Grad Spotlight – Katie

News from Katie – Stanford grad currently in the MIT graduate architecture program

…..as far as applying to architecture schools, i would say that hands-down the most important elements of the application package are portfolios and essays. i don’t know about every school, but most of the ones i applied to were looking for evidence of creativity and critical thought. although architectural experience was probably not a bad thing, most of the people in my level 1 class didn’t have any architectural experience beforehand, and the school certainly wasn’t looking for proof of knowing AutoCAD in the application.

when i applied, i included mostly artwork in my portfolio - i’d been a studio art major also at stanford, and i kept up my artwork while i was working after school (at the same time i was applying to architecture school, i was also applying to MFA programs). i really don’t think i could have gotten into architecture school without the strong art background. also, i think many schools make public the portfolios of admitted students, so go ahead and ask to see them.

i think having worked for a couple of years after Stanford was really valuable. when i graduated, i really didn’t know what i was going to do, so i didn’t want to jump into grad school. i think this was a really important step personally for me, and i also think that in the end it helped my chances for getting into grad school and also keeping grad school in perspective now that i’m here. as far as applying, it also helped to have specific reasons for being interested in architecture - and those weren’t reasons i would have known right after college, they were reasons i learned while working in planning.

so really, i would definitely recommend taking some time to work and also seriously building a portfolio - i’d even go so far as to say that if you don’t have already some body of creative work that you could shape up to put in a portfolio (i mean, if you’re starting from scratch with nothing) then architecture school might not be the right choice (at least MIT).

hope that helps!

Katie