skyoceanwalker, the summer studio offered by upenn is adequate. I have checked with the sch before. You may just leave the section blank if you have yet to sign up for a class. In any case, there's no reason why you should spend the money and time on a history class, until you have been successfully admitted to the program.

UPenn's summer studio, physics, and history of architecture classes are good enough to fulfil the program pre-requisites. Physics and History are each $750, and the Summer Studio is $9500.

You will need to take the calculus course at another college.

nope, i didn't have any problems, although I was initially worried about it. I made a composite black in InDesign to get the printed black a little deeper and I printed through Mimeo. They were excellent to work with and their prints are great quality.

Milwaukee08 thanks! it's very helpful. I filled the application form. Hope I can register the class.

to be clear.....do we just upload to the berkeley registration page and do nothing else?? no "submit"???

Jiveonmyness,
I think so,
that's how it was last year.
they just close the website after 12PM PT today so no one can
access to it after that.

Hey jiveonmyness and all others,

I called berkeley this afternoon with the same question. they said that all you do is upload and they have it. there is no official "submit" button

word.

Hi ffgh, you mean we can take physics, history, and studio classes all in coming summer if we ever get admitted.

That sounds a lot of better. I feel like there were a lot of pre-request courses. It is impossible to finish all of them between now and then.

I did my calculus in college. so I am good.

Lol, Raviolo, I'm pretty sure "getting it all to be truly pure black" is the least of people's worries. Most prints will not only have impure blacks, but blues that look green, reds that look orange, pale yellows that look yellow green, etc. That's the flawed nature of printing and you simply can't expect that what you see on the screen will be what it looks like printed. Indeed, printing still has a long way to go, and like you, I was initially surprised that it's as underdeveloped as as shabby as it is.

^ true dat

ceh, your portfolio overall seems good, although a little too much black for my tastes, and the drawing/sketches section seems very underdeveloped, but that might not matter too much depending on what type of program you're applying to

My advice for getting better color (after working in publishing for years): convert all images to CMYK tiffs.

ceh, your portfolio looks good. The only thing that bugged me is a constant thing for me that doesn't seem to get to other people: narrow columns of justified type. It makes the spacing between letters so weird.

just wondering the ratio of professional to post-prof MArch candidates on here.

skyoceanwalker, no prob, its new this spring semester, have no idea who they'll let take it, just thought I'd throw it out there.

If you're going to take a studio at UPenn, I would assume they would let you take a history class there over the summer, although here they only have the arch hist class during the fall and spring, maybe UPenn doesn't offer it in the summer, I'd look into it.

ceh, I really like the black, looks sharp, I'm curious though, were the background of your model photos black (ie black felt or something), or did you just go into photoshop cut and trim and make them black?

And what do you mean by composite black...I'm kinda new to InDesign...curious what you mean by a "deeper black".

ps11 -didn't mean to jump all over your comments, i just feel that my professional experience is the strongest part of my application... between that and the bra color updates that took place on facebook all day yesterday pushed me over the edge i guess.

ceh - nice portfolio! I don't a problem with the black because its consistent through out. good luck with your applications

Thanks everyone for the comments!

@Milwaukee08 - I did take my model photos with a black felt background, but that just makes it easier to cut out the background entirely in photoshop. I found it nearly impossible to get the black background of an image to match the black of the page, so I cut the background out and saved the image as a png with transparent background.

A composite black is a combination of CMYK colors, instead of laying down just black ink, the printer will lay down all colors, giving it more ink coverage and a better tone, imo at least. I set my black to 60C, 40M, 40Y, 100K.

skyoceanwalker - yes, you can complete the pre-req courses in the summer '10. It's possible to complete them between end June and prior to matriculation in the fall. Good luck to you (and everyone else) in the your apps.

Done!

yep also, finally, completely and totally done.

cept for the financial aid applications. :(

ceh, thanks for the info, I'll have to write that down for later. I'm just starting my port for '011, actually fixing some old projects first. :(

kim607, now I know what the colors mean, I can finally change my status to "pink with little red hearts" or something.

so is everyone's penn statement seriously under 500 words, or does it just fit on one page? shits killin me...

EnemyHands: "My advice for getting better color (after working in publishing for years): convert all images to CMYK tiffs."

Contrary to popular opinion, this doesn't really work. The colors usually turn out worse than if you used RGB JPEGs.

jiveonmyness, so long as you can keep it to a page, it's fine. There's no need to split hairs over the number of words. Just make sure it's a powerful SoP. Anyway, the deadline's over for Penn, though I believe you have already submitted your application. All da best dude.

jiveonmyness mine to penn turned out to be 689 words, that's as brief as i was able to make it, not too worried about that (too drained out to stress about anything now actually!). i also sent 24 porftfolio pages, ha! not sure if that was idiotic though.. ah well..

Smiles of Fury,

it's more like 6.7%/13.4%, so roughly 10%... I think you should be fine, given that you have high GRE and low GPA; one of the two should give admissions an idea of an applicant's potential in grad school. If someone has both, I would assume their changes of getting in are better--just my take. I'm not admissions, so I can't tell you what they're thinking and I could be wrong.

kim607,

I'm assuming, estimating (as Smile of Fury puts it), hypotethically speaking about what's on this thread... I'm not saying this of all architecture students applying to graduate school, so no need to get worked up... unless you want to have a fist fight... :-)

MAMBO,

when I say the 1200 GRE cut offs, that's 600+ on both v and q... not too many scores 600+ on both v and q...

officially done with everything, sans statements for Cornell and Michigan. Which I just discovered I called "Michigan University", twice, on my portfolio cover. damnit.

hankd,

I'm curious about how you learned that. From personal experience, or did you read it somewhere?

My understanding is that RGB is a different color system that is designed for screen viewing, where whites are actually not white, but rather a blank, or light. CMYK on the other hand is a color system set up to be printed on white paper, and actually uses white. Am I getting this right? I've worked for printers of art books, and this is what I learned about why they converted to CMYK.

OK, I got my portfolio uploaded on issuu. As I said, my portfolio has about 150 pages so it's bit stressful to read online since you can't "leaf through" it. However, I hope my portfolio will inspire people in this forum. Thanks.

http://issuu.com/artitec/docs/portfolio-hirano

And the front cover page is like this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pirano/4208519960/

The one in the bottom is it.

Yowzas, Hirano, your portfolio is amazing. There's a lot there, but I think you are right--admissions will be able to flip through it and get an idea of how strong your work is.

Hirano, your portfolio is awesome ! Which schools did you apply to? I am quite sure you'd be able to get into your dream school.
I honestly don't think you need to attend grad school. Why are you applying to grad school when you already have that ability to do solid architecture works?
This is baffling.

jesus. hirano I would say any school that doesn't take you is a fool... this is so incredibly impressive I can't believe you interned for shuhei endo... I wrote a paper on that guy as to why he is one of the 21st century avant-garde architects... very impressed, man...

i don't know. 150 pages seems excessive. i suspect that these schools would expect a student worthy of their program would be able to more succinctly describe their abilities.

when do schools start looking at apps? mid jan? late jan? or have they started already?

hw10: "when I say the 1200 GRE cut offs, that's 600+ on both v and q... not too many scores 600+ on both v and q..."

True. Though I must say, although <600 on verbal is understandable (especially if English isn't your first language or whatever), <600 on GRE math is quite alarming and may indicate something's wrong with some crucial areas of your brain!

EnemyHands, CMYK is indeed dubbed the ideal color mode for printing, but from my experience and the experience of most of the hundreds/thousands of others I have talked to about this over years of printing experience, the colors tend to be more off when using CMYK than when using RGB, for whatever reason. Also, most professional printers do automatic conversion to RGB, and the colors are replicated substantially more closely to the screen colors than with CMYK, so I'm a bit baffled as to why I have heard recommendations to use CMYK in printing. Maybe some prefer the off-colors, although there is some risk involved since there is no certainty in just how "off" the colors will be. To each his own. :)

Hirano, your portfolio amazes me again!
wow... really, great job.

I would like to share my portfolio, please criticize!
I have BA in architectural/visual studies, and applying to:

GSD, Yale, Columbia, UPenn and Univ of Toronto.

I am still thinking of WUSTL, RISD, Parsons...
any suggestion on 2nd round admission? I don't know how Minnesota and above 3 schools are perceived in the States.

ahh shoot,
the portfolio is here:

http://issuu.com/brettlee/docs/brett_portfolio_high_quality

Hirano... awesome, comprehensive portfolio... mine is not even half that many pages.

As for me, I just thought a few projects would be enough to get an idea of where I am in terms of visual-spatial ambidexterity.

Intiutively, from what I've gathered on this thread, the criteria for admissions are:

GPA--can you hack the school's computer and give yourself good grades?
GRE--are you literate/can you add?
portfolio--can you print stuff out without it looking like a three year old picked the colors?
LoRs--do professors think you're crazy?

*laughter and applause*

Thank you... Thank you...

hw10, you forgot statements of intent: "I am very passionate about the pedagogy of [insert school name]"

Everyone's portfolio looks amazing. Makes me wonder how I will get in to any of my schools! I am applying to, in order from most favoured to least, RISD, Syracuse, Pratt, and UIChicago. Hopefully, I can get into one of them.

I would appreciate it if some of you would look at my portfolio and assess it even though time is currently such a limited resource for many of us. I am happy with the layout and design qualities of the book, but not so satisfied on the content of it because of my inexperience with computer-based programs that could enhance my presentation. I chose to get it printed at a press in New Hampshire called Puritan Press, which was an excellent choice because they have been absolutely amazing with the whole process, unlike many online printing services such as blurb or lulu etc. that do a terrible job of managing printing colours, paper quality, and book sizing.

The book itself is 132 pages long and I don't think this is a bad thing. As Hirano -san said, information gets crammed, and this is absolutely true for most portfolios. You want to express yourself, and this won't happen if you say too much in a crammed space. It does not always apply, but it is also nice to keep an air-iness to a book.

Here are the logistics to me as an applicant:
GREs: m.720 v.400 (Fortunately, I have the excuse of not being a native speaker) w. 4.5
I studied Neuroscience at Boston University and attended the Boston Architectural College for 2 years "part-time" to give architecture a shot after a year of being a disgruntled lab assistant. GPA: 3.4 (BAC), 2.9 (BU due to ridiculous grade deflation and a tough, tough program for normal people such as myself).

Anyhow,
Tell me what you think about my odds! aside from that, good luck to all! (at least, only to those who are not applying to my schools)

:)


Link to portfolio:
http://issuu.com/domingoonie/docs/merger

heres the link
Portfolio

Aaaiiieeee - I just heard from the director at Univ. of Cincinnati that they already have 400 MArch applications... =(

get used to that jk, probably typical of all march programs. actually 400 seems rather low to me. looking at U of Mich '09 numbers they have over 400 just for their 2G option.

MAMBO,

I think I would have done a lot better if it was a paper based test, because you can always go back and that was the format I grew up on... the GRE as it is now is a totally different animal, with variables built in such as not being able to go back to questions and a scoring algorithm that is based on how well you do on the first couple of questions... and of course, don't forget the inscrutable experimental section!

I'm thinking v tests language ability, and q tests math ability. So, it is understandable if English isn't your first language... the GRE is in English, so it would be very hard to understand the questions on the test (q and v), if you weren't familiar with English.


The Villain,

oh yes... PoSs--can you tell us sweet lies you will never be able to live up to?

Am I sniffing glue or are portfolios that are 135 or 150 pages long about 10X too big for M.Arch admissions?

My portfolio is 22 pages counting covers and all. I followed admissions guidelines stating that they wanted 15-20 works.

I don't want to take anything anyway from any of the contents in the portfolios that have been posted. I think the work is great but I really think this is cause to eliminate someone right at the start.

Some schools recommend a portfolio that is 1/2" thick, corresponding to a 100-150 page portfolio.

Most portfolios have the information condensed into a format that is too dense and thus, hard to understand at the fast reading pace of someone working in the admissions committee. This creates the 'wallpaper effect' where the content becomes meaningless unless a great deal of time and effort is spent to decipher it.

I think that it is safe to say that you are at a disadvantage with a 22 page portfolio, it is also safe to say that some with 150 pagers will not have their work thoroughly examined.

I think 135 is very excessive. I don't know if i'd call it 10x too much though. 13 pages seems pretty skimpy. 22 sounds like a good count. but on the other hand I wouldn't dismiss someone who has, say, 60-80 pages because they decide to space things out a bit more. I could appreciate that. I feel like my 40 page port is way too cluttered, but I wanted to have it feel denser this year for some reason. yes, over 100 is just ridiculous, but if it's gorgeous work, who knows what the comities will think of it.

Perhaps "this thing is good and gigantic. I'm on page 86, and I have 500 more portfolios to look at. I'll just put this in the yes pile and move on."

For my applications the 1/2" thickness was a maximum. My 22 page portfolio on 75 lbs cardstock was 3/8" thick.

I followed all of the portfolio admissions requirements exactly. I feel that being able to follow requirements is part of the application itself. That being said, every school has different requirements. My portfolio is 22 pages but it fits all of my schools requirements, so someone with a 135 page portfolio, applying to the same schools, would be at a disadvantage for not following requirements.

I'm also an engineer so I tend to follow rules. I can also appreciate an applicant that has a previous arch degree, I can imagine you have a lot more images you are tying to fit in.

I'll be curious to see how it works out.

kim, you're fine. as long as you a) generally followed the rules and b) you looked at your portfolio and said that it was the best showcase of your work and insight into your thought process, regardless of length... that's all that matters. the people looking at this will not be counting pages.