Last Sunday I attended a portfolio day. I went with my friend Matt because his brother had gone to two portfolio days before and he had told Matt what to expect. The doors opened at 12, but we got there at 10:45. I was amazed at all the students, parents, and teachers who had already gathered in the lobby of the hotel. By 11:30 there were hundreds of people lined up in every direction. Matt’s mom had taken his brother to both of his portfolio days, so she knew exactly what to do. When you walk in there are plenty of maps that show where the different schools are going to be. We circled all the schools we wanted to see and then planned out how we were going to wait in line. Some of the bigger schools like the Rhode Island School of Design and Cooper Union had really long waits, so Matt’s mom waited in those lines while we went to other schools. We were able to visit four schools each, which doesn’t seem like many but considering the amounts of people it was great. So my portfolio day visit was a success, but while talking to other people I learned that theirs didn’t go as well. Below I made a list of a few tips that should help make your portfolio day experience a great one.

Tip One
Have a list of schools you want to visit already made.

Tip Two
Get to the Portfolio Day venue at least an hour early, maybe more.

Tip Three
Bring an adult or friend to wait in line for you. This really helps save time.

Tip Four
Plan out which colleges you’re going to see and in which order you’re going to see them in.

Tip Five
Bring a pen!

Going as a junior I thought this was a great experience. I know that next year I’ll be more prepared, and ready to tackle any of the schools. Going to these types of things is great because you can show more work and also stand behind it and defend it. When you send in your portfolio to a school it has to be strong enough to stand on its own. Hopefully this helped everyone to be a little less worried and have an enjoyable portfolio day!

Challenge of the Week: Don’t stress out!

Happy Photographing!
Cate