So the arts are a pretty integral part of my application (SCEA to Yale), and I’m considering sending an arts supplement. Problem is, I know that Yale GREATLY stresses not to send in supplements unless they’re of exceptional quality, and that they tend to dislike applicants who send in too much material. Here’s my dilemma: I’m involved in both dance and creative writing, and I don’t know which to choose for my supplement.
For the past four years, I’ve been a part of a pre-professional dance company (quit this year due to time commitment conflicts). The skill level on the company is very spread out, from some who have danced professionally in big time companies/with famous choreographers/as backup dancers for major singers to some who never pursue dance again after high school. I’m definitely not quite as good as the professional ones, but I have won a couple scholarships and awards (usually runner up). I haven’t been to any prestigious summer intensives (well, I did go on scholarship to one intensive, but there was no audition required to get in), mostly because the times conflicted with my other more “academic” programs.
As for creative writing, I haven’t been doing it for that long. Quite honestly, I terrible when I first dabbled in it. But this past summer, I attended a creative writers workshop for five weeks, which pushed me further into the creative writing world. For one of the short stories that I wrote and workshopped, my fiction teacher is encouraging me to submit to some of the top literary magazines in the nation, in addition to young writers awards. But because my experience with creative writing is rather recent, I don’t have any fancy awards to boast of.
I’m also already receiving a supplementary letter of rec from my fiction teacher. I’m pretty confident that this rec will be much superior to my two academic teacher recs. In the emails he’s written to me, he’s always dishing out compliments (though he is a published writer, so it might just be that he has a way with words). Because I already have an additional rec, I definitely don’t want to send more than one arts supplement.
Logic tells me that I should go with dance, but my gut tells me that creative writing will be stronger. I always lurk but rarely post on CC, so please don’t murder me if I said anything wrong!!
Oops, just realized that I never explicitly stated a question. Don’t know if it was implied, but my question is: which arts supplement do you think I should submit?
If you have a supplemental letter from a creative writing teacher, then I’d submit the dance supplement. The letter should already speak to your creative writing ability, so less would be gained by submitting a supplement.
That’s a good point! Thanks so much for the feedback. Do you think it matters that Yale has no official dance department, though? Will this lead to less consideration of my dance supplement?
Many students applying to Yale for Art, Music, Theater, Dance, Creative Writing etc have the talent to apply to, and be accepted at, conservatory level schools – think Juilliard, NYC Ballet, Alvin Ailey, RISD, etc. For example, one student I know who graduated last year from Yale had her play produced on Broadway at age 17 and, as a result, was given a contract to write a television show at HBO – all before she submitted her application to Yale, which probably included a writing supplement. That’s the caliber of student that is your competition!
If your supplement is NOT at a conservatory level, there is a significant chance that your supplement will detract from what would have been a strong application. If that’s the case, I would suggest you write an essay about your involvement with the arts instead of submitting a supplement.
Thank so all so much! This definitely puts everything into perspective. Guess I’m going to be doing some heavy considering before deciding whether or not to send a supplement at all!
It’s my observation (and people can correct me if I’m wrong) that the dance scene is not terribly strong at Yale. I think your achievements in dance that will appear on your application will plenty to show that you’d make a contribution to dance at Yale, especially if you say you’d like to continue doing it there. Similarly, I think the letter from your fiction teacher is probably enough, but I’m more ambivalent about that.
^^ Yale actually has a wide variety of dance organizations for those interested in performing. My son, who has no dance background whatsoever, but is good at Step, performed with Rhythmic Blue. See: http://campuspress.yale.edu/aday/groups/. That said, I don’t think a Dance Supplement would do much in the Admissions process, as Yale doesn’t offer a major in it.
After talking with my fiction teacher again, we agreed that I did not need to send a creative writing supplement, as he could cover that in his letter. I’m still iffy on whether or not to send the dance supplement. Technically I would be qualified enough to pursue some well known dance programs in college (friends of similar level have gone to UC Irvine, Tisch, Ailey, Chapman, etc.), but I’m applying to schools for academics and campus feels first.
^ I’ve been looking around that website for a few days now, and it seems that the teams’ strengths are in ballet and modern. Although I do take ballet and modern classes, the bulk of my training is in contemporary, and all of the clips in my supplement are either lyrical or contemporary. I haven’t found anything that points to any kind of strong contemporary presence at Yale. Though I’m still searching, so we’ll see!
FYI, I know of 2 yallies that submitted an arts supplement. My Dd submitted a short film (was also applying to and got accepted to film schools) and another person submitted a portfolio of fine art drawings (her dad is a professional artist and she learned from her dad).
For what it’s worth, I asked a Yale admissions representative who came to my school today about arts supplements. He said (in no uncertain terms) that since Yale is not a conservatory, they’re not looking for Juilliard-level supplements from every applicant. I remember his saying: “If you are at that level, great! Please come to Yale!” But he did state clearly that an arts supplement cannot hurt you or detract from an otherwise solid application.