I am planning to apply to Stanford and Brown and am wondering about both letters of recommendation and arts portfolios. I am a clarinetist and have received recognition at the state level. I am unsure of whether or not I should submit an arts portfolio, because I do not have access to recording equipment and would be playing unaccompanied. For letters of recommendation, I did not realize that I needed a science/math letter and a humanities letter. I asked two teachers awhile ago and have a letter of recommendation from my English teacher who also is the leader of a club that I have been very involved in and one from my APUSH teacher. My clarinet private lessons teacher is also writing a letter of recommendation for me, and it should be done in the next day or two. Should I try to ask a science/math teacher? I have a few that I could, but then I would have 4 letters of recommendation, which seems a bit excessive. If I submit the arts portfolio, I will not be able to ask another recommender, as I just learned the deadline for Stanford’s arts portfolio is a month earlier. I have material prepared to play, but it will all be a bit rushed. Also, if I play about ten minutes from one solo that has slow and fast contrasting sections, would that be enough? Any advice would be very helpful. Thank you!
They arent going to listen to you play for ten minutes. If you have state recognition, I think that is enough. Not to downplay your talent, but there will be plenty of applicants who play clarinet, so I doubt they will need to hear you.
Don’t submit four recs. It’s too many. Does Stanford explicitly state recs need to be from one STEM teacher? If not, let it go.
Brown only asks that you have a math/science teacher recommendation if you are considering a Bachelor of Science degree
https://www.brown.edu/admission/undergraduate/apply/first-year-applicants
As for the music supplement, at Brown that supplement gets sent to the music department to be evaluated. If you cannot, at this point, put together a “wow” presentation I wouldn’t pursue it. I agree with @Lindagaf that mentioning your recognition should be sufficient.