Markups

Long-form tutoring on your portfolio or essay, recorded personally by Sebastian and delivered within five working days. No meetings required.

A page from an accepted architecture school portfolio to USC's BArch program, showing a sculpture. — *USC BArch applicant*

The format

You upload your work; Sebastian marks it up on screen and talks you through his thinking. You receive a 45-minute recorded video within five working days, yours to revisit as often as you need.

What it covers

Portfolios, personal statements and supplemental essays.

Undergraduate and postgraduate applications: BArch, MArch, BSc and equivalent degrees.

Who it’s for

Markups are reserved for those with AP Core, so that every piece of feedback builds on a shared foundation rather than starting from first principles.

Requested through a form within AP Core.

Availability

Every markup is made by Sebastian.

Unlike our tutoring enrolments, markups do not book up.

How a markup works

Sebastian has spent years interpreting the work of applicants across the UK, US, EU, Canada, India, the Middle East and Asia. More about Sebastian.

Request
Within AP Core

Submit the markup form within AP Core. Sebastian will reply personally with the next steps.
Upload one item
Portfolio or essay

A general portfolio draft, a version for a particular school, or a single essay. Rough drafts are welcome, and are often more useful than polished ones.
Tell us about yourself
Written questions

Your background, your interests and your own view of the work. These are read as closely as the work itself. A very rough draft accompanied by thoughtful answers is more than enough to work with.
Receive your video
Within 5 working days

A 45-minute recorded markup, made by Sebastian, yours to revisit as often as you need.

From a recent undergraduate applicant:

I had countless misconceptions of what the portfolio should be. The quality of the feedback is just unmatched by any other markup service I tried. The markup is always very detailed, looks at every aspect of the portfolio, and you always have the advantage of taking your time to understand the comments thoroughly.
E.S

A page from an accepted architecture school portfolio to UCL Bartlett's BSc program, showing an isometric drawing and illustrations. — *UCL Bartlett BSc applicant*

Why video markups

Spoken feedback carries the emphasis and nuance that written notes often lose. More can be said, wider questions can be explored where they matter, and for portfolios, sketches and diagrams can be made directly over your pages.

Portfolio markups

Upload anything from a loose assortment of images to a near-final draft for a specific school. A landscape 11×17″ document in Google Slides works well, and exports cleanly to PDF.

Identity: the themes your work already suggests, and how to draw them out
Content: the projects themselves, and what might be worth adding
Structure: how the portfolio reads from beginning to end
Formatting: layouts and text for visual communication

Essay markups

Architecture-specific writing at any level: Common App BArch supplementals, the UCAS personal statement, and any ‘why architecture?‘ essay a school may ask for. Rough or polished submissions are accepted.

Identity: how personal the writing is
Content: what you’ve chosen to write about
Structure: how the text flows from start to finish
Relevance: how well it answers the prompt you’ve been given

A page from an accepted architecture school portfolio to USC's BArch program, showing ink tests. — *USC BArch applicant*

Begin with AP Core.

Markups are available to those with AP Core.

You will receive an email with pricing and access details. Requests are reviewed daily. This step allows us to get in contact, in case you have any questions about what you read.

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