your portfolio looks great. i'm just wondering though, why are you applying to a first professional degree if you already have a BA in architecture? perhaps i'm misunderstanding something... I'm applying to m.arch with no architecture background and frankly, am quite intimidated by the work of those of you who studied architecture in college.

My degree is a 4 year degree...not a professional degree...Bachelor of Art in Architecture...not Bachelor of Architecture.

So, I have to go to grad school to get the professional degree...gotta love 4+2

Thanks for the kind word on the posters...I grew up in Austin,Tx and have been screenprinting since 1988

My point is I grew up around a big music scene and have always been influenced by poster art and enjoy both making, and looking at others prints too...you should try and do some printing if you are interested...it is a ton of fun.

That's cool. I hear the music scene is pretty healthy in austin. I've alway wanted to go to south by south west.

yes i just missed your 2nd post. I would LOVe to try do some poster art/printing. I'm really into seeing bands, playing music..etc etc.. and doing band posters is just the coolest to me.

I just started screen printing earlier this year. Its super fun. Crazy how low-tech it is. You also don't realize how hard it is to do it well until you try it. I started doing it cause I had some t-shirt ideas and then I ended up screen printing the cover of my portfolio. Anyways you should look into it cause its cheap, messy and fun.

Jason-your screen prints are totally sick and your portfolio looks pretty damn good. I am actually applying to almost all the schools you are. good luck with all your applications.

Thanks, good luck to you as well.

I printed my covers as well. Just single color text on chipboard...nothing crazy.

Yep. Cheap, messy, and fun is right...my hands are all covered in white ink right this second :)

haha awesome! mine is black text on craft paper wrapped chip board. crazy.

sweet! mine is white paper with black laser print on it!!

Rice's work 2005 book is fold bound duotone on laser...and it rocks...You can do nice work in any medium/paper/material.

Dont sweat it (i know that is easy or me to say) but i am sure Lulu will work out for you, keep on em'. I was going to use Lulu because I liked the results I have seen...they do nice work, it just seems to be a quarky system.

goodluck!

Ok, I've been avoiding talk of portfolio mainly because I don't have to do one for the programs I'm applying to, but I got curious and went to look at jasoncross's. Fantastic! So tactile. Almost makes me wish I had gotten to do mine over. Not really.

I'm sure everyone else's is good too....

of what?

1) not being admitted
2) not being able to afford to go if I am admitted
3) not only not being admitted, but having my pathetic attempt at a portfolio laughed down as one of the worst ever recieved

anyone care to add to the list?

Q: is it tacky to drop one name? My thesis advisor is a very famous author. I did not have him write a recommendation for me because I had people who knew me better, knew my work better, and were less difficult personalities to deal with who had more time to write great letters. But this guy gave me an 'A' and chose my project for exhibition, and probably pushed it for the award I won at graduation. I not only feel I owe him a mention, I think it might get me somewhere as long as academia isn't 100% opposed to the practice of name dropping. What say ye?

Tacky. You should rely on yourself and not someone else's fame. Just my opinion.

rationalist, are yo currently accepting new patients?
you nailed me.

rationalist:

as we all know, this is the moment when we should use everything that we know, and everyone that we know. i wouldn't consider mentioning your thesis advisor as using his fame, because you had to put in your hardwork in the first place inorder to be able to use his name. i'm sure he wouldn't mind because your mentioning of his name will only boost his recognitions in the academia.

I'm starting to worry because my portfolio is really different from everyone's I've seen. The ones here.. ones my friends showed me.. ones at MIT's office that they let me see.. people who've emailed them.

It's not just that I have a non-arch background, but my stuff is just... you know that Sesame Street (?) song "One of these things is not like the others..." It's not just the work itself but the way I write. In additon to that, and what rationalist named, I am worried that my figure drawings will be read as obscene. There are multiple drawings on each page of the model from the drawing session in different poses, and I just realized it looks like I've drawn a bunch of orgies. OOPS.

don't worry, nambypam. everyone looking at your pfolio will have had years of figure drawing under their belt. they'll know what they're looking at!

if you need another pair of eyes, you're welcome to email it to me. i'm tired of looking at my own portfolio anyway.

and being "not like the others" is a *good* thing!

and since we know who you are, nambypambics, we know to expect that what you've done is simply elegant and beautiful, more than you're letting on...

most of us catalog our work prettily. you've probably made a more sophisticated design project of it.

robust -- you make me laugh =P
"sweet! mine is white paper with black laser print on it!!"

ah... now for full-bleed printing issues on my japanese epson px-v630... and i don't think i'm going to bind it at all -- it's either kinko's fat plastic coil that you have on your elementary school directories.. or ... well, that's the problem. i visited the only print shop i could find in town and they said it would take a week... i only have till friday =( (still have personal history statement left to do.. argghgh) since berkeley seems to prefer the staple in the corner, leaving it unbound doesn't seem like too much of a crime. (i also need it to lay flat when people are looking at it)

Well, you could always try drilling a few holes and binding it with cord if you use heavy stock paper. Though it won't lay flat that way. BTW How can it take a week? It takes like 10 minutes in the shops I found....How many do you have to bind?

Argh -- the place I went to (this is me trying to speak in my medicore Japanese as well) say they outsource it to another place ... and they tried calling them to see if it could get done faster, but the other place's phone wasn't picking up. Anyway, the print shop's also a bit of a hassle to get to since I don't have a car and there's 30 inches of snow on the ground in Hokkaido these days.

Yeah, I dunno -- I only have two portfolios so it's not a huge deal; I'm more worried that I'll run out of ink on the printer. But last ditch effort would be to adjust margins and do the hole-punch thing like you said. Thanks for the thought, Balagan.

Sure thing, I did the same thing with my thesis project booklet, you can find a way to bind it with just two holes and pull the cord tightly around the pages (provided your booklet is stiff enough) so it looks handmade and kinda oriental, like those old books they have in China or Japan. Nice touch, considering where you're coming from =P
Of course, it'd have to fit with the feel of your portfolio contents though...

Steven Ward is right, namby.

On a side note, I thought my SOP was all done and ready to go....until my best friend, the professional editor, FINALLY looked at it. Well, she slaughtered it. Time to rewrite.

:-(

Well, I have no idea if mine blows or not.
Ignorance is bliss I guess.

Good luck WonderK! usually the version that comes after the slaughter is the best one (from personal experience) =P

Seopee, see if anywhere around you sells screw posts. Drill the holes and bind yourself in five minutes.

I want a professional editor to slaughter my SOP.... it's fine, it just doesn't stand out. On the other hand, I've got four out of six done (to draft level at least). I think I'm going to fill out an online application or two tonight!

Does anyone else have a really strong craving for comfort food? I want mashed poatoes. In fact I am going to order some mashed potatoes. !!!!! people who live near me should bring me foods made of potatoes.

I saw some portfolios bound with screw posts when I went and visited UCLA and they look beat up pretty bad. Its an easy and cheap way to bind but doesn't look particularly good. Ofcourse it all depends on how you do it, but the ones I saw were all haggard and floppy. The ones that were spiral bound were in the best shape. I don't like spiral bounds much either but there is a lot to be said about something that is durable, cheap and stays open while you are looking at it.

Off for a quad latte. Then I got to nail these letters...and, I too, would like to have some serious criticism of my letters, but I don't think I have time.

tips for using screw posts: 1) don't be afraid to use washers, 2) use a hard cover, 3) score cover and pages appropriately so that it will open easily, 4) don't use just one

"Does anyone else have a really strong craving for comfort food? I want mashed poatoes. In fact I am going to order some mashed potatoes. !!!!! people who live near me should bring me foods made of potatoes."

I am going to grab some green chili stew from the Frontier...yes, comfort.

I just recieved an email from UCLA telling me that the information I submitted for my online application has been stolen by a hacker.

Ouch!

good news and bad news.

good news...got the letter from my last recommender yesterday. i had forgotten that she is also a professional editor on the side and she took it upon herself to really scrape through my statement. i didn't ask her for this, but i'm SO glad she did. i think it's much more focused now.

bad news...my first deadline is this friday and i'm realizing i have no idea how to package all the materials for delivery. i'll be handcarrying the package, so postal "hardening" isn't an issue, but i'm weighing the pros and cons of putting too much design thought into the package.

pros:
+ packaging will be somewhat consistent with portfolio design
+ everything is neatly organized for the person stuck filing everything

cons:
- design will have to be simple, so there's potential for it to come across as half-baked
- the actual reviewers will likely never see it once everything's removed and filed and the "designed" package will just get tossed

is this worth worrying about? anyone else have thoughts on this?

brer -- that really sucks. i'm hoping i don't get a similar email...since i can't imagine you were the only victim.

Yikes. I recieved a letter saying that from USC a couple years ago. Ironically, it wasn't addressed to me, but it had my apartment number right. So either their system was so screwed up that they got my name wrong, or someone who had lived there before I moved in had also applied to USC. But apparently someone who was mad they had been rejected figured they'd show USC how brilliant they were by hacking their application system. Yeah, like that will get you in!

It was on NPR this morning as well, so its no joke.
I wonder if this gives me leverage??? hmmm.

oh shit, i filled out 90% of my UCLA form already (as of 2 weeks ago actually) - but i haven't gottan email from UCLA. does the hacker have my info? what can he/she do with it? do i have to reenter my info?

I think an envelope is fine for packaging. I think they just want your portfolio and whatever other papers are in it. My guess is they'll throw out any elaborate packaging things and throw it all together in a manila file folder.

well, the email stated that they gained access to information including SSN of staff and applicants. Access means that the information was compromised and there is a potential for identity theft. They recommended putting a fraud alert on your credit record, and possibly putting a freeze as well, depending on how many new credit cards you will need for the cristmas season.

I would think that their database is huge.
Probably nothing will happen, but there is a risk.

Yep, mine is going out in a big UPS overnight envelope. No need to polish what will not be seen.

thanks robust...i think you're right about them tossing the non-essentials.

btw, i just checked my ucla online application and everything's still there. i finalized my application however, so i can't speak to the data for those of you who have are still in-progress.

thanks jasoncross...kick-ass portfolio btw. i still haven't gotten up the gumption to post mine. soon enough.

thanks! that UCLA stuff is scary...glad the info is still online, or not...

these online form interfaces are very 1998 though, it is irritating.