IIT - Inventing the Future

Portfolio Review Sessions for Architecture Transfer Students

The College of Architecture is eagerly awaiting your arrival in August!

Over the coming summer, we will work with you to ensure that you are properly placed in the College's studio sequence and registered for your fall semester courses. If you have completed significant coursework in architecture or other visual courses (drawing, for example), you will need to participate in a portfolio review session so that we may anticipate the appropriate placement for you at IIT. Our Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs will review transcripts from previous schools to identify which art and architecture courses will require a portfolio review; you will receive a copy of this report in the mail, if you have not already.

Portfolio Review: One Meeting, Final Placement

This year portfolio reviews will take place by appointment in late June and throughout July. You will be contacted by the Office of Undergraduate Admission with instructions about how to schedule an appointment in the College. Please note reviews will NOT be scheduled until you have submitted to IIT your Spring 2011 transcripts showing grades for completed courses. The College reserves the right to cancel or postpone portfolio review appointments if the university has not received all required, up-to-date transcripts.

Admitted transfer students who live outside the Chicago area may instead choose to mail their portfolio for separate review by studio faculty; please send to the attention of Stephen Sennott in the College of Architecture (S.R. Crown Hall, 3360 South State Street, Chicago, IL 60616). Students wishing to have their portfolios returned after remote review must provide a self-addressed and postage-paid envelope or package, or arrange in advance to pick up the portfolio upon arriving on campus in the fall. For those transfer students unable to complete a portfolio review during the summer, we will offer additional portfolio review appointments during the first week of classes on an as-needed basis. We strongly recommend that students complete your portfolio review no later than Friday, July 29th, 2011.

Portfolio Guidelines

The portfolio should measure approximately 8.5” x 11” (21.6 cm x 27.9 cm). Students may choose the design and content of their portfolio, as long as it presents original visual work that corresponds to each course in need of review by the College of Architecture. When possible, please include a university course description or a faculty member's syllabus for each course; you are also encouraged to provide your own brief summary for each course. A College of Architecture studio faculty member will examine all of these materials in order to place each student in an appropriate year of studio.

Each student's specific schedule of courses for the first semester will be determined in a separate advising conversation. Please bring a portfolio showing the breadth of visual work and/or studio work from courses designated as possible for transfer credit. Transfer credit is awarded for university courses only, not for work experience. As you know, we do not accept electronic portfolios. You are welcome to bring original work, too. In general, your portfolio review will go more smoothly if you have your work arranged by each course. We will likely have your admission folders and transfer credit reports (as available) from IIT's Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs to assist with our review.

The goal of the portfolio review is to verify previous courses for transfer credit and to determine which year of studio will mark the start of your studies here at IIT. All supporting documents, such as a syllabus or your previous school's description of the course, will assist our faculty as they evaluate your work. Transfer credits will not be given to any work without documentation on an official university transcript. 

At the end of each meeting, a memo documenting the outcome of your portfolio review will be completed and forwarded to the Office of Undergraduate Academic Affairs for your files.

Credit and Placement

Placement in the studio sequence is based upon previous studio courses and the quality of the work completed for each course. Similarly, additional architecture courses will be reviewed for transfer credit when they correspond to IIT courses in the B.Arch. curriculum. In some cases, more than one course at a previous university will be used for the equivalent of a single course at IIT. Courses in AutoCAD and other courses related to digital design may be reviewed separately by the faculty who teach computer courses at the start of the fall semester. In some cases, students may consider earning credit for these by taking a proficiency exam. This exam is arranged at the start of the fall semester, and is administered at the discretion of the College of Architecture faculty.