laurilan, i'm there with you.. not only am i applying but i have 6 classes (including a senior thesis that is due next week) and work on top of that! :(


i went to an open house at parsons last saturday and while i was there i asked the associate chair of the aidl dept what they weigh the most in an application.. she said plain and simply, "porfolio and personal statement"

thx for the info bonita. i've been working seriously on my portfolio all week and it's going to end up around 45 pages. that's from 70--and it's oh so painful taking out all that hard work.

hey bo, did you apply last year or is this your first?

first year. almost a year out of my undergrad degree.

oh ok, nevermind then, it must have been someone else's portfolio I saw in last year's thread.

no problemo bo,
haha yeah right, i was looking at some of the portfolio requirements - like upenn's, and they suggest that your portfolio should be no more than 20 pgs... mine is around 28 pgs - and im lucky i've managed to keep it that small.

btw, because i am such a loser - i just found an archinect group on facebook (if anyone is interested in joining, haha)

hey nor & friends, haha thats so funny i found it a couple days ago too. yah the mission statement sucks, either your trite or irrelevant it seems; given the two i'm tending towards trite. hey i'm curious anybody know if getting an application submitted earlier than a deadline give any advantage over submitting by the deadline?

hey all, just thought i'd check in with you and wish you luck and give you guys some pointers based on my experience last yr

-study for the GRE but don't kill yourself over it...(e.g. a good friend of mine got into GSD w/a sub 1000, he had a kickass portfolio)

-DO spend time on your statement, it matters, its you telling your story, be creative...being able to articulate your story reflects greatly on your ability to convey your design ideas

-and your portfolio..make it clean, simple, elegant, and thoughtful...don't include fluff, the acceptance people see right through that shit...

good luck guys, I went through this last yr with the other archinecteurs....

p.s. do all the non architecture related things you love doing right now...once school starts, your life will be nothing but architecture

Does anyone know if and how merit-based (not need-based) scholarships are awarded.

blaise- hey there! dont know if itll help if you send in your application... i do know that it will probably give you a greater piece of mind one everything is in, so it definately can't hurt to send it in early.

thanks for the advice deviant!

maybe it's been answered somewhere, but...

does anyone know the policy on ucla's m.arch I reapplications? specifically, does one need to resend all 3 new letters of rec? I know the GSD requires just 1 new one if within 2 years of first application, but unsure of others. I sent off an email to the admissions director, but haven't gotten a reply yet, so if anyone knows offhand, that'd be pretty dandy.

It's not required since they have your letters from your previous application. But if you can get any new and better recommenders you should do it.

thank af -

that's good to know. i've been focusing more on reworking the portfolio. i think i might just send in one new letter or rec. so how does it work - they keep everything from last year on file, or just some of the documents?

sano, call them and find out for sure.

yeah, i think i will tomorrow. better safe than sorry.

question, i'm not terribly sure the difference between M.Arch I, II, & III. II is for those with B.Archs right? then what is the differece between I & III? I have a Bachlor of Fine Arts, I think this makes me a M.Arch I applicant.

36 hours til my GRE, i'm just glad that arch schools don't weight it terribly heavy.

1390 baby! ehhhhh, and now to sleep........... nightyall

confirmed - only 1 new l.o.r. needed.

man i'm behind you all...the final thing in my schedule will be mailing the portfolio on dec 22nd overnight, my first deadline is dec 31st...i'm taking the GRE dec 6th...I think it'll make it on time though...

My first deadline is Dec 15th... :-( It's creeping up on me slowly...

I was going to apply to MIT and/or UCLA, but in terms of mixing app schedule and work schedule, it was unfeasable.

hey tman, I think you still have a chance at applying to UCLA. Read this thread.

Any of you guys sending to LULU today? I am seeing a deadline fast approaching MIT and UCLA. I was wondering what your drop dead dates are?

i dunno about lulu... i just got my sample draft and i absolutely hate it. bad print quality. mostly on my cover page.. and my layout got all screwed up..

I got my first draft from LULU last week. Apparently, they don't print insidecovers so make sure to account for that. Also, the print quality is just O.K. There's an alternative, blurb.com, but they do things much differently, so you will probably hate it or love.

I have Dec 15th and Jan 15th deadlines. Of course, my top pick schools have Dec 15th deadline.

I'm happy with the print quality from lulu, but I don't have very demanding standards.

I just wanted to comment on how rediculous the GRE's are. I took it last month (maybe 2 1/2 weeks ago) scored ehhhh... just took it again yesterday and ended going up 110 pts. So someone please tell me how this test accurately measures one's intelligence/abilities. it's really all BULLSHIT. i didn't even study that hard for the 2nd time around.. haha.. and theres my rant.

on a positive note...congrats on the improvement

haha, thank you!

btw, is that dj tanner.. as in fullhouse dj tanner? .... j/w haha..

English is not my first language. I will take GRE in a week.

The best. I didn't practice before, I have one week to prepare it, and to do 2 university exams, TOEFL, get ready with the portfolio, send the application to UC Berkeley (is the only one that I am applying which has the deadline on December, cut my hair, move my staff to another apartment ... WHAT THE HELL

I am very worry because that. I think I will get the worst GRE in the history of the test.

Some of you are applying to Berkeley? Where are you printing the portfolio? I am thinking in do it at Kinkos. ( I have no $%#@ time ) even I will send it I think a couple of days later than the deadline.

Don't print at Kinko's. It will cost you sooooooooooo much money.

Find a local mom and pop printing place. Sit down with them, tell them exactly what you want. Ask to see paper samples and let them have your business.

Many people have had unfortunate printing experiences with Kinko's only to be shocked with the printing cost later.

what do you guys know about sending gre scores to more schools? I could only put down four schools, but i'm applying to six. Do you know how long it takes?

you should call the gre test ppl directly. their phone # is on the ets site. They told me it takes between 2-3 weeks from your test date until the score arrives at the school.

first four are free (or included with the cost of taking the test). additional scores cost money. you can call the gre phone line and have them sent to other schools.

yeah i'll call them. i just wanted to know if i had to wait for the first four to arrive and then have the others sent. hopefully not.

sending those god damn scores is such a pain in the ass. i can't send the rest of mine until tues because my test scores haven't been processed yet. apparently you have to wait 10 days after you take the test in order to request additional score reports.

luckily i'm nly applying to 3 schools that require the gre

plus i didnt do so hot on it...heh

amen to kinkos sucking...they dont even do prints back to back, oversize prints, or any binds that wont make your portfolio look like a checkbook. Plus side: they can make you a wicked pie chart...WITH color!

im using abc imaging, they're nationwide I believe. we print drawing sets through them at my firm, so they work pretty well with people in design.

on a side note, need some advice...the cliche piece of advice seems to be lose your worse project. THAT, i've done, but in doing so I have four projects and NO hand drawings (as my hand drawn projects came earlier in my undergrad when I was a crappier designer). Anyone else have a similar sans-analogue situation?

i personally believe there is a way to make almost any image or project look good with proper cropping, scaling, and bs text.

Do you think that to send the portfolio to Berkeley with a delayed of a couple of days could fire my application?

what would be the delay? GRE scores? Their website says that they allow extra time for scores, recs, etc. I'd still try to get as much as you can to them before friday.

I will take the GRE the day of the deadline.... They give you until 3 weeks for the recs, scores, etc...

But I am fucked up with the portfolio. I need the next weekend to finish it.

hmm.. everything seems a little late which doesn't go well with your presupposed low GRE score. If you have any time during the week to finish your portfolio, do it. Pull an all-nighter or two. At this point it seems more important that you get things in on time as opposed to doing them exactly how you want them to be.

The strong reason to apply for Berkeley is cause I have a really good recommendation from an alumni of this university who told me that everybody he recommended to study a grad program there have been accepted.

Also, I will not apply for a scholarship, fellowship or whatever financial aid... may be it is another good point.

GRE is not necessary for foreign people as me. Just TOEFL and a low score. Almost schools don't accept students with lower scores in toefl than 100 iBT. Berkeley has the limit on 68 iBT.

As you said, Caffeine & work.

so, again, anyone else planning to have a portfolio without any hand drafted stuff?

what kind of projects do you have in your portfolio? are there hand sketches? how else are you showing process?

sorry asbuck, can't really help you there. i'm applying to m. arch I programs so my portfolio is basically one big sketchbook...


oh man - berkeley's deadline is in a week? isn't UCLA's too? good luck to everyone! just think of how much better you'll feel once you have everything sent out. my first deadline is jan 15, so as you can imagine.. nothing is sent out. xcept for my transcripts. hah.

I hadn't. But I spent last month doing that. Finally I will cover: Web Design, photography, oil, watercolors, drafts, 3D (Cinema 4D), Illustration (Illustrator & Freehand), off course Photoshop, Little bit of Sculpture (I couldn't make real some drafts), several clothes, and I think thats all.

I have written several essays in Spanish for a publication and may be I will paste the translation of a couple of them.

I am applying for MArch I, so just a little bit of Architecture. My portfolio will be a miscellanea.