mjhara

I just discovered this nifty little thread and thought I would get some opinions from those of you out there who might be able to give me some insight.

The schools I am applying to are:
The University of Minnesota
The University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin
Southern California Institute of Architecture
Columbia University
Pratt Institute

I should probably note that whereas I am applying to an academic program that stresses artistic ability, I have had little experience in actual college level art classes. Most of my artistic ability is self-taught and practiced. A sample of my portfolio can be found below. Anyway, here are the stats:

College: University of St. Thomas
Major: Accounting
Minor: Psychology

GPA: 3.83/4.0
GRE: 1410 (800Q, 610V, 5.0A)
Recommendations: Should be very good.

Portfolio: http://personal.stthomas.edu/mjhara/portfolio.htm

Extras:

Independent Research, Environmental Psychology and Architecture
Varsity football, 4 year starter, 2x All Conference, Academic All-District (american? comes out next week)
Delta Sigma Pi - Professional Business Fraternity, held many leadership positions
Delta Epsilon Sigma - National Scholastic Fraternity
Knights of Columbus - Member, Service work
Volunteer, Regions Hospital, worked with mentally psychotic patients
Catholic Athletes for Christ - Founder, leader
Tommie of the Year Nominee (award for best all around student at my university)
Architecture Experience/Classes: Architecture History, Architectural Drawing

Work experience:
Design intern, Premier Restaurant Equipment Co., designed restaurant layouts

Others:
Woodworking/furniture design (see examples in portfolio)

Any feedback I can get would be great. I appreciate honesty, even in its brutalist forms, so please be so with me.

Marsden

I can tell you that you're least likely to gain admission to Columbia.

And as a former member of a graduate-school architecture admissions committee, I can tell you that the portfolio matters more than all other criteria combined. Yours needs to show some genuine architectural work in order to be taken seriously at any of the top schools.

cheers

I believe he is applying as BA/MArch, in which case his portfolio is fine.

Marsden

Well, I don't know what your experience is, but in mine we liked to see concrete evidence of architectural exploration. To be sure, they did not have to be architecture per se, but they most certainly had to be related.

On more than one occasion, I watched our chairman literally throw aside portfolios without relevant work.

archie101

Aren't the drawings architectural enough that your chairman wouldn't throw aside the portfolio for non-relevancy?

Marsden

He would probably not throw it aside for that reason (nor do I in fact support his doing so for the reason he did). But while the portfolio in question includes some really neat examples--particularly the woodworking--the architectural drawings are not among them, and they do not really indicate profound architectural explorations anyway.

All of that said, I could foresee admission to a couple of the programs on his list. Except that I know nothing of the University of St. Thomas so that might be a handicap as well.

On my committee, we made no distinction between undergraduate degrees, unless they were professional degrees in architecture (in which case they'd be applying to our post-professional program). We left it up to the applicant to exhibit evidence of serious interest (and exercise) in architecture. In fact, it's among the recommended preparations in our catalogue.

We accept studio-art along with other requirements, but I can tell you that these portfolios are being reviewed by architects and theorists and they tend to like seeing architectonic explorations. It's a bias above and beyond what is explained in the application instructions.