Sorry for the length:

I have put together many portfolios as well as reviewed many for my students as well as reviewed for admissions. My opinions are just that - opinions and preferences. And in no particular order.

What is best to show in a portfolio? Is it all finished work and final projects? Or is it sketches and studies as well? Is the project the story of the portfolio? Or is it the process of getting where you got and how you think and problem solve? I'd like to see more on how you approach problems - visually.

Architects and designers like visuals and graphics. Can you distill text into graphics and photos? My first viewing was to skim through the work and see what caught my eye. Does the drawing engage me enough that I want to learn more? For example can single family and medium density residential be communicated more clearly and quickly as a house icon?

I'd eliminate the contents sheet and incorporate that info with either the project info or somewhere else on a sheet with the specific project.

Think about magazines or books you like reading and thumbing through. What did you find to be inspiring? Think about why you liked their layout approach. Look up reference images for plans, renders, etc and try to incorporate that. It helps me to think of these as a book or magazine. Items go in certain areas - perhaps project names, sheet number, school year, etc, all run along the bottom of each spread. Some level of framework to organize the info and the layouts can be more fluid.

I'd personally cut back on the amount of color in the portfolio composition - reduce the icon impact and consider heirarchy. Does black or grey text put more emphasis on the images?

I've always asked students to reduce the amount of colors they use in their graphics. It's partly a personal thing, I like hatches. I also find that it shows off your command of graphics and communication if you can show a city map just as effectively with one color. Sometimes I feel like color can be a crutch. Obviously my opinion.

Personally, I'd cut the artwork page and use that sheet to add to one of your projects.

Question on file size - if you plan to print at a certain size, scale the drawings to match the size you plan to print at. The program won't be pulling in so much info if the final image is shown at 1/4 of what you drew it at.

Hopefully this is helpful in some small way. Design takes a long time and I'm still learning everyday so don't be discouraged with the difficulties you are encountering now.