this is for the ones applying to their MLA without a design background and truly at a loss of how to proceed. these are my 4 tips of how to orient yourself when beginning to think about making (probably) your first portfolio.
this comes from myself, a Bachelor of Commerce graduate (BCom '21) from McGill University who applied for her 3-year Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA 1) at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and University of Toronto (UofT). for statistical purposes, i was accepted to RISD with 50% merit scholarship, but rejected by UofT.
here are the short-cut time signatures because i do like to think between my sentences:
0:00 // basic context (who am i, what is this)
2:26 // tip 1: what is the school/program asking for? (technical vs. contextual)
4:41 // tip 2: how are you making your portfolio? (programs to use, projects to include, misc.)
7:10 // tip 3: what is your perspective? (your signature, your purpose, your expertise, your interest & lil expo of my own perspective that is shown through this portfolio)
13:51 // tip 4: what are you showing us? (flow, content, amount, your strength/weakness being an applicant w/o a traditional design background)
21:15 // summary & bonus tip (perhaps the only tip you need)
this is only my experience (and at a 50% success rate, i understand if you don't trust me!) but a scour through the internet reveals 4.67 google searches for anything remotely close to being of some advice/aid to anyone applying to a MLA, nevermind those without a traditional design background. i only make this because this would have helped me out tremendously if it existed then.
find me anywhere online and i'd love to try to help you out:
www.rashalama.com