I think if you have a 20 page portfolio you're fine, I also think if you have an 80-100 page portfolio you're fine.

you have to consider context and the background of the applicant. For someone without an undergraduate degree in architecture then yeah 20-30 pages of mostly single piece artwork is good.

For someone like me where I have extensive undergraduate time in architecture and a b.s. in architecture, i think 80-100 pages or more is fine. I have 6 projects in mine, 3 of which where semester long projects and my portfolio is 70 pages, and it is pretty spaced out, no clutter.

Had I included the remaining 10 or so projects I left out or included more information on the 6 that i have It would be closer to that 150 page range, and I think it would have been fine.

As for size my 70 pages printed on 110 lbs matte photopaper is well under 1/2" think. I also got a couple printed professionally on 80 lbs cardstock and that is also well under 1/2"

not for the sake of any rules or restrictions , but i believe it is better to tell part of the story in 1 or 2 continuing pages.
most of the portfolios have been uploaded at archinect mostly hesitates to put text , image and drawing into one page..
my portfolio has a architectural magazine density in general, which keeps it short and practical.
anyway as long as the work is qualified, the representation is secondary.

honestly, as beautiful as hirano's portfolio is, a 150-page portfolio is way too much. it's not so much that it breaks the rules (who caaaares about rules? people who break the rules in the right way can get in), but it's really the question of would the committee member be able to flip through it all in time? you should be able to condense your top works down to a more reasonable number. you're not making a coffee table book; you're making a portfolio. and at the mit open house, one professor stressed in particular not having too many pages for this very reason.

i think for most non-arch degree candidates, 20 is the average. that said, i've seen some of these 20 pagers (a few of them gsd-certified) and have often wondered why they squeezed so much info onto a page. you have to keep in mind that the committee members have relatively little time to look over these at a first glance. any info that you put on the page should be easy to read; the page should be breathable.

this all said...why is there so much fuss over the page numbers? advice to future applicants: think more about the quality of the content, in terms of not only the individual works themselves but the layout design and the narrative you are setting. if you worried about reaching page 20-something, maybe you don't have enough works at the moment and you should apply the following year.

Obviously the rules are in place so that we can think of alternatives. Nevertheless, in the case of portfolios, I would preferably err on the side of caution.

I suspect these 'rules' are more or less 'guidelines' to prevent us from taking things too far. Furthermore, the reviewers' time is short, precious, and valuable, so I don't think it is far-fetched to suggest that a reviewer might actually be insulted that an applicant was subjecting them to so much information.

We're all talented, and that's why we want to attend these schools. But, if you are actually that talented, you ought to be fully capable of condensing you work into a legible, but still highly expressive piece of art. I simply consider it to be the first test that we are forced to confront.

I can definitely respect the fact it is necessary to space things out over a few pages. My perspective probably comes from the fact that I may approach the portfolio more like an undergraduate because I don't have a previous architecture degree.

I applied to Columbia GSAPP, Cornell and RPI.

Columbia had a vague description of what they were looking for. Cornell didn't have a specific description for the graduate program but under the undergraduate portfolio guidelines it specifically says 15-20 images with freehand sketches. It also says that portfolios not meeting requirements will be eliminated from consideration. RPI has similar requirements and states that inclusion of CAD can eliminate your portfolio from consideration.

To me not following these requirement is the same as submitting your application 2 weeks late. What happens when a client wants you to design a 2000 sf house and you give them a 10,000 sf house?

I only take these requirements so seriously because this means so much to me. I know it means a lot to everyone else here or else you wouldn't be online all day. Just my 2 cents, good luck to everyone

kim, I feel you made a drastic mistake: I too saw those cornell requirements. but they're for the UNDERgraduate program. I crapped my pants upon reading them, but realised we dont need to follow any requirements for the grad program. you're probably in ok shape since you dont have an arch background (much like kids applying to the Barch prog), but I hope you didnt follow those too stringently!

I totally agree with you on the not following requirements though. It pisses me off when people say things like "rules were meant to be broken.." blah blah...if I was on the committee I'd make up arbitrary rules just to see if people are professional enough to follow them and care enough about my program to have an eye for detail.

Yeah I realized they were for undergraduates. My portfolio already pretty much fit those requirements. I just added the mediums and sizes of the drawings/paintings then added my address to the cover like they wanted. I'm mailing it today so I hope I'm fine.

Yay someone out there doesn't think I'm crazy! Even if you don't follow the content guidelines, every school has their own guidelines about putting a name, address or academic degree on the cover. I changed my portfolio a little bit for each school I applied to, just to tailor it toward that school.

Kim... are you from the 607? (Considering your school choices and SN)

< Attended Binghamton U, grew up in Vestal

I live outside Albany now (518) , grew up in Boston (718, 508 or 978) depending....

Does anyone of you have a problem with Yale recieving your TOEFL scores? I've sent my scores already 2 times but onj the site it's written that they haven't recieved it yet, which makes me nervous... Which code and department code did you use wile sending?

Hey Jazz...

I'm having the same problem with Yale and my GRE scores, which I sent to them back in November... it took about a week after the deadline for it to finally say my portfolio was received (even though my tracking said it arrived on Dec 28.

I called the admissions office late last week she said it could take up to 2 weeks - it didn't matter how early your mail deliveries arrived: they simply sat idle in a box and they begin cataloging the items after the online application is submitted... so yours could very well just be in the bottom of the massive pile they inevitably have.

Also,

Does anybody know how to access Columbia's online scholarship form??

I have scoured their website but to no avail. Hopefully someone can help me out so I don't have to wait til tomorrow.

By the way, this website really is incredible. Has definitely become an addiction.

ADavin-

the columbia scholarship form is located on the application site. if you log back into your application, click on "downloadable forms" in the left column, there is a link to the scholarship application. you have to print it out and send it to columbia. they require a lot of financial information and a copy of the irs income tax (yours and your parents). the deadline is january 15!

I am looking for opinions of my undergraduate portfolio for graduate admissions. Here is a link to issuu where it is located.

http://issuu.com/garrison23/docs/undergradportfolio

Keep in mind some line colors/weights are low and hard to see and that is because of the way it was printed out. Here is a list of schools I am applying to. Let me know what you think and the chances of getting into these schools are. Thanks

Univ of Texas at Austin
Univ of Michigan
Univ of Cincinnati
Univ of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Washington Univ St. Louis
Clemson University
Univ of Texas at Arlington

Ooh I just discovered this and spend a lot of time procrastinating.

Speaking of Princeton, I am a Princeton undergrad and on Sunday night I saw them bringing boxes full of (portfolios?) into a Faculty room at the School of Architecture. That means they must have started going through them on Monday... omg!

* spent

ADVICE NEEDED-

I found a TYPO in my GSAPP personal statement after I'd already submitted it. Now I can't change it by myself, however I COULD email Admissions to ask them to do it for me.

here's the bit: "****** immigrants from developing
countries are sent to under-served peripheral towns, while those of
Western origin are successfully integrated into major cities. This disparity perpetuates problems of racism and classism in society which could be amerliorated by better planning."

Should I:

1. Pray they only skim these things and won't see it? Or won't hold it against me, since the rest of my application is hopefully strong?

or

2. Contact Admissions and ask them to change it themselves? (Potential backfires: this could draw attention to it/ they'd be pissed that I was asking such a minor thing when they have so many apps to process.)

What should I do?

((BTW- it happened because I kept switching from GoogleDocs into Word and back... eventually EVERYTHING got the little red underline ziggles and I couldn't spot the error- which I added in relatively late-, despite hundreds of revisions.))

Hmm… There is no “ideal” number of pages for portfolio, I think. But as NLW2 said, appearance of portfolio might be one of the measures for evaluation. For example, Rem’s SMLXL wouldn’t be that powerful if it was crammed 20pages.

ffqh, I applied to GSD, Princeton, GSAPP, UCLA, UPenn, and MIT. I chose MArchI program, but actually I got a mail from UCLA which says that I should change my choice to MArchII few days ago.
You said that it is baffling of me to go to grad school, but I think I still need to study more before working as an professional architect. Also, I want to work World-wide in future, so I want an educational background in the U.S. That’s one of my reasons to go to grad school.

ADavin, You know Shuhei Endo? Wow, I’ve never imagined that he is that famous architect outside of Japan.

cgkeech, I understand your point. However, as I said, number of pages is not a big issue. I agree that every portfolio should succinctly convey your ideas, but I think the word “succinct” is not always about amount of pages.

archist.brett, I like your pencil drawings. They are neatly drawn, and have some “poetic” atmospheres. It is interesting that you took advantage of the system of the Panopticon for a park center.

Tecture, you got a nice portfolio. Easy to grab what you did, and I like your axonometric drawing on page 49. And, here’s my opinion; I think you can use your blank on pages more effectively. For example, the right page on 69, where there are 1 big and 3 small model photos. You should put those small pictures above the big one and move all to the center of the page. And there are some pages where you can make visual elements bigger: diagrams on right page95, pictures on left103…etc. But overall, I think you did a great job! Good luck!

Sbeth85

Relax. It would be absurd if GSAPP rejected you over such a trivial thing. And I wouldn't call them about it, you'd probably just piss them off with such a request.

sbeth,

I told Cornell that: "...ambition for a career straddling OF the conceptual and the material has developed.."

I also noticed as I was standing in line at fedex to send off my ucla app at least one typo.

I also called Michigan "Michigan University"

you should be fine.

dont call them because all you're doing is notifying them of the error. it's the same reason you dont ever apologize for anything in your statement.

Hirano,

I wouldn't say Shuhei Endo is "that famous" here in the US, but he is definitely a recognized "sub-starchitect" who has been in many books and publications. I wrote a term paper way back during my second year of undergrad on his unique forms and use of materials

Ok late to the party but a long time follower. Seen some great work from you guys and best of luck since it's all out of our hands now. I sent out my Jan 15 apps and thankfully they all arrived unharmed. I went for a couple reaches in the early rounds but I am hoping to add one more "relatively safe" school to my list. Does anyone know of schools with a Feb 1 or later deadline for MArch 1? With the exception of Florida, Houston and Kansas...already applied there.

Anyone know when GSD and Yale starts looking at apps?

Hi...I'm new to this forum. Wish I had seen it a 9 months ago, it would have made me feel a whole lot better about the application process!

Well, I'm at the point where most of the apps are out. I'm trying to sign up for the physics and calc pre-reqs required for most of the MArch I programs. But keep running into hurdles signing up for these classes. The schools, even the community college near me won't let me sign up saying I need pre-reqs such as trigonometry and pre-calc to sign up for the architecture pre-reqs. Is anyone else having these issues? Does anyone know of any online classes that would let me get away without the pre-pre-reqs? Does anyone know if i can get away in grad school without the Physics and Calc prereqs?

Yunez and TheVillian- thanks guys, you definitely calmed me down :) Mum's the word.

I didn't apply to UPenn in the end because I didn't want to reformat my entire 40-page port down to 20... but now I wish I had, I am drooling over some of their certificates- like ones in Ecological Architecture, Real Estate, and Graphic Design.

Sbeth85 - I read your sentence like 5 times before I could fine the typo, so I wouldn't worry about it.

I found 2 typos in my portfolio after I submitted it to GSAPP. I didn't notice them as I proof read the text about 50 times so I'm hoping they won't notice them. I'm pretty sure it happens to everyone, even if it's just a comma misused.

other feb 1 deadlines that i know of:
rice, wash u in stl

pretty sure the deadline for rice was december 31st as it is listed on their website.

Tulane has a feb 1 deadline also

i was just recalling from last year... i didnt bother to verify. oops. sorry guys.

sonali07,

try byu independent study. They seem very flexible. I was looking for physics.

http://ce.byu.edu/is/site/courses/university.cfm

Also, you might want to check with the schools you apply if the classes fulfill their per-req too.

Hirano,

thanks for your comment.
after reading the reasons why you are applying to MArch, it seems like you are very humble. I hope you do well in one of those schools you've applied to.

I think most portfolios on this thread are great, disregarding the length. My recommenders say do not worry about the length, but only the quality of your work represented. :) good luck everyone

sonali07,

Since you already have an undergrad degree it shouldn't be a problem getting out of prereqs at community college for Physics and Calculus. At least it wasn't for me. There should be a simple petition process. If not talk to the teacher or dean of students. They won't stand in your way.

It's really nice to see everyone begin to reach the finish line. I think this thread has really charted our progress, questions and concerns throughout this process. There's been a lot of useful comments, and it's certainly helped keep me a little bit more sane. Just wanted to express my thanks. Sent my last app out today. Whew! Crossing my fingers...and that goes to all of us. Good luck, everyone!

Done.

villian--
I just finished as well. It feels good, but I'm honestly kinda worried about the waiting game for the next two months...

oh I know. it's going to be tough. I wonder how many times I will scour the internets for admissions statistics on my various schools in the next 60 days.

I'm not too worried about my chances of being offered admission into a decent program, even if it isn't my first choice, but the financial aspect is giving me panic attacks... I'm trying to save up money to pay for a car and a potential long-distance move, but new expenses keep popping up left and right. Even if I get offered a full scholarship somewhere (fat chance), I'd still have to cough up money for living expenses. Arrrgh...

lig, try not to let it bother you too much. just be excited you, hopefully, got into a great program and worry about the financial stuff via loans. $ is periphery, what matters is that you make the most of your graduate studies because they're most likely going to be expensive no matter what.

Anyone having trouble getting their recommendations in?

I've submitted everything on my part, but the people that I have requested letters from are dragging their feet. Today is my last due date and I still have 2 outstanding recommendations. Really pisses me off, it's just like if you can't do it just say it, now it's too late to ask anyone else.

Kim, I am having the exact same problem with 3 great recommendations and I feel like my last nerve is about to pop!

Me too! Someone reheated fish in my office today, I had to step out or I was gonna loose it. I have faith that by the end of the day it will get done, but the stress leading to that point is too much for me today.

m2p,

Thanks for the Columbia University Scholarship tip... I was hours away from thinking this piece of the puzzle was done, when it came up on this thread; onto more financial aid...

kim607,

I notified my referees in May... all acounted for.

Hey all, I've lurked here for quite some time, but have decided that it's my turn to contribute something to this incredibly and alternatingly helpful/stress-inducing thread.

My applications were completed last week, and yesterday I spoke to one of my ex-professors who has had boatloads of experience serving on admissions committees on top 10 M.Arch programs. Perhaps this decisions process has been covered on threads before, but I thought this would alleviate the ???!!?!ness of waiting it out till mid March.

First of all, all your files are reviewed by the general admissions office, which whittle down the HUGE applicant pool this year by tossing out the obviously unqualified. For the really competitive schools like the GSD, I guess this means low GPAs, GRE scores, incoherent essays and photo albums of your cat. Faculty may get involved, and for UC Berkeley, your portfolio will have been viewed by at least 4 different professors and maybe a couple of unofficial graduate student reviewers, before ever being discussed in relation to the rest of the pool for a decision.

When your application does get to the AdComm of about 5? professors, some weeks later, they go through it in the YES/NO/MAYBE style that we've all heard about. Your few minutes to impress may be successful, and for every school, if you are one of the top applicants that year that they absolutely have to have, they will call you as soon as they can. This is to gently nudge you in their direction, so that you will pick their program and let them know, before the other acceptances roll in. They will probably also throw $$$ at you!

The middle pool will require another day of decision-making, and your portfolio is scrutinized more than ever. Dynamics of the admitted pool will be also considered, which is why diversity and areas of specialization are things that you can play up. Admissions will approach your file holistically and consider every part. This round will probably be notified about a week later, from mid-to-late March, via email or snail mail. So if you don't get the call... don't lose heart! They do a sort of rolling admissions I guess. This is followed by the wait list decisions even later, and so forth.

Disclaimer: I'm not the expert here, and different schools do vary... lie the GSD only seems to pass on decisions via snail mail. But I'm just passing on what I've heard. This is getting rambly so I will stop.

Oh and by the way, I called MIT about the TOEFL requirement listed on my current status, and was told by the very helpful people there that the computer system automatically flags international applicants for this req. So don't worry if you're international and have English as your first language; the committee will review each case and figure out that you don't need that score.

I also found out on the same phone call that my MIT M.Arch I admissions file is missing one letter of recommendation, even though I had received both individual confirmation of upload from my recommender and the online letter submissions system. The person I spoke with said that the MIT online system runs on four (FOUR!!?!) separate databases and things may get lost on the way. But unofficially speaking, they've forwarded plenty of applications with only two letters to the final admissions committee, so technically my application was considered complete. I'm not too fussed, and am forwarding an email copy to the office as soon as I can... but just FYI, you might like to check your status with them over the phone.

Aguacate,

Seems like there isn't 100% certainty any of the applicants got in or not to any of the programs until after admissions decides who gets in or not. Unless anyone has a time machine, it's all just guess work.

hw10, I didn't mean to suggest that I somehow had the secret to getting admitted... I just hoped to share what I've learned from a very reliable source about the facts of the general process. It's obviously a crapshoot at this point; with so many qualified applicants, it's impossible to say what subjective criteria would work for you. We all had to make our case as strongly as we could and hope for the best. I just thought that there would be people out there, like me, who were wondering what the hell happens exactly during the long weeks in between submissions and notifications.

aguacate,

I appreciate your post. This will actually let me relax a bit til at least a beginning of march.

aguacate u mentioned that the gsd rules out applicants with low gpas and gre scores as their first step, does this mean they don't start looking at portfolios before this first group is tossed out? i've a relatively low gpa/gre score, my statement is pretty ordinary and might be too personal and informal, and recs are great (i think!) and my portfolio's pretty good, but what's the point if they wont get to that? i'm an international applicant, does this help in any way for the gre? tofel is ok on the other hand, iBT 111 but super worried abt my crappy gre scores now!!

zoon, I doubt they would automatically not look at the rest of your application if your GPA or GRE are relatively low. That being said, even if they look at the entire application, they are much more likely to toss people whose GPA or GRE don't meet the recommended minimum, especially if they are a fair way below this minimum.

Anyone know when GSD and Yale start looking at apps?