Portfolio Day experiences - share yours!

College Majors Visual Arts and Film Majors
1

<p>My daughter went to NPD yesterday and I wanted to share the following experience.</p>

<p>Very long lines, as expected. Bringing someone to wait in the longer lines is a very good idea. In four hours, she was able to see four schools. There was an extremely long wait in line for the big name schools, but all the schools spent a long time with her (20 minutes or so). </p>

<p>The great thing about the feedback was that they all pretty much agreed on her work and her talent. What needed to be done in one area, and a universal interest in another area that she has developed less. They ALL wanted to see sketchbooks. (I think that they want to see that you are working outside of art class, and they want to see what you do in your least self-conscious art.) In my daughter's case, the sketchbooks got a lot of interest. </p>

<p>In the end, she came away with a really clear picture of what people considered her greatest strengths and weaknesses. The universality of the comments made it much easier for her to come away knowing what she had to do, rather than guessing which school to listen to. </p>

<p>Anyway, highly recommended. I expected much less, a kind of "keep this in, take this out" sort of thing, but she got so much more than that.</p>

<p>I'd love to hear your experiences with NPD. </p>

<p>And for those whose kids went through NPD and then got into the art schools involved, I'd love to know how much they tailored their portfolio to the suggestions of the reviewers at NPD.</p>

2

<p>I just went to NPD last saturday in University of Hartford. The lines in RISD are long, but they move very fast compared to others, probably because they have eight reps or so. </p>

<p>I was able to visit five schools, and i agree that bringing somebody is a good idea. Neither one of the schools requested for my sketchbook, although i made sure that i have it with me. Unlike your daughter's experience, mine was a little bit confusing. RISD liked my charcoal drawing; whereas, University of Hartford didn't like it. So now, i'm not sure whether to take it off or not. I must say RISD gave me the most feedbacks either positive or negative ones. </p>

<p>SVA, Pratt and UConn all liked my portfolio. RISD wanted me to do more on typography and concentrate on composition. U of Hartford wanted to see more on observational drawings.</p>

<p>I must say that NPD was a very nice experience for me, but also, a very exhausting event. I'm planning to attend another NPD on Nov. 18 coz i still want to see a lot of schools although i've already went to the schools that i'm planning to apply to.</p>

3

<p>One thing I might recommend is to ask the rep if they are a faculty member, and if so, which discipline do they teach. You will likely hear more consistent feedback from admissions reps who may be more in tune with the broad scope of the institution. Faculty may look at the portfolio with a bias or lack of appreciation for some media.</p>

4

<p>NPD - got excellent feedback from both RISD and MICA, ended up going to MICA because they gave me the most ass-ripping, wonderfully critical review.</p>

5

<p>We attended Portfolio day two years ago; thus, take what I say with that in mind.</p>

<p>Our first stop was RISD. We waited in line a while and was VERY dissappointed to find out that our reviewer was an alum and NOT on the faculty. Her critique was a waste too.</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon and Syracuse was much more interesting. The CMU guy wanted my daughter to have more pieces involving time in motion,which my daughter did. In fact, when she had her porfolio reviewed again at the CMU interview, they made a big deal about her having a number of time and motion pieces,which I think got her high enough marks to get her accepted into CMU. Thus, his advice on Portfolio day was priceless.</p>

<p>Syracuse gave some really good insight and criticism into her work. She made the changes and when she had a personal interview and personal evaluation at Syracuse; she got admitted there too.</p>

<p>I would use porfolio day early in yor high school career ( such as Junior year). Get the feed back from the colleges that you are interested in. Make the necessary changes and have a personal review at the college. It really, really does help.</p>

6

<p>Other thoughts from our experience:
- Don't bring just one piece even if you did spend six months working on it!
- On the other hand, there is such a thing as bringing too many items.<br>
- The reps we met wanted to see variety. They were not happy to see only photographs, no matter how beautiful they were.
- Get in your first line before the start time.<br>
- They start and end reviews promptly at the advertised times. If you are still in line, you are out of luck.
- SAIC also sends people hired just to do portfolio reviews. They are not admissions staff.
- My husband felt the reviewers spent more time with high school students that brought their parents with them.
- The reviewers we met offered constructive criticism. We heard horror stories that some students were treated harshly by some schools.</p>

7

<p>I went the last two years. Although I'm looking to go into architecture, most schools were very helpful and positive.</p>

<p>Cooper Union - insightful, very detailed, took their time
RISD - took their time, very helpful
Washington U. St Louis - extremely nice, probably the nicest people there, and helpful
Carnegie Mellon - not as nice... but still had some interesting suggestions</p>

<p>As has been expressed, the RISD lines are always massive. luckily boston had about 10 reps, so it wasn't too too bad.</p>

<p>Because I'm interested in architecture, I always asked specifically to speak with someone in Arch (if it is the school's practice to review architecture portfolios). Most of them didn't, but RISD turned me to an industrial designer who was awesome and really helpful. He talked to me about the design studio hours and how the arch. and ID curriculums are different than the rest of RISD. All in all, a worthwhile experience.</p>

8

<p>and another thing, as much as possible when it's your turn to be reviewed don't bring your parents with you coz some schools don't like the idea. In my case, i told my mom to stay behind since i'm already a college student, and i don't want to be looked like I'm still babied. My mom insisted to go everytime i get reviewed coz she wanted to see also, and then, one school who reviewed me asked if that is my mom and requested her to sit in the waiting area coz the reviewer only wanted to speak with me.</p>

<p>and yea. if they said that they'll be ending the review at 4pm. By 3:30pm, they are no longer allowing students to fall in line.</p>

9

<p>---- SAIC also sends people hired just to do portfolio reviews. They are not admissions staff.----</p>

<p>Who do they hire to do this?</p>

10

<p>---- SAIC also sends people hired just to do portfolio reviews. They are not admissions staff.----</p>

<p>--Who do they hire to do this?--</p>

<p>The reviewer my daughter had has an MFA from SAIC. He is a working artist and appears to occasionally guest lecture at some schools, but is not a professor.</p>

11

<p>Having worked a few Portfolio Counseling sessions (but not NPD) as a rep for the college, I followed these steps below:</p>

<p>• Tell them about myself (quickly) and what to expect during the next 15-20 minutes to put them at ease. Always clarifying that this is a Portfolio Counseling session and will not be used as an evaluation = no pressure for the student.
• Look at 10-15 pieces (quickly), privately assess the student's strengths, and make brief/positive comments as I am sorting in order to put the student at ease and build their confidence/self esteem. Note: this is where you start hearing the self-doubt. For example as I am looking at a piece they may make negative side comments about it and themselves. If something is terrible, I may simply say, "okay" while moving on to the next.
• Ask about their interests - to see if their work was connected or disconnected.
• Ask about their H.S. art program - to get a sense about the development of their portfolios.
• Ask them to choose their 2 to 3 favorite pieces and discuss why - to determine if they are able to self-critique.
• Pull out the pieces I felt worked well and focus upon strengths. Sometimes sort according to skill sets.
• Discuss with them how the college might serve their interests.
• Provide direct feedback on 1 or 2 piece that were weaker than the others and indicate how to improve.
• Provide an overall assessment of their portfolio, bringing the better pieces - often to their surprise - to the top and sending the weaker ones to the bottom - often a surprise to them as well.
• Allow for them to ask as many questions about their work or the college as time permits, or continue with additional feedback.
• Thank the students for taking the time to show their portfolio and their interest in the college. Repeat strengths and weaknesses. Remind them to listen and be responsive to their hearts and intuition, and wish best of luck.</p>

<p>That was my formula. Had to develop one in order to utilize the time efficiently. Instructions from the college were only to be friendly, positive-minded, and provide appropriate and balanced feedback.</p>

12

<p>^ i wish this thread was done a few weeks before my NPD coz the things you said were actually what the reviewer in UH asked and talked about. He asked me to choose 3 pieces and why, and then, he also browse through my work quickly in the start.</p>

13

<p>i LOVED portfolio days, national or local. i went to every one that i could from sophomore year till senior. it really helped me learn how to be a professional, how to discuss my artwork to people and really get them interested in what i was doing, as well as get feedback as to what artwork was the most powerful of my portfolio. i learned that art doesn't speak for itself sometimes, though we would all like to think that. explaination and identification of the work really amplifies it.</p>

<p>it's wonderful to be able to talk to fellow artists, as well. you can discuss all of your thought processes through creating artwork, and they will understand because they do it too. never underestimate them. also, think of them as your friends, or at the very least FELLOW artists. they aren't your prosecutors. i made a few friends out of my reviewers, have fun with it! make a discussion, don't be a sounding board.</p>

<p>remember: the art of critique, whether self or otherwise, is the art of stating the obvious. do so as they examine your work; never reply to a question with "i dunno" or "because i liked it that way" because there is truly a reason for every decision one makes in creating their artwork. it's all a matter of back-tracking.</p>

<p>so anyway, portfolio days are wonderful. bring a book or be prepared to make some friends in line. else you'll probably be quite board. </p>

<p>also, leave your parents behind. this is like your first real-world test as an artist to see if you've got the will and maturity to support yourself in your field. never let someone else speak about YOUR artwork for you. only an artist truly understands their art.</p>

14

<p>I went to the one last month at SAIC. I saw Cooper Union, MICA and Parsons (stood in line 2 hours for Parsons!) The Cooper lady didn't much like my work, told me it was not loose enough, but the reviews I got from MICA and Parsons were very postive. I got a letter from MICA a week later saying my portfolio was accepted. It seems most of the schools like 50% observation and 50% creative work. I have no idea what Cooper is looking for! Though they seem to put an emphasis on creativity more than anything else :)</p>

15

<p>My Daughter went last year. She saw 4 schools. First Mass Art where she had already sent in her completed application. The rep (an admission person)did a quick review and said because she had already applied, that the slides had been reviewed and a decision had been made based on that, she was accepted soon after NPD.</p>

<p>The MICA rep (I think faculty) spent a lot of time reviewing her portfolio. SHe asked lots of questions as to the thought processes behind some of the works. My D thought the rep was overly critical, and felt that like she was standing there defending her art the entire time. I don't know if this is part of the process, but my D also received the 'accepted portfolio/early notification' letter and was accepted.</p>

<p>After MICA she saw Syracuse, which at the time had a very long line. She hit it off with their rep (who was a faculty member), and really enjoyed the review. It was constructive and positive, and left her with a good feeling about Syracuse. She also got a letter asking that she apply and was later accepted.</p>

<p>There was 1 other school that she made a quick stop to, but wasn't particulaly interested in, they just had no line, and she figured another review is worthwhile.</p>

<p>Before going to NPD, she did have some individual reviews at a handful of schools, where she did get some good constructive feedback, so her portfolio had been updated quite a bit before attending NPD. None of those school she visited on NDP, and ended up not applying to them.</p>

16

<p>I took my child to NPD in Philly about a week ago. She saw 7 schools. Around 2:00 it looks hopeless, but if you stick it out to the bitter end, she was able to see 3 schools in the last 45 minutes because people were leaving. Also, we got there 2 hours early, so we were around 20 - 25th in line to get in. </p>

<p>She found the advice good, but of course, there were some conflicting evaluations. Some schools said there was too much "assignment" work, but other schools said that was understandable-she's a student after all. Some were interested in representational work - RISD wanted design work, but her HS doesn't really do that. Other schools wanted more "exploratory" works. Overall, all of the schools were very pleasant-nobody was negative.</p>

17

<p>I will reiterate some prior comments and give my own and my spouse (who is a college Prof and has to handle college Seniors at their defenses):
(1) There should be a "worried parents" corner at every NPD event where there is a place for parents to drink herbal tea, listen to calming music and swap stories. I have "watched only" at two NPD events, and see parents hovering over their child, pulling one after another pieces of artwork, and "explaining" in excruciating detail what they went thru for each piece, and yes these parents sometimes get more time than they would have alone but 10-15 minutes of honest, but brutal critique is better than 20-30 minutes of fluff.
(2) If you have to "explain" your artwork, probably don't bring it. When you send the slides or digital work, they will most likely not have this. If this is some really great piece and your going to take about it in your Statement of Purpose, or college essay, I might change my mind.
(3) Look professional, don't tape, glue, or mark your portfolio with your school symbols, anime or favorite fluffy animal. Buy a decent looking portfolio and keep the pieces to 15 or 20 of your best work, that fits in something smaller than a panel truck.
(4) If your work is really good and well photographed, bring larger pieces visually via a preprepared Powerpoint Presentation (with a shortcut on the desktop, so it loads immediately and goes directly to the slide show). Have multiple views (no more than 3) of a 3D piece, and one being a good detail shot. Don't add sound, timing or anything other than a black background. Make the images as large as possible but not to the point it "breaks up". If you have a 3-5 MB JPEG, or a 6-10 MB TIFF, it "should" go as large as you need.
(5) Don't start with the computer, have sketchbooks, a good smaller portfolio and let the reviewer know you have bigger or 3D peices on a computer. Many schools like MICA, Ringling, SVA and RISD will look, IF they like the other work.
(6) Bigger is not always better, you don't need a 20X24 photograph when 11X14 or 16X20 would work fine.
(7) Don't have your material loose in a porfolio, or heaven forbid folded in half or quarters (and yes I seen this all at prior NPD events...)
(8) If your in line for Cooper Union or RISD, or SAIC and it's real long and your not going to make the 4 pm closing, they WILL (well may...) send you home at 4pm. In Atlanta, there were students in line for more than 3 hours for Cooper Union, that were told they were closing at 4pm and whomever was the last student being reviewed was it...
(9) Pick four schools to see and adjust, as needed get to your top schools first while the NPD folks are fresh and you will get a more honest critique. After you have seen the 30th student, they get bleary eyed.
(10) Students, find a nice corner for your parents to become "wall holding devices", if you have to bring them at all. Or tell them you need peppermints or bottled water at the last minute (but it has to be "organic").
(11) Relax, your going to have another audience with your admissions package, let the NPD be helpful.</p>

<p>And finally, LISTEN AND WATCH the reviewer carefully, their tone, manner and conviction will all give you insight into whether or not they are interested, and also (maybe) how to improve your work. You don't have to agree or even do it, but if you turn off your ears, cause you don't like the message, it's a waste of your time...</p>

<p>S.Dad</p>

18

<p>Really good advice, S.Dad. Some more:</p>

<p>My daughter went with her portfolio class art teacher, which is the greatest gift an art teacher can give his/her students AND their parents! If you can get someone NOT YOU to take your daughter/son, do it. Unless you are one of those calm parents, which I am not. My not being there totally eliminated me from the process and let my daughter and her art stand on their own. Her art teacher also stood in line for her at high-volume schools. A lot of people recommend this. </p>

<p>Get there early, and expect to see fewer schools than you think you will. My daughter was able to see only 4 schools in the entire 4 hours, and two were ones she got to early so there were short lines. </p>

<p>Each school spent about 20+/- minutes with her, and she got really interesting and helpful commentary from all of them. So do listen.</p>

<p>Regarding sketchbooks: They were wild about her sketchbooks. If she hadn't brought them, they wouldn't have seen some of the work they were most interested in. She only brought them because someone told her it was a good thing to do, so I'm telling anyone reading this: It can be a good thing to do! (I'm sure it depends on the sketchbook material, though.)</p>

19

<p>I took my daughter to NPD at the Univ of Hartford and the Aldrich museum in CT. Different schools liked different things yet all were encouraging and helpful. I understand the reasons for going alone but getting to five school is 3 plus hours would have been impossible if I had not stood in line for her. Once she was able to replace me in line I left the room as it got close to her turn. I stood in front of a parent whose daughter was about to behead her for interfering so much.</p>

20

<p>i went to NPD on Saturday in portland. I thought the experience was overall pretty valuable, however i was not prepared for the lack of computers! i didnt even think of the possibility that the representatives would not have laptops with them, because every other portfolio review i've been too it has not been a problem. Anyway, if you're planning on bringing your portfolio on a CD, bring a laptop too. Luckily i had about seven pieces with me to show. I went to RISD first, and was shocked there were only three people in front of me. My reviewer was an alum who lived in portland, and i found her review SUPER LAME. i was pretty disappointed. She basically said my work was strong and that i should apply, and then i asked her a few questions and left. however, there was an admissions officer there too, and i think she was giving more detailed reviews, and seemed to be spending much more time with people. MY review at MICA was great. The rep was super friendly, spent alot of time with me, seemed very passionate about the school, and actually gave me constructive criticism. Pratt was middle of the road. I think my reviews could have been better if i actually had my entire portfolio. So if you're a senior, bring your entire portfolio, and if part of it is on a CD bring a laptop.</p>