Hello,

I was in your same situation a year ago, I graduated with an Econ degree and wanted to pursue a M.Arch 1 program also. I thought the portfolio was strictly 'creative' work. It's hard to explain what schools are looking for and I consider visiting the school you are interested in and they will have former portfolio's to look at. I checked out UCLA and I was shocked!! The competition is very high, and many students have great experience from internships. Don't want to intimidate you but I think its best to see what other students are doing;.

Hope this is somewhat helpful

Best of luck

I used some drawings I'd done in my free time and got into the only school to which I applied.

whats up. current m.arch 1 3rd yr
what i think: schools want to see creativity expressed through organizational skills, an ability to create things by means of a systematic process, some degree craftsmanship, visual sensibilities..

and also depends on school of how much each of the above weigh.. umm type of works doesnt matter as long as you execute it one of the above things.. (haha) .. writing, paintings, model made from clay, doodles, welding, casting, landscape work, graffiti, graphic design, etc-non-arch work are legit as long as the concept or idea is legit... work about randomness is probably weak work in my opinion...

the methodology of the school is a factor in what kind of work they are open to and/or looking for...

some can be very openminded on what kind of stuff u can submit, but they still do look for design/visual sensibilities...

the jist: just show that you have ideas and that the work clearly represents it and/or how it works/means

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your responses.

sbliving: I am on the east coast and could take a trip out to look at some schools near me. I am nearby Harvard, MIT, and relatively close to Yale. Do they also have sample portfolios available for the public?

So, in general it can be from personal work but I should include work with a specific intent in mind.

Take it for what it's worth, but I did get in to the non-design background program of my choice about a decade ago with a portfolio filled with a couple of pieces from some college art courses (I'm thinking 3?) and far more sketches, watercolors, etc. on my own time, post college.

Being able to convey ideas with images will be important to you in school and it will help your eye to spend time sketching on a regular basis--work for your portfolio will probably come out of it, so that will be a bonus.

if you are looking at MIT, Harvard, Yale etc., i definitely recommend participating in some kind of summer or intro design studio. if you are at least familiar with producing that kind of work it will help you out quite a bit.

that said, i think the design of the portfolio itself is almost as important as the work within it. looking at portfolio precedents would be helpful. also, it would be cool if you could make a graphics/publication mini-project out of the work you have already produced for other subjects. putting together a publication- print and web- can be a major architectural project and a strong portfolio piece. if you do this, be sure to photograph the physical thing when it is complete.

Just out of curiousity, 7gem, id you've never taken any courses in art or design during your undergrad, isn't it a little presumptuous to say that you have what it takes to get into some of those schools. You'll definitely need a lot of design understanding and training on top of one of their workshops.

I would only consider a degree from MIT, Harvard, and Yale if and only if I'm a rich boy who had the luxury to get it all paid for in advance. Your job security isn't going to change with a degree from one of these schools -- not in the least! Can you imagine being laid off with THAT much debt?

Oh and by the way in no means am I undercutting these schools -- I would have loved to attend one of them. But the reality is I'm not rich so it's out of the question. And the further reality is that many of the head designers at my firm (and most of the firms) are from state schools just as much as they are from the elite schools like GSD and such.

med, I think he meant he's going to look at portfolios from these schools just because he happens to be in their proximity and it's easier to visit