By uncertainty, I meant being uncomfortable with a temporary break away from the usual schedule of either school or work or both and left without structure. Not saying you shouldn't jump right into it after undergraduate but time away to collect yourself does help. 

Artistically, I feel you're fine. As I mentioned previously, you can sketch/draw and that part is fine. What I didn't get was why you wanted to pursue architecture--the one project was brief and not representative of your overall interests and reasons. From what I read, the school wants to know what you as an individual can offer to the entering class. What makes you stand out? What can you bring that'll help or offer others? I know there's something in you but could not extract a clear message from the current body of work.

Potential is there. I learned not to prematurely judge the potential of young people because they're still developing yet feel compelled to achieve so much more than their predecessors at the same age. Don't undervalue your liberal arts degree either. Self-doubt drives too many good people away from the arts and the prevalent cynicism online doesn't help either. 

One or two more projects done should give a clearer picture of your process, ability to think/analyze space, and what details matter. Technical drawings don't do add much value towards your approach to a task (and often not recommended to put in). Make some hand-drawn sketches, add some color for a splash of vitality. Make something. Graphic design, illustrations, well-designed posters and such. What are your other interests in life?

Aim to communicate a clear all-encompassing vision. Figure what that is now and then add pieces to compliment. 

@placebeyondthesplines

 Wow, thank you so much! I think you are right, my content is too cramped. It's always hard for myself to edit it, especially if I had to edit it down... Any suggestions on which pages are too cramped? 

@zy11kair'

Let's try this: which pages do you think are too cramped?

Maybe to help you narrow it down: I went to a portfolio workshop at UCLA in October that proved very helpful.  Granted, this is what one school recommends and I don't know how it differs from other programs.  Anyway, they strongly discourage spreads that show way to much information and seemed to really dig spreads that only had 2-4 images (or just one per page, with minimal txt).  They also mentioned that process is not as important to show (unless it was very significant to the final product).  They don't want to see early sketch models or concepts that don't play through to the end.  They also hated redundancy. 

I would suggest maybe keeping only your most important diagrams, this seems to be what is causing most of the clutter.  An example would be the page that shows the sequence of space in Florence.  Can you cut this content down and explain it more through txt?  How important is all this information to your specific project?  

Nice work and good luck! oh, and happy Christmas eve!

UCLA recently sent a newsletter email with some suggestion: layout, design, easy to read, keeping it simple, quality over quantity, etc. Didn't read too much into it.

Portfolio designs in general haven't really changed in requirement or aesthetics but people think they need to stand out or load it with everything they did in the past years or apply some outrageous gaudy designs that annoy more than infatuate. That minimal text and restrained image look? Pretty common layout in books, museums, ads, magazines, and elsewhere where layout design is practiced and enforced. Sure, take some risks and be different but only if the technical ability and vision is there--otherwise, stick to white, single images, and small side captions.

Where is everybody? Let's see some updates!

@placebeyondthesplines, @C. Watt, @24arches,

Thank you so much for the comments, I have been working diligently to re-organize suff:-) 

Hey guys 
Im planning to apply for M.Arch Part 1 at the Bartlett and AA

http://issuu.com/natashagunaratna/docs/dilini_natasha_gunaratna_portfolio

I still have quite a few images to add to some pages are empty but general feedback is welcome; dont hold back! Thanks and happy new years!

@natashagunaratna

This is way, way too long. 104 pages?!? There's some interesting stuff in here, but the first 30 pages or so are contributing nothing and should be scrapped. 

You should condense this down to a few well-documented projects (take out spreads like the Bicycle House one unless you've got an appropriate amount of images). 

Also the order of projects is very strange. Generally the rule of thumb is: strongest project first, second strongest project last, and a few (I hate when portfolios have more than 6 projects) of your other best projects in between. But even 50 pages is getting to be too much. 100+ is really obnoxious. 

@placebeyondthesplines : thanks; yeah I might just take out certain things out-a graduate from the Barlett mentioned to put some of my art work; but maybe I put more than needed
Yeah I might take bicycle house out definitely 
Thanks for the ordering of projects - didnt know that till you mentioned it
 

@placebeyondthesplines: you need to check out this guys portfolio its 117pages ; every single page absolutely breaktaking http://issuu.com/thomastait/docs/portfolio

Greetings fellow applicants!

Would really appreciate any feedback on my portfolio.  Applying to M. Landscape Architecture (3-year).  My background is in urban planning.

http://issuu.com/aaronperspective/docs/_complete

Obliged!

@natasha

Some of that portfolio is certainly lovely, but there are countless pages that should be edited from it as well. It would have a much greater impact without all the filler images. 

Better to leave a reviewer wanting more than to make them trudge through a zillion pages. 

I posted a draft earlier on in this thread, thanks to those who gave advice. The general consensus was to scale drawings to create hierarchy and flow, while editing down some things to free some space which I tried my best to do.

Back for round 2, keeping in mind my first application is due on January 2nd and the max allowance is 30 pages of actual conent:

http://issuu.com/sgarcia6/docs/december_28_portfolio_draft_reduced

Thanks guys!

ps. the tree portion in the cross section on pg 6 appears a lot more sparse than it shows up as in adobe reader, not sure why. but imagine more foliage there.

@aurevoirshoshanna

This is a much stronger draft than the one I remember from before. 

Some spreads could still benefit from more white space to let the images breathe. Like p.5 for example, that exploded drawing would be so much more pleasant at about 75% its current size.

It may be too late for this recommendation, but if you laid out your spreads according to a consistent grid, your portfolio would feel much more natural and confident. Some pages feel like you've done this, and they are visually the strongest of the bunch, but others appear that you were just working images onto a page however they'd fit.

Thanks for the feedback @placebeyondthesplines, it's very helpful. Although it may be a little too late to come up with a consistent grid for the entire thing, perhaps it would be good to identify the pages that would benefit the most from extra attention and I'll at least try it with those. Let's just go with the 5 weakest not including the last 2 pages. 

To me the pages I've struggled with the most are 5, 10, 15, 16 and 18 so I'll be thinking of ways to improve those as I finish up. It would be interesting to see what you or anyone else thinks are the weakest 5 and I'll try to apply a more structured approach to those.

Hello everyone!

Would really appreciate any feedback on my portfolio.  Applying to M.ARCH I.  My background is interior design. I still have to tweak some minor details such as the numbering of the pages. 

Thanks and happy holidays!

Portfolio Draft

had to re-upload the portfolio, below is new link. Thanks!

Portfolio Draft

Hey, please check mine out!

http://issuu.com/carlosignaciohernandez/docs/carloshernandezportfoliovers4

Well it has been fun everyone. It's time to hit submit and I am scared! Now it is a waiting game... Best of luck to all.

Here is the final link.

http://issuu.com/joshuasmith96/docs/joshua_smith_portfolio_issue

Happy New Year and may you all get accepted to your number 1's!

@insomniarch I know how you feel! I don't want to look at my portfolio too closely now that I've submitted fearing that I missed something haha But it's gone now so there's nothing that can be done. Your portfolio looks really good, you can tell that there was a lot of hard work put into it. Good luck!

Here's mine BTW:

http://issuu.com/ricardohernandez-perez/docs/yale_portfolio_singles_ricardo_hern

Hopefully time will fly and we will get some good scholarships! :)

I always do this lol 

correct link: 

http://issuu.com/ricardohernandez-perez/docs/yale_portfolio_singles_ricardo_hern

Agreed! My first submission was very terrifying, but it's done and over with - it's a little weird not having something to constantly obsess over but I'm sure I won't mind, onto the next! Seeing some very cool stuff from everyone, good range of work and styles so far. Best of luck everyone (and to myself lol).

Here's my final:

http://issuu.com/sgarcia6/docs/stefan_garcial_final_undergraduate_

@aurevoirshoshanna 

your portfolio turned out great! What degree are you applying for? 

Thanks! I have a BS of Arch so M Arch mostly!

Hello all,

Looking to get some feedback on the portfolio. I'm from a non arch background (civil engineering) so it is all art and design work. Applying to all Canadian schools that accept those with non arch degrees: uToronto, UBC, uCalgary, and Dalhousie.

Thanks in advance for having a look!

http://issuu.com/jameskokotilo/docs/portfolio2013

Great thread. Fascinating to see the backgrounds that applicants are coming from. I think apps. for everyone are past due, but here is the portfolio I submitted for acceptance into grad. school. For the most part the work was all completed while in undergrad, with the exception of the last couple of projects.

The cover is a recycled brown paper and is intentionally blank on the digital copy. For the physical portfolio, a sleeve with the name of the school/program/address etc... is attached.

http://issuu.com/jhaze55/docs/portfolio_

Its done!! Just applied to 3 universities GSD, Cornell and Berkeley! Have noo idea what my chances are but I'm excited :D :D. This is my portfolio:

http://issuu.com/ashwiniak/docs/portfolio_m

Great work here guys! And ALL the best to all :)

just applied to UofT MArch with advanced standing, and thinking of deferring for a year and applying to Columbia. Still have one more term of undergrad to go. (I know, vector graphics on issuu, not so good...). thoughts on my Columbia chances? My GPA is 3.7 and I have 2+ years work experience in Canada and France.

http://issuu.com/ckurtin/docs/uoft_masters_portfolio_pages

Been meaning to post my portfolio on Archinect to get some feedback, well its too late for that, but anyhow below is a link for anyone interested to view my portfolio. I applied to Michigan, Berkeley, UCLA, Virginia Tech & USC.  GPA 3.1, GRE V150 Q152 with over 5 years of office experience. By the way....have viewed a couple portfolios on here and see a lot of great work produced......I commend everyone for their hard work.....kudos!!!

http://issuu.com/salistical/docs/jimenez.portfolio

@ kotylo, jhaze, ACPT, clairemk, sjimenez.sj

Great work you guys, very inspiring work. I hope we all get into our top choices!

I don't plan on applying to graduate school, but I just finished a rough draft of my undergraduate portfolio. The link is below. Please critique it!

http://issuu.com/john.mcwaters/docs/2014.02.02_spring_2014_portfolio_ba