Art Portfolio

I know that an art portfolio can look good, but I’ve also heard that it can hurt if your art is not top of the top, especially for IL and other highly selective universities (ie it should be better than “good”). I’ve been woodburning for years, and it’s good enough to be selling through my own website. I have not, however, entered it into any competitions (purely a silly oversight, not because I didn’t think it would do well) so I honestly don’t know how it would measure up to others in the eyes of art professionals. But since I have no art awards, an art portfolio might be a good way to show my art skill. Is it true that an art portfolio can possibly hurt? If so should I take the risk?

Yes.

Easy solution - ask an art professional if in his/her opinion it’s good enough to send.

Thanks, only problem is I’m not sure where to find an art professional… the last art class I took was in elementary school, outside of that my mom taught me. Do you suppose an art professor from my local community college would be willing to look at my work?

I have seen many threads about this topic and some of the responses upset me. You have clearly heard the warning that a mediocre arts portfolio can hurt your chances; “it’s only reviewed by the music/art departments; are you or your child really that good, etc.”. This makes me so very sad. Having sat as chair of admissions at a major UC and on the systemwide admissions panel, I have participated in lengthy discussions about how to do “holistic review” and distinguish between students who pad their applications with an hour here and an hour there of numerous clubs and activities. As an admissions committee it is impossible to determine whether they actually had a dedicated interest in something from a laundry list of activities. There were discussions about whether considering arts prowess favored the privileged, how to compare different awards/accomplishments, how to really judge whether the hours spent on the activity were real, requiring letters of rec from someone in the area-- the list went on. An arts portfolio came up as a way of judging whether this dedication was real. If you are trying to get into a competitive music/theater/drama program then probably you will be considered only if you are a supreme master of your craft. But if you are a strong student trying to demonstrate your versatility for the purposes of holistic review, I cannot imagine an arts portfolio hurting your chances, even if it is not “extraordinary” in the eyes of the annoying music/art snob that doesn’t want any amateurs engaging in the arts. We all know those people exist and they may give your portfolio a low rating, but if the choice comes down to you and another person-- and you both have 4.3GPA and 1550 SATs, proof that you actually do spend time on your art will likely bolster your application. If it comes down to you with a good arts portfolio and another person who submitted a virtuoso portfolio, all other aspects equal, they’d likely get chosen over you anyway. I so hope that the people with judgmental advice stop telling talented amateur artistic teens to not bother showcasing their talent because it might make them look worse rather than better. Be proud of your well-roundedness and show it to the admissions committees. The “advice” going out to students in this already competitive era about complex is discouraging and adding to the stress of adolescence.

@profmom0814 If the art portfolio or music audition is reviewed by admissions only then I would agree with you. But if the submission is instead forwarded to art or music department heads for review, it is going to be held to a higher standard. By forwarding it to those professionals, admission committees are asking for their professional opinion and are setting the bar higher.

Some schools have art and music programs that require portfolio or audition reviews for admission. For those schools in particular, I would not send work unless it’s of a similar caliber. If the submission is way below the caliber of other’s work, I think it shows a lack of self awareness.

It’s one thing to say I enjoy drawing, singing and writing poetry in an essay to reveal part of who you are. It’s another thing to actually send it in for review and say “look how good I am!”

The comments to which I refer imply that unless you think you are among the top of the top, don’t bother sending in an arts portfolio. Take for example a student/musician who has won awards playing music and composing music, taken college level music classes, been a soloist in their choirs/orchestras/bands and engaged in other academic music pursuits. This is a serious musician–but that student might get a 3 or 4 out of 5 or they might get a 5 out of 5 in a music department ranking. It’s impossible to know. I don’t think a serious artist should second guess whether they’ll be in the top. And if they want to be a math or English or Biology major and they submit a portfolio that gets ranked 3 out of 5 by the music department, the admissions committee should see that as positive not a negative. I think it is a travesty (and I speak as a former chair of undergraduate admissions and representative for the state-wide UC admissions board) that a student who is a serious artist but doesn’t necessarily plan to major in art/music should second guess using this as a means of showing their dedication and talent. Obviously if you merely “draw” or “like to sing and write poetry” that is completely different. But serious and talented artists can get mediocre reviews from a panel of musicians and I wouldn’t take it as a “lack of self awareness”. I think that should just render the portfolio dismissible. These are kids we’re talking about. To me that argument about not including it unless you really know you’re the top is difficult to interpret for a modest teenager and, reading between the lines (and can I bring up my expertise again) it sounds more like a way to limit the number of things to review. On our admissions, we took a certain swath of applicants based on scores and GPAs alone, then looked more closely at the ones near the line. We wouldn’t consider a student worthy and then say, “Oh but that arts portfolio–they said they were serious about art but the art department wasn’t impressed.” That would only matter if that portfolio was the deciding factor. Anyway, I’m just a little sick of hearing kids being told not to bother with something if they’re not superior because that can discourage a lot of humble students with talent. And I was really sick of seeing laundry lists of accomplishments with no way to validate them when judging student applications.

@profmom0814 I would certainly agree that an applicant who can get a 3 or 4 out of 5 when adjudicated by professionals is someone who should submit their work for review. I would expect that a lot of applicants to music and art programs (who are applying as majors) will be in that range as well. Some may get that 3 out of 5 from one school and a 5 out of 5 by another. So much is subjective anyway.

But if a student is well below that threshold, I would not advise they send in their work. To me it would be like trying to impress admissions by joining every club that a school offers without taking any of them seriously or excelling in any one area.

The general rule is that artwork shoudl be of exceptional quality for it to be worth submitting a portfolio. You should have someone look at it – I would start by speaking with an art teacher in your HS.

This is all very interesting… Just for context, I’m not planning on majoring in the arts, I’m thinking of computer science, business, or political science. The portfolio would simply be to showcase my well-roundness, and again since I don’t have any awards, to show that I am committed to it. I go to an online school, so we only have an art history teacher, would she be qualified to judge it?

Based on my judgements of my own work, I’d say I might get a 3 or 4 out of 5, but I find it hard to be objective with my own art (that’s probably the case for most artists lol). I’m applying to three Ivy Leagues, so I’m concerned that while I might be fairly confident about my art abilities (I mean, it’s apparently good enough for people to want to buy so…?) that maybe it won’t measure up at these schools, and would get a low rating. You guys make a good point that the scoring is very subjective and could vary a lot school to school. I think I’ve decided that I will send in the portfolio, but still ask someone just so I have an idea.

I think you should submit it! It’s hard to know what constitutes “good enough”. If people want to buy your art (other than your mom-LOL), you are probably good enough to submit it. My good friend’s son just got rejected from Stanford Friday, with an arts portfolio, with a 4.39GPA (would be higher but he sang in advanced choir and was in advanced drama which aren’t GPA bump classes so he had two regular old A’s dragging his GPA down–I’ll post something about that separately) and 1560SATs. He had a superior plus score in the National Piano Guild auditions for 7 years straight and just completed their very competitive High School Diploma program with a superior plus. He won several composition contests and has recorded an alternative rock album with his band. He has 5s on all of his AP exams ranging from Calculus to history to Music theory. He wants to study neuroscience and minor in music, and worked in a clinical psychiatry lab all summer doing research on depression. He was wondering if the music portfolio hurt him after reading this post and his mom asked me about it, which led me to read up on it, ultimately leading me to this post. I doubt it did. Even a perfect GPA and 1600s only statistically renders you about 45% likely to get admitted to Stanford. It’s just hard. I’d submit your portfolio but if you get rejected from an ultra selective school, don’t question that you did it. Do spend time on it, though. And show it to someone. But I wouldn’t worry you’re not talented enough to submit it. If you are a good match, the school isn’t going to reject you because you misjudged how good you think your art is.

Thank you @profmom0814 I am new to this “mad field” and I have already heard from people telling me not to send in Supplemental art/music files unless they r “professional” grade! I am so glad to hear ur perspective (insider view too!) about these supplements showing true dedication and passion help/won’t hurt a student’s application process. My son has been learning/playing music for many years and we will definitely send in his performance videos.
Thank you again.