n400, if you can afford it, i would send one anyway.

I think I'm pretty good at drawing and planned to stick a few drawings into one of those simple black Itoya portfolios.

I know that a lot of the posts on this site would disagree about whether or not that's adequate, but most of them don't cite sources; for all I know, the source is the other ten people who said that without mentioning any sources. If the school wanted more, why would they say that portfolios aren't even necessarily required?

It's the only graduate program I'm applying to, because I honestly believe that their research matches with my interests better than any of the other programs'. I also think that I'm a talented enough artist to succeed in the program, but I don't have much recent proof except some drawings.

What do you think?

If anyone is willing to give honest criticism, I will scan and e-mail you some of my drawings. I'm sorry if I came off at all hostile. I have a tremendous amount of respect for all of the portfolios I've seen on this site.

Thanks, Just Tim - I was thinking of going in that route, but definitely wanted another opinion. Can't wait to get this stuff finished!

joentasis...NICE name!

n400...I am at the BAC right now. I would def recommend sending a portfolio. It can get you out of a few of the foundation courses, if they see what they like.

What is this "research" that you speak of?

entasis- broadly, sustainability in florida (I'm applying to UF not BAC, but I guess they both say portfolios are optional).

I doubt that I will be able to get out of foundation courses anyway. If I tried to make a slick fancy portfolio, I would probably look idiotic, but I do plan to send some drawings.

Is anyone else having issues with the Yale application status on the online application?

I am missing everything that I sent in???? (GREs, Portfolio, Recommendations)

freezingtimbers, i'm having the same problem as well..
i'm missing GRE and portfolio..
I sent my portfolio pretty late (like 2nd of this month) but gre score was sent couple months ago.

hey let's see some more portfolios! If anybody can, post up your portfolio and where you applied!

I have the same problem with GRE and transcrpts. Only status shows that transcrpts have not been received even though they were enclosed in the same envelope with my application. I e-mailed the school and they gave a general answer without actaully looking at my case. Sent two other e-mails and didn't get a reply. If they can't deal with paper applications why they had this sistem in the first place? Also from what I heard, the online application is not better either.

I don't have a "portfolio" yet and it's causing me a considerable degree of anxiety. Here is the only drawing I have scanned. It's from a photo I took, but I'm currently working on some drawings from life to include too. It's on manila folder material. Most of my drawings are on that stuff because I like using white pencils, it's sturdy, and I found a big pile of it in my parents' garage a few years ago:

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?9da3a3fef5.jpg

There are also missing my portfolio on the Yale website although I have confirmation from fedex that it arrived on Friday, Jan 2. I was missing my gre scores but it somehow magically says they got them on Jan 5th. I sent them in October!!?? And still no recommendations have arrived. I think they are a bit more lax on those - I read somewhere on their site they will notify you as of Feb 1 if your application is missing anything.

This is so nervewracking! Applying is more about orchestration and shelling out lots of money then proving you are the nest candidate.

As someone who used to work in a graduate admissions office (non-arch, but i'm sure its the same sort of thing) you can all probably calm down about stuff not showing up online instantaneously that it has been received. Someone probably has to go through all that stuff, figure out whos it is, click off a little box in a database,make a student record etc, and hope that technology works and it triggers the status update online. Plus I talked with the Berkeley people - seems they have a sort of soft-deadline for the supplemental stuff, ie letters of rec. I'm sure we'll all be fine.

I'll play :) Here's my PORTFOLIO. It's already printed and ready to go also, so be gentle with me too.

Everyone's portfolios look great, congrats to all!

Also, if anyone has any insight into my questions on the previous page it would be much appreciated. It was re the statement and resume and whether they should just be plain text on paper or made to look graphicy?

Finishing that up tonight, then sending it all off tomorrow.... phew, what a ton of work... I will be rewarding myself with copious amounts of wine :)

Lesov-

I am by no means an authority, but regarding your previous question, I did not feel the need to make my printed resume and statement(s) into a bound graphic object. I printed my resume and statements on quality resume paper and kept the sheets loose. What I did do graphically was make sure these documents maintained a cohesive look amongst themselves and along with my portfolio, mostly by using the same fonts and font sizes that I had used for heading and body text in my portfolio.

By the way, your portfolio looked good, clean and easy to follow, nice modeling skills too.

Well you asked for honesty n400, so here I go...

This drawing looks pretty boring and doesn't really depict anything really eye catching. I think the figure/monument leaning on the cross seems a bit meaningless, but a slight attempt to provide context. Had you really pushed the value and shading to emphasize a particular area or maybe zero in on the figure, you develop a narrative or at least something tp drive the viewer to curiosity. As of right now, the drawing is drawn and shaded fairly even, and just looks like it's another drawing of some urban landscape, a record of the area.

Where I think the drawing gets interesting is where your value drops off at the bottom of the page. If you had pushed the negative space more, it would have been great. Maybe playing more with the negative space in the foreground and then going deeper with the shading in the background would have made the drawing more dynamic.

Also depending on what other work will be placed before or after, above and below might help bring interest to the viewer.

Sorry to be so brutal but you asked for honesty.

lesov

about docs - I did the same thing Giant did - just made the fonts and the headings the same, that's all.

BTW, loved your models.

Thanks GiantClam and archiwhat.... that's pretty much what I was thinking, but it's always good to hear from others.
Thanks for the nice words about my work.

Lesov, kudos to your layout, clean and effective. I wish i could achieve the same.
I partcularly liked sections for ocean research center, with one minor feedback. Is there particular reason showing that much of ground? Ground looks cool though, with different patterns but that is why it stands out too much. It does distract me a little from looking at bldgs. Also, your longitudinal section line does not cut across the buildings on the right hand side.
Nonetheless, I just love your sections. Good work and I wish you the best!!!

Thanks tim, looking back at that page, i could have trimmed more of the ground from the images. I'll probably go back to it after submission and change it.... work in progress, right :)

I have a question, if anyone is still awake.... is it a horrible idea to do other than what they request. ie. for UBC they require the following:

Biographical Statement
A summary [in résumé form] including work experience, travel, volunteering, or other relevant experience deemed appropriate is required along with a single page in prose form to supplement the résumé.

Statement of Interest
A statement of reasons for desiring to study architecture as well as reasons for selecting UBC Architecture [one page].

I'm having a really hard time separating the resume supplement and the statement of interest...... it has crossed my mind to do one written piece that combines the two and title it "biographical statement of interest". Do you think this is a really bad idea? Should I just suck it up and find a way to delineate the two? Or break the rules? I probably already know the answer.... just curious.

musik-Thank you!! That is fantastic news, because I agree with everything you wrote and already added some color since it was last scanned to try to solve those problems. It's still off, so I decided to color the whole thing. Then, I decided to do some stuff from life instead and get back to it if I have time.

I just scanned it because I want to show you how I noticed pretty much exactly the same problems as you did and started to try to fix them. I think that's really neat (yes, I'm fresh to this sort of exchange), even if I didn't do a very good job at the fixing yet.

Please be more brutal if that comes more naturally; I won't be offended and I truly prefer it. I'm very thankful that there are so many great peole on this board willing to share their opinions.

However, I don't intend to do anything else to this drawing until I get more stuff from life (which I will also try to post soon as long as they aren't too offensively unsophisticated next to everyone's real portfolios)


http://www.freeimagehosting.net/image.php?780152c20f.jpg

Not sure why n400, but i haven't been able to see either of your image links...not sure what i'm doing wrong?

lesov-I don't know. I never used this freeimagehosting.net thing before. I can e-mail them in a zip file with some others tomorrow if you're curious.

Regarding your last question, I'd go by the rules... for many, many reasons.

Lesov-also, if you want to email me some of your biographical and intent writing, i will read it and try to give advice on how i would break it up and organize it. i don't know that my advice would be very good, but i don't mind trying.

first time posting... here we go...
graduated may 2008 uf bachelor of design in architecture with honors. last year applied to parsons, risd, & uic accepted by all but took the year to continue working in florida. this year applying to:
yale
upenn
michigan
uic
uf
sci-arc
tulane
clemson
cornell
probably a reach for the iveys but we'll see! good luck everyone!

kaysc, where did you do your undergrad? I am a non-arch degree from College of Charleston. We are applying to similar schools.

Tulane
Clemson
RISD
Pratt
Oregon
SCAD

Is Cornell accredited yet?

lesov.

break the rules! I don't think UBC will be disappointed by the essay combo as long as you DAZZLE them. I think your portfolio is great and they would be lucky to have you.

joentasis,
just got my bachelor of design at university of florida... and yes, i believe cornell's m.arch was recently accredited. college of charleston is so fun... i had a good friend go there, wish they had an arch program...

UF is great as well, my rents live in St. Pete.

Re: college of charleston, yeah, you are telling me. I knew I wanted to study arch when I went to college, but CofC didn't have a program, so I settled for Historic Preservation + Planning. Ultimately, I hope/think it will help my grad school efforts for architecture. Good luck to you.

i've enjoyed viewing all the portfolios here.

let's see some more, and good luck to everyone.

I'll post mine when I get my acceptances/rejections...

i'll post mine around then as well.

kungapa - sent you an email a few days ago...

hey does anyone have a portfolio without any architecture in it? willing to post? maybe some graphic designers?

Product Design background on me.

I'll post when I get the acceptance/rejection as well.


Again: Good luck to all!


A

well, I'm officially done..... and exhausted.... finished my written docs last night and the courier just picked it all up. Now to wait *patiently* for March/April. meh.
Good luck everyone!

anyone else still waiting to see that Yale got their portfolio??? mine shows up as still "awaiting" although they received a recommendation yesterday, so now I am really confused...

andimdone, i'm having the same issue--it says they haven't received my portfolio even though I usps confirms that it was received and signed for, likewise they claim not to have my GRE which was sent forever ago. It's kind of nervewracking, but I feel its due to the overwhelming amount of applications the admin office has to sort through, and not due to errors on our parts. I am trying to be cool about it cause i realized, after reading through last years thread, these things tend to work themselves out within a couple weeks of submission.

It took yale a week or two before they realized that they had my portfolio.

As a side note, I'd love to see a photo of the piles and piles of applications these schools must have.

Yeah, I second that. Also I wish I'd documented the application process chaos at my house, like all my portfolios stacked up together and then the resultant stack of boxes and envelopes.

i'm having the same problem with yale. according to ups, my portfolio was received and signed for on the 2nd.

has anyone tried calling them?

lesov- what did you decide to do with the statements?

Hey lesov! I'll be applying to UBC in 2010. although right now I'm pretty sure it'll be for landscape architecture. Can't think of a better place in canada to study landscape than BC. Good luck! Your portfolio looks pretty solid. I hope you let us know how it goes.
I'll probably post my portfolio once I get it going. I'm not so much worried about the portfolio as I am about the personal statement and resume. I have no idea how to write a resume in prose form. that's confusing. and the the statement of interest I have no clue about. I'm curious to know how you handled it. Maybe we can trade statements/resume via email.

I called yale and the lady basically told me to f*ck off for a few weeks until they have everything sorted out. meh, as long as we are all in the same boat I'm not going to worry about it. Lets keep each other posted in the coming weeks as to how this pans out, though...

An aside...so i was checking the fedex website to see when exactly it got there and where and I realized it had been signed for.

By a Mr. or Mrs. L. Wetmore.

Can't decide whether thats a joke or not. lets hope not.

howdy

i successfully avoided this forum until today!
m.arch applications all done.

applying to m.arch I programs and for all you statisticians:

graduated from pomona college with a b.a. in studio art
gpa 3.88, phi beta kappa
GREs 720 V, 580 M (haha... practice tests never gave any indication of these scores, it was always higher math)
been out of school since may 2008, working for an architecture firm

very pleased with my portfolio - despite the trials and tribulations of finding someone that still does a wire binding. will try and post some pictures later this week. predominantly drawings, paintings.

only applied two places:
ut-austin
u of michigan

love the prospect of in-state tuition with texas, but also have boyfriend studying law in ann arbor (and wow! that architecture studio at tcaup!). michigan is somewhat unfeasible without $$$. i've got my fingers crossed.

good luck to all :D
i think i'm ready for an early night.

oh and to those fretting about mailed stuff still showing up as "not yet received," the admissions offices are madhouses right now!

i was hand-delivering stuff to UT this morning and they are swimming in packages. lady just tossed mine into the pile.

does anyone know if one was to be accepted to GSD, how hard it is to get a B on physics and calculus....

do they mark hard, is the level of study hard?

I have A1's on higher level high school exams in mathmatics and physics, which would be a 2 year quite intense course presume there should be nothing new for me...does anyone know the standard of the exams?

Yale update-for those of you in the same boat as me:
They finally have 'received' my portfolio (which was signed for jan. 5), but have not yet 'received' my GRE, which was sent about a month before the portfolio.

I'm not worrying too much, but it'll be nice when when they catch up so I know if I need to resend that score.

Has anyone recieved application status for MIT via email? Normally they send out the emails by January 1st, but on their website they state:

"*Due to a large number of applications received this year, we will be notifying applicants later than usual. Please bear with us in this process. "

I hope this isn't a trend this year...record high admission rates.

record high admission rates would be great ;)

but yeh, record high application numbers would be thumbs down

Yale posted my portfolio today too. (signed for on Jan 2nd and received today?!) whatevs.

Got an email from a recommendor today saying he never got an email from UT Austin regarding submitting online recommendation.
Today is the M. Arch due date!

Thanks for letting a sister know with any time to do anything about it.