Taking an honors level art class in high school can help develop a great portfolio also taking a pre-summer college architecture program (or art program) helps to develop a portfolio. My D25 did a summer program at Roger Williams University and it was excellent!! 4 week program exposed her to what it was like to be an architecture student. They had studio time, visited other colleges (Brown, Harvard, MIT, Yale, RISD) and other sites in Boston Providence, Newport and CT. Lots of hand sketching, model building and design. By the time the program was over she had excellent drawings and models for her portfolio which she added pieces from high school art classes.