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.
Completely agree. The challenge is that many high schools have cut art programs from the curriculum. I don’t remember exactly but I think it was UVA that said they don’t accept portfolio’s because they understand this situation and don’t want to restrict the applicants that might not have had that exposure.
My son took an online course through Syracuse - sounds similar to yours through Roger Williams except they didn’t visit other schools. He definitely ended up with a couple of pieces to be able to include in his portfolio (2-4?) but caution to the parents/students that think a summer course like that is going to get them their whole portfolio - it won’t.
Given the commitment that admissions to a B.Arch program entails we wanted to use that summer program to gauge our sons commitment to the career path. It was an extra expense but the credit transferred into the chosen school.
Great points. I agree it will not complete a portfolio. Taking an art class at high school, online or a local program can help. My daughter was so afraid to take the summer program because it mentioned that they would be doing a lot of sketching. I was blown away by the quality of her work. The program really focused on taking someone new to drawing all the way to getting great portfolio pieces. We also wanted her to take this summer program to make sure she really wanted to study architecture. She has midnight or later in the studio, deadlines to meet, visiting architects, site visits, visits to architecture firms. The RWU program was excellent!!! She met 20 plus other high school students also interested in architecture. The program definitely helped her know what architecture is all about!! She’s all on board.
My D25 applied to 9 colleges for architecture (including UVA) and only a handful required portfolios. Some said optional but I recommend you submit!
My D25 was also able to obtain 3 credits from RWU to transfer. Another bonus for taking a pre summer class. But taking a local art class over the summer could also help develop a portfolio.
S23 applied to a dozen schools, seem to recall only 2-3 of them were 4 year year BA Arch (one was in-state flagship). I’d say the schools were roughly 1/3 each required/rec’d/don’t submit on the portfolio. Completely agree that even if it’s rec’d - submit it, it can only help the applicant.
In hindsight some of the schools he applied to I would have guided him not to bother with (U-Texas, NC State) due to their low OOS admit rates making a reach(y) school unrealistic.
A steep learning curve for sure.
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My D25 has applied to a total of 9 and only applied to accredited programs which are 5 year programs, and one 4 year not accredited but can add 1 year for a masters degree which is accredited. 2 are reach the rest are match/safety. Agree about not wasting time applying to the ones that are hard to get into.
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Given that it’s late November, this may no longer be useful, but thought I’d chime in …
Our daughter applied to architecture programs last year, enrolled at Tulane, and couldn’t be happier. I will say that she is working VERY hard - in addition to the 9 hours of studio class time, she easily spend an additional 15-20 hours in the studio each week. She was ready to change majors after about 1 month, but is now all in. I think there is a lot of comradery in the late nights bonding over cardboard models 
We struggled with the same challenge that you are facing in terms of evaluating her chances of admission. She had great grades, reasonable test scores, an ok portfolio (did not take any art classes in high school, which was a big mistake), and lots of demonstrated interest in architecture - both through summer programs, course work, and clubs. I personally think that her demonstrated interest (along with grades) was a big selling point in her applications. She did a summer program at Tulane (credits transferred!), Notre Dame (a reasonable cost to evaluate interest and VERY well run) and SCAD (cool experience, but did not help bolster her portfolio as we had hoped).
We applied to a lot of the same schools that have been mentioned in this post - happy to share our experience/outcome with various schools if you want to shoot me a DM.
Though belated, I wish you good luck through this process!
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My daughter is a first year architecture major at UC Berkeley (went for the BA rather than B.Arch). She had a strong portfolio—but many schools didn’t ask for one (including Cal Poly SLO—one of the top program in the US).
If you’re looking for portfolio feedback, check out Drexel University’s free portfolio review sessions. My daughter did 2 on Zoom last year and it really helped her. The professor recommend a variety of pieces—including architecture designs and 3-D models, fashion, screen printing, drawing, painting, etc… He specifically mentioned showing a breath of hand created and digital pieces. FWIW—she got into every program she applied for. (Except WL at UW)
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