Art Supplementary Material to Harvard

<p>Does anyone else have experience with sending in an art portfolio for review during admissions as supplementary material? On Harvard's</a> direction page, they state that they would like artwork on 35mm slides, but that's so outdated! I can't even find a place to convert my art into slides anymore. But by their information, are they ruling out portfolios on CD-ROMs? Would they just toss that out if an applicant were to send it in? Let me know what you think, thanks.</p>

<p>You would be wise to call the admissions office to ask rather than relying on the advice of an Internet board.</p>

<p>If you google slides from video you'll see lots of sites do this. Many, many art galleries still prefer slides. I haven't done it myself and can't remember which places my artist friends mentioned as being good, but you can definitely get it done. I've had my artwork photographed for slides in the New York area without any problem, but it's been several years.</p>

<p>just use iprintfromhome.com
its expensive though!</p>

<p>I meant to type "slides from digital". Getting professional slides photographed is also expensive, so I would expect to pay a bit even on line.</p>

<p>To twinmom: FYI, I have contacted the Harvard admission office, they replied with an email giving me a vague response that didn't answer my question at all. That is why I'm "relying" on the advice of mostly helpful people on this forum. =)</p>

<p>To mathmom: I asked about transferring digital photos to slides, seems that the quality is terrible. And it really is expensive. It makes me wonder whether some of the schools deliberately call for slides just to discourage lots of people sending in supplementary material.</p>

<p>On costs - we pay $1.25 per slide for a 2 week turn-around, $2/slide for 2 days. I must admit that we don't have a slide viewer, so are taking the quality on faith, but my daughter has had her slides accepted at International juried photography exhibitions, so they must have been ok.</p>

<p>Stiffcelery: My experience has been that when you call an admissions office, you generally get a work-study student who is able to answer all of the "standard" questions an applicant may have. I would suggest that you call and ask to speak to an admissions officer, stating that you have a specific question about a supplement to your application. It does not have to be "your" admissions officer that you speak to.</p>

<p>The alternative is that you accept the directions on Harvard's page that you linked us to. I know that my own kid's friend sent her artwork to many competitive schools and was accepted to all. (She did not apply to Harvard.) She sent slides to every school, so I can't imagine that it's that obsolete an idea.</p>

<p>As a parent of a Harvard student, I too want to help. I am just leery when well-intentioned people give advice which may inadvertently be incorrect. Thus, my point ... you'd be well served to get your information directly from the source.</p>

<p>Best of luck with your application. :)</p>

<p>Addendum: Their site does seem clear:</p>

<p>Please send visual artwork only in slide format unless your work must be viewed in electronic form in order to be evaluated. </p>

<p>Please choose a maximum of 12 slides representing your best work. </p>

<p>My guess is that faculty in the art department have a slide projector set up and review many sets of slides (from various applicants) in a sitting.</p>

<p>Another idea is to call the art department and ask them.</p>

<p>stiff</p>

<p>do you know if you have to fill out the "common art suppliment form "for Harvard if you are going to send art suppliments?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>Harvard requests a letter to accompany the Art submissions providing
context relevant for evaluation.</p>

<p>I liked the Princeton, Stanford and Duke's Arts specific supplement as well .....though Harvard's approach provides the most flexibility.</p>

<p>I sent in my artwork as JPEGs on a CD.</p>

<p>I got in, so it's probably fine.</p>

<p>J mom: I don't believe Harvard uses the Common App Supplement Form. I'm planning to send a letter explaining my material along with an inventory sheet describing all my pieces.</p>

<p>Tachobg: I'm assuming you got into Harvard, right? How many pieces did you send?</p>

<p>Just in general, I actually did go to iprintfromhome.com and ordered on Monday. I received all my slides today and they look fantastic! It was so quick and easy to do online, I can't believe I wasted all my time trying to find a photo store around my area to make slides. Thank you, renak, for recommending them!</p>

<p>I believe I sent 16 or so. I don't remember them mentioning slides, but maybe I overlooked it or maybe it's a new thing. For all I know, they never got mine, or got them and saw that they weren't in slide form, etc. In either case it's a smart move to have a professional presentation of your art.</p>