chisquared

Hi, I was told to come to the "Architecture Major" forum because architecture kids go through a different admissions process.

I'm a junior right now.

I would like to apply to architecture programs/schools such as: Cornell (this is my first choice, the rest are in no particular order) Carnegie Mellon University, University of Cincinnati, Rice University, University of Southern California, University of Michigan, UVA, UT-Austin, Washington University in St. Louis.

My high school is the LARGEST international school in the world and offers the most APs (good thing or bad thing-- I don't know :P). It's an American school in Asia.

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School Type: Private
Location: Singapore <-- really small country in Asia
Race/Gender: Asian/Female
Unweighted GPA: 3.93
Class rank: School only discloses it to our colleges.

PORTFOLIO (tell me what I need to show more of! I am actually an oil painter and acrylic painter, but I was told that schools like to see more drawings from still life/figure drawings):

http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/558978735cxFNhG

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** denotes honors

Freshman: English 9, Spanish II, Concert Band**, Acting I, Yoga, Alg II/Trig**, Molecular Biology**, History of Japan/Korea, History of China

Sophomore: American Studies (US History + English), Spanish III, Studio Art II (skipped Studio Art I because I showed the teacher my portfolio), Accelerated Chemistry**, Pre-calc**, Weight training, AutoCAD, Aquatics II

Junior: Lifeguarding (I'm certified), Psychology, Spanish IV, Macromedia Flash, Modern Asian Perspectives, AP Lang, AP Calc AB, AP Physics B, AP Studio Art: Drawing

Senior: Tragedy/Comedy, Studies in Satire, AP Spanish, AP Stats, AP Environmental Science, AP Art History, AP Art: 3D, Health

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Haven't taken APs yet, but my mocks were:
AP Studio Art: Drawing: projected 5 for AP
AP Physics: 4
AP Calc AB: 3 (but it was RIGHT after my Track Championships, and I just took another mini-mock on Friday, and I got the 5th highest grade in the class (high 4 or 5).)
AP Lang: N/A

SAT I Score (I took this at the beginning of Junior year, planning to retake in June)
SAT I Math: 660 (I don't know HOW I bombed this...)
SAT I Critical Reading: 650
SAT I Writing: 700/11

SAT II (What I just took + planning to take + predictions)
Math IIC: 780-800 (I am 90% confident in this prediction)
Physics: N/A (I really don't know.)
Spanish w/ Listening: N/A
Literature (if I bomb physics): N/A

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CUMULATIVE COMMUNITY SERVICE HOURS: 200+

* Cross country (JV, V, V):
- girls are 8-year champions for this league of international schools in South East Asia (called IASAS)
- Practices are 2hrs/day
- 10th place for a Malaysia-Singapore 10K run... woohoo I won $50! (signed up by myself, not for school)

* Track & Field (V, V, V):
- girls were 11-year champions for IASAS until last week (GRR!!)
- ran in under-20 Singapore National Championships all 3 years of HS (3K-10th place, 1.5K-4th place, 800m-(cancelled this year, but 7th place as Soph), 4x800m-3rd)
- Practices are 2hrs/day + races and exchanges each week.

* Student Council (Soph, Jr, will also do Snr)
- Sophomore Communications Director (advertising, promoting, etc.)
- Executive Council Communications Director (Exec council looks over all the class councils. I was the only Junior on the council, everyone else were Seniors).
- I have been elected as Executive Council Vice President for this coming year.
- 9+ hours per week

* Ushers' Society (Soph, Jr)
- I'm the ONLY representative (a nice, non-pretentious way of saying 'president') for the club.
- Provides ushers for shows/graduation ceremony/etc...
- Official photographer for a 3-day arts convention at school with the other schools from the IASAS league. Over 42 hours on that, so it wasn't just skipping classes and taking photos on my digital camera.

* Community service in China (not really extracurricular club, it's my personal interest because I used to live in a dingy city in China)
- I am part of a charity club at school called Aiding China.
- I organized my OWN month-long charity trip to Northern China to help mentally-challenged children in school. Plane tickets, housing, food, transport, etc, etc were all self-planned because I HATE HATE HATE those scamming charity trip organizers and want to AVOID paying thousands of dollars only to find out that half of it gets eaten up by some sketchy "non-profit" organization. GRR!!!! I don't know if this is passion/initiative, but it definitely shows that I won't just sit back and let injustice prevail haha.

* Other stuff that isn't worth mentioning on it's own:
- NHS (National Honor Society), SHS (Spanish), NAHS (art), NHSS(the National High School Scholars one)
- Athletic Council (help run/time sports exchanges/meets when I am off-season)
- Designed: posters, bags, sweatshirts, polos, logos, hallways, murals, websites, etc. (These probably will just be mentioned, not included in my portfolio.)

* Piano
- ABRSM (Royal school of music, a British-based exam)
>>> Passed the grade 5 music theory with merit
>>> Passed grades 5 & 7 with merit. (The story behind this is: grade 5 is too easy for me, but ABRSM won't let kids who don't pass theory take anything above grade 5. Unfortunately for me, I HAD NEVER LEARNED THEORY BEFORE, so I CRAMMED FOR 3 months before the exam.)
>>> Now in grade 8 (out of 8 levels before you go for professor-level or something like that).

* IASAS Events (the league our school is part of... depending on the event, these exchanges only bring 3 to 15 people from each school)
- Art (jr)
- Xcountry (soph, jr)
- track (soph, jr)
- leadership/student council (jr)

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Notable Summer Stuff

Fr-Soph Summer:
>>> Stanford EPGY 2 Weeks: Expository Writing
>>> 1 month front desk at Holiday Inn. Wooo checking people in/out. Singapore is a holiday island, so the Holiday Inn here is better here than it is in the states.

Soph-Jr:
>>> 1 week internship at a Chinese architecture firm (+ designed their website)
>>> 1 month SAT prep in CHINESE in China (really fun/different experience)
>>> 1 month self-organized China trip (charity + culture + website: http://tea.miles-away.net/chinaclub)

Jr-Snr:
>>> 6 weeks Cornell Summer School: Intro to Architecture
>>> Starting/organizing a summer program for little kids with my friends.

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Awards:
* AP Scholar
* Honor roll 2 semeters, High Honors (>4.0 GPA) for 4 semesters.

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Other Info

* School organizes 1-week "interim semester trips each year:
- Freshman yr: Habitat for Humanity, built 2 houses in Northern Thailand
- Soph yr: to save money, stayed in Singapore and earned a sailing liscence.
- Jr yr: went to Northern Spain for immersion program and homestay.

* Teacher Recs

- AP Art History teacher: used to be an AP grader, teaching for 20-30 years, husband is an architect, had me in 4th grade and 9th grade... I'm confident she'll know exactly what to write!

- Modern Asian Perspectives teacher: young teacher, but the class is project-based so he knows I'm super pro-active, organized, etc... and also a sponsor for student council so he knows my 'leadership' side.

- Art teacher: will have me for 3 years. Pretty tight with her.

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THANKS SO MUCH! Sorry this was so long!!!

Tzar

for cornell-- just knowing the stats and myself I would say you have a good shot-. I like your portfolio definitely one of the stronger ones- a little bit more diversity in subject matter might be nice- but overall very good. Your grades are good-- SAT (a little low)-but actually because your portfolio is so good they will just sweep over that. you ECs really won't play a role

The acceptance rate is low 1/17, but I would say you have about a 50% shot-- I am not exactly sure what they looking for-- but I think you will be one of the stronger applicants--

I know there aren't a lot of portfolios to look at online so I might post mine to give you an Idea--
maybe sashimi will post his too?

I was/am quite similar to you-- with a few less ECs and I got in(chose cooper union though). you should be fine-. BTW try and do some abstract stuff/ cubist/ other styles- something to show you can think in different ways- maybe even a sculpture- you seem like you have talent so pulling something off like that shouldn't be a problem.

Tzar

also add at least one/two things to your portfolio that you will make during the summer at cornell

chisquared

Hi, thanks for the advice. It has a LOT of insight!! I'm doing AP Art 3D next year so it should be good!

chisquared

oh! and please show me yours/sashimi's portfolio if you decide to upload some stuff!

I've only seen one portfolio from someone who was admitted, and it was filled with still life watercolors. Thanks!

rick12

I am not on any admission committee, but I thought your portfolio was terrific, particularly the pencil drawings. My D was admitted this year to Cornell, Rice, UVA and Wash U (UVA did not accept a portfolio). Her portfolio had a less drawing work, and more painting, collage, and lithography. Yours seems more architectural. She did not have any 'architectural drawings', since she refused to work for me during the summers, and her essay was titled; 'why I never wanted to be an architect.' We heard from the undergraduate dean at Rice that they loved her portfolio, I think they liked the abstractness of it.

Good luck to you and keep up the nice work.

rick

chisquared

Hi Rick,
Thanks!

And wow just the title of your D's essay makes me want to read it! Now I'm curious... lol

-chi2

soozievt

Rick, your daughter had a very successful admissions outcome! Kudos to her and best of luck at Stanford. That essay title is enticing and makes me want to know the premise!


Oops...I just reread the title....and I now see it differently than I first thought....because it says "wanted", not "want".

Chisquared...I am not qualified to evaluate a portfolio but just want to say that your artwork is very good. I also thought the pencil drawings stood out.

rick12

I may have to ask her if I can read the final version of her essay. She never showed it to me, I only saw an early draft that she had left in our computer room. The premise seemed to be that with two architects as parents she was force fed architecture on every trip, vacation, etc. That made her decide she did not want to be an architect, and it was not till we made an addition to the house so that she could have her own room that she realized how passionate she had become about the design of every detail in this new structure.

She wrote five essays in one afternoon, and did not show them to any counselor, teacher, or parent. At the time I thought this was a mistake, but perhaps her personality came through more clearly without the additional polish.

rick

soozievt

rick, thanks for the explanation. Once I realized she wrote "wanted", and not "want", I figured the premise might be along the lines that you said. I think that is a clever essay and had a nice personal twist to it. As you say, the important piece is that her personality came through. Obviously, it must have as she has been quite successful with her admissions outcome.

I didn't realize you are also married to an architect. I appreciate your posts and it is really valuable to have architects contributing here. This is not my field but I do have a daughter going into it. Thanks for your helpful and informative posts.

PS, one of the principal architects for whom my D will be interning this summer did undergrad in the UVA program and MArch at Rice, which is where I think you said you went.

sashimi46

hey chisquared,

i just PM'd my portfolio to you

rick12

soozievt, that is a coincidence, my wife has her undergraduate architecture degree form UVA '78, and MArch from Rice in '82. Both are great schools. I thought Rice would be a great place for my D, but of all the architecture schools she liked UVA the most.

I hope your D has a great internship experience.

rick

tl339

Chi-Chi, you're too smart. Stop bragging.

- Love, Tim

chisquared

lol hi tim.

sashimi46

include your summer college work!!!