If I were to submit a lot of supplements (creative writing profile, music supplement, Stem research paper), but they all are high quality/meaningful to me, would it negatively affect my application for submitting too much supplemental material?
Part of it depends upon what the college asks for. If they allow only one supplement, then that means one supplement, not 3. If they allow multiple supplements, then that’s a potentially different story.
These are two different concepts. In general, a supplement should be high quality. The “meaningful to me” part is better handled in your essays.
But yes, I am of the opinion that the adage applies - the thicker the file, the thicker the kid.
That said, if all the work is high quality (as judged by others, not your own opinion), and the college allows, then by all means submit. But IMO “high quality” writing - creative or research - is of a quality that is published or publishable, and “high quality” music would be worthy of conservatory consideration.
For the fact of submitting lots of supplements? no.
But make sure that it doesn’t become part of an application that doesn’t seem to tell a compelling story and seems as if it’s a ‘let’s throw everything we can think of at this and see if any of it sticks’ approach, b/c that won’t help.
Make sure the college wants to see it. For example, NYU is adamant that unless you are applying for a degree where you need to submit a portfolio as part of your application, they do not want to see your art/music/etc. They might not reject you, but they’d disregard it so it would at best be a waste of effort.
Exactly how many supplements are you planning to submit? (Don’t submit more than the college tells you to!) Are they related to your major? Does each one tie into the story or the “package” you are presenting to admissions and how? Did you win an award or have a noteworthy achievement related to the supplement? Might there be a good story behind it that you are writing about in your required essay (not a tip, but it might grab the AO’s curiosity)? Are you trying to “make up for” subpar grades or test scores by including a lot of supplements?
Keep in mind that an admissions officer is spending about 8-10 minutes on your file, and much of that is spent on the admissions artifacts they require (transcript, essay, test scores, letters of recommendation). You really have to think carefully how a supplement packages with everything else to communicate that you are a fit for the college. Submitting multiple supplements makes that packaging task much more difficult.
The alternate is to focus your applications only on those colleges that welcome supplements, and those probably aren’t going to be schools getting 40,000 - 60,000 applications each year.
“Meaningful to you” is not a criteria in college admissions. If it were then all the pleading letters to colleges about how the applicant had always dreamed of going to college X would reverse rejections, and they don’t.
Colleges make admission decisions based on what they can infer about the applicant from their application. So they look at scores and grades to assess ability and work ethic, as well as what the applicant and others write. The question to ask about supplements is whether they help you stand out in the applicant pool in a positive way. Sending in a bunch of stuff with the idea “can’t hurt, might help” reflects on your judgement and how you value the time of the admission staff. This isn’t the kind of inference you want them to make.
If a 3rd party in a position to know says these things are exceptional then send them in. Otherwise they may end up hurting your chances.
So, I am planning on applying to Yale SCEA, which allows a research, music and creative writing supplement. I’m trying to go for a political passion narrative, so I want to send my political economy research paper, a sample of my political editorials from the school newspaper and national student political publications I am on the staff of as the creative writing supplement. I also am an all county player, play in bands outside of my school and am the Band President, so I want to send a music supplement. Does this sound ok?
The reality is that they have a very limited amount of time to spend on each app. They’re not going to have time to actually go through all those supplements.
No. It sound like you want to send in more stuff for the sake of sending more stuff. To be clear, if you send more stuff, that does not mean the AO will spend more than the allotted time on your application.S/he won’t. Instead, s/he may skim and overlook what is really important.
Don’t send if it’s schoolwork.You would be better served having the mentor write a rec.
Include a link to the school newspaper
Depends upon the quality. Here is what Yale says:
As a whole, look at Yale’s advice:
https://admissions.yale.edu/supplementary
Also, be advised that the supplementary materials are generally forwarded to an expert for feedback.If everything is super-exceptional, that’s one thing. If the materials are simply on a bit higher level than a typical applicant, the AO may receive multiple pieces of feedback wondering about inflated senseof self-importance.
Now you may truly be extraordinary in all these areas, but we don’t know you. Which is why I said in an earlier post that you really need an objective adult evaluate your materials first.
It sounds like too much to me. Admissions officer will not spend more time on your application because you send in a load of supplements – the application will get the same length of review. So time spent by admissions officers on supplements that are not extraordinary will be time away from focusing on LORs, essay, etc. If admission officers can get the idea of what you are doing from your list of ECs then there is not need to send a supplement to prove what you have done. IMO if supplements are either too plentiful or not absolutely outstanding they can detract from your application.
– Is the research paper been published in a scholarly journal? If not I wouldn’t send it (especially if it was a research paper written for HS).
–I would not send anything from your HS newspaper. They will see you wrote for the newspaper and other publications. (Also, I don’t expect that a political editorial is creative writing)
--I would not send a music supplement unless you playing is at or very close to conservatory level. If it is not at that level they will see you participated in high level music activities through your ECs.
This is what Yale says about supplementary materials https://admissions.yale.edu/supplementary
You should think carefully before submitting supplementary materials with your Yale College application. Most successful applicants submit only the required application materials. Because the Admissions Committee gives greatest weight to the required documents, it is recommended that you focus your energy primarily on those elements of the application.
If you have a substantial and well-developed talent that cannot be conveyed adequately in the rest of your application, you may consider submitting an audio recording, musical score, art samples, writing samples, scientific research paper, film, or dance video.
In the end it is your application and your decision as to what you want to send.
“I also am an all county player, play in bands outside of my school and am the Band President…”
This information will go in other parts of the application and it is enough to tell them that you love music, you’ve taken a leadership role in it, and you’re probably very good at your instrument. Unless you are applying for a music minor or are overeager to be in Yale’s marching band, you’ve already conveyed all the pertinent information.
I would agree not to send the research paper unless it has been published. Even then, all you have to do is tell them you have written a research report that has gotten published and include a link or other reference. The point of the application is to get to know YOU, not learn more about the topics of your research.
Agreed with all of the above posters. My D was counseled not to send a music supplement as that was not her intended major despite being one of the top players in our state. There was plenty of mention of her music in her EC section. Don’t make the adcoms job more complicated and time consuming than it already is. You need to focus on making your common app application shine without the add ons.
One adcom put it well imo, you have to be able to get in on what is in the application, without supplements, i.e. the standard application has to stand on its own, esp to a place like Yale.
OP, do you understand what Yale or other tippy tops actually want and look for? Until then, you can’t even begin to (self)assess your match, in the first place.
This idea of “let’s throw everything we can think of at this and see if any of it sticks” isn’t going to impress Yale. They can immediately react with, “What’s this kid thinking?” (Not a reaction you want.)
If you are otherwise a solid match for the college (what they want, not just what you want,) and will continue the music there, sure, send that supp. They won’t listen. But they may pass it on to music faculty. Likewise, they won’t read a stem paper, but might pass it on. But first, you need to be compelling without these.
That’s the challenge you need to take on: learning what does matter.