IIT - Inventing the Future

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 had significant coursework in architecture already, 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 Educational Services 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

This year portfolio reviews will take place by appointment in July. You will be contacted over the summer to schedule an appointment. Please note reviews will NOT be scheduled until you have submitted to IIT your Spring 2009 transcripts showing grades for completed courses.

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.

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. 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 Educational Services to assist with our review of your work.

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.

At the end of each meeting, a memo documenting the outcome of your portfolio review will be completed and forwarded to Educational Services for your files. Sometimes a review will end with a few unresolved questions, especially if IIT has not received an official transcript from your spring courses.

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.

Questions?

Just post a comment below - and we'll respond for all to see!

If you have any further questions about the portfolio review or the content of your portfolio, please contact Assistant Dean Stephen Sennott at sennott@iit.edu.

We look forward to meeting you soon!