When you read a book, and you see page numbers, they mean one side of a single spread. The same thing applies to your portfolio. If your portfolio is 8.5x11, each 8.5x11 segment is a page. So 30 sides. Not 60 sides.

Assuming you're assembling the portfolio in InDesign (as you should be), turn on "Facing Spreads" in the Document Setup menu. You should see two 8.5x11s side-by-side, or 8.5x22. You might need to reorder your pages slightly to get it to look how you want it to.

No one is going to be counting pages. If you're over by a page or two because of your table of contents or cover (or really anything), no school is going to notice or care, and it's certainly not going to affect your admissions decision.

Thank you! I've exported mine as spreads of 8.5x22, and am clocking in at under 30 pages. I'm wondering if they'll frown at the uploading of spreads instead of individual pages. Some schools have clearly mentioned that we are allowed to put up spreads if that is how we'd like them to view our work, but Michigan leaves this ambiguous. They do say that each page cannot exceed 8.5X11, which I take refers to each page(one half) of a spread, not each page of a PDF document (made up of two facing pages). 

I dunno why I'm freaking so much about these tiny things. Its my last app though, looking forward to a few stress free months!

You can set the properties of a PDF to automatically open as spreads

Just to clarify, you have ~15 spreads that are 8.5x22?

You really needn't worry about the small stuff. Yours is one of hundreds of portfolios that will be reviewed very, very quickly; the minutiae will have no bearing on anything. If the content is strong (relative to the applicant pool) and you fit what the school wants, you'll get in, regardless of any minor portfolio imperfections.

Made an error above: mine's in portrait so the spreads are 11X17, not 8.5X22. I'm wondering how seriously they even take the requirements though..heard of tons of people who go grossly over the limits (I'm talking around double) and still get in!

If it says 8.5x11 but doesn't say landscape, you're fine. Despite what you've heard, going substantially over the limit is not appreciated.

Should we take your comment to mean you have 30 11x17 spreads?

Yep - landscape and portrait are both fine with them. I have 30 pages, 15 spreads...I'm not sure if they're ok with viewing spreads though, as opposed to individual pages, but I'm going to hopefully get this clarified on Monday nonetheless. 

So i clarified with them, turns out spreads are not allowed, each 8.5X11 has to be individually seen on the screen. Hmmm. 

That's quite obnoxious of them, but again, something that you should have had clarified much, much earlier in the process.

While I see the potential benefits of digital submissions... I sure am glad I was able to do physical copies.