I took D27 (who intends to major in animation) to a Portfolio Review Day this past weekend, and I figured I’d post here just in case it helps someone.
The event was hosted at a high school in Charlotte, NC. D27 registered for the event about a month ahead of time, and was receiving texts with information. However, when she went back to the site the night before, it couldn’t find her account. She re-registered, but I don’t think she needed to, since she still received the QR code to check in from her original registration.
The event page said that some schools might open up slots 30 minutes before the event started, but the schools D27 was interested in didn’t. That didn’t turn out to be a problem.
Both D27 and I had read online that people start showing up 1-2 hours early for these events, so we got there 2 hours ahead of time. For Charlotte, this turned out to be unnecessary. We beat most of the school reps there, and left to get some coffee. Nobody started lining up until 11:30am (by the time we got out of the car, we ended up third in line). I did chat with the people staffing the sign in table, and they said that in larger places, like NY and Boston, people do indeed line up two hours early.
The event opened promptly at noon. Schools were set up around the perimeter of the school cafeteria, and it was easy to see at a glance which school was which. Kids just headed to whatever school they wanted to meet with first. Most of the schools that D27 ended up talking to had either QR codes or physical forms that students needed to use to sign in. We waited in line for every school she talked to, but usually not for more than one person (the line at Ringling had 5 people in it when we joined, the longest line we waited in all day.)
Lines for each school did ebb and flow throughout the day. D27 had no problem, though, seeing all of the schools she wanted to see. The event started at noon, and by around 2:40, she’d received 4 reviews and decided she was done. I think she could have seen 3-4 more if she’d wanted to.
The reviewers we met were super helpful. Some were blunt but not unkind. Overall, each talked about D27’s portfolio in terms of what their own school prioritizes or would like to see. I tried hard not to ask questions or interfere in any way (and was moderately successful), but I did stand nearby and take notes during each review, which D27 found very helpful. As someone who knows next to nothing about art, I was happy when multiple reviewers made similar comments on D27’s work. There was one piece that multiple reviewers advised her to remove from her portfolio, and another that at least two reviewers praised specifically. The repetition was kind of validating.
One cool thing we did not expect: at the end of one review, the reviewer pulled out a card that said “portfolio accepted.” It seems to mean that her portfolio passes artistic muster for that school? She was absolutely thrilled. It was nice for her to know that her work is good enough for at least one school with an animation major.
Things we learned:
- If at all possible, bring a phone or tablet on which you’ve saved a digital portfolio. While D27 did bring a (borrowed) physical portfolio with some of her work in it, it was easier, quicker, and in some cases better, to show it digitally. D27 was also able to incorporate some of her first reviewer’s feedback on the fly by adding additional pieces from her camera roll to her digital portfolio. And it was easier for her to present her work in a coherent order digitally, as opposed to pulling a stack of work out of the physical portfolio.
- Notetaking is super helpful. My taking notes let D27 focus on interacting with the reviewer and really paying attention.
- I had D27 write down a few questions for each school before we arrived. I think it helped her to have those in her back pocket.
- Most reviewers (but not all) had business cards; for those who didn’t I wrote down their names and D27 sent thank you notes afterward.
- We learned that, though each school has different things they’re looking for in a portfolio, that mostly seems to mean D27 can curate her existing body of work, rather than creating a bunch of new things.
- Reviews took 5-10 minutes each.
Overall, the experience was rather more joyful than I’d expected. While we were waiting in line, we could sometimes see what other kids were presenting, and it was just so cool to see how much talent, skill and creativity existed in that room. It got me in my feels to think that by this time next year, D27 could be a part of a community of similarly talented and creative people.