Decent Art Portfolio - Is it worth the effort for a science major applicant?

Parents Forum
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Here are some factoids that may shed light on the art supplement/portfolio process:

Like the OP’s D, my D attended boarding prep school. She did not plan to major in art in college although it is a big part of her life. We went back and forth many times about whether she should submit a portfolio. She was applying exclusively to small LAC’s and needed substantial FinAid. Her EC’s were somewhat minimal.

I gently pushed for a portfolio to demonstrate a special interest and significant investment of time. Neither her guidance counselor nor advisor gave any input till pretty late, when her advisor looked at the list of colleges she was applying to and said Oh Yes you should do a portfolio. That was the point that D bought into it.

Her guidance/college counselor worked as best she could with the number of students she had, but it was not very personalized. I disagree with other posters who say, oh let the counselor do her job. I think you will find many references here on cc that the school counselors even at very good schools, only have so much time. There is room for families to be actively involved. And I am VERY happy with her school counselor. Some of the best things she did were to use her connections to make inquiries when I was getting nowhere, to suggest schools, and to write a thorough and amazing letter of recommendation, utilizing parental input. But I think my involvement helped create our good results. Some of D’s classmates suffered from poor selections of colleges, no good safeties, etc. These were kids whose parents were not part of the process.

Back to the portfolio:
D used art work that was already done, but it had to be photographed, scanned, etc. Her advisor, who was also one of her art teachers, helped a lot with that. I did some photographing and scanning and tweaking of scans to make them presentable, Pencil sketches do not scan well! Lots of artwork does not fit on home scanner beds! This is definitely a major project even if all the artwork is complete.

Different colleges have different requirements for supplements/portfolios. Maybe at some places you can just submit a few things any old way, but most of her colleges were very specific about format and content. Some wanted a specific number of pieces, one required a couple drawings from life, some wanted an emailed pdf, some you had to submit through their portal (uploading piece by piece). Some required that each piece have a title! (D hated that)

For my D, I feel it was worthwhile but of course there was no control group in this experiment. We were satisfied with her admissions offers and FinAid. One college replied with a very personalized letter from a professor commenting on her portfolio and that happens to be where she is now attending.

So, if desired, a portfolio/supplement can be done outside of AP Art or any special class, if suitable artwork already exists. It will still take some time and work. However, I am unclear if OP’s D has any recent portfolio-worthy artwork or if it is all from middle school. I’m no expert but my hunch is that there would need to be fairly recent art for the portfolio.

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Well, when you submit an arts supp, ideally, it would be reviewed by the art dept, which may then pull for her. And there’s a good chance it won’t be, unless the applicant is already a good match and expresses some interest in continuing art in college, to some degree, even just the activities check box.

But what makes her a good match? Yes, nearly all the top colleges want to see collaborative activities and breadth, not only depth. For stem, that means math and science ECs with peers. And other activities with them.

And stretch, which means a lot more than pushing herself academically, just in what absorbs her now.

Introvert is fine, but closeted away from collaborative is risky, for holistics trying to build a community that engages with each other.

As for community service, it’s also about engaging, committing, dealing with people in need. Not just hours doing some vague something, remotely. It’s where a kid shows she she cares about others.

Think holistically.

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To follow up on volunteerism and comunity service—one of the best ways for an introverted, loner to come out of his or her shell is to get involved in helping others. It doesn’t have to be anything complicated. My kids went to a Friends school where community service was required. One of my kids who is an introvert ended up helping in an exercise class for 2 people who were recovering from a stroke. That experience changed her whole outlook on helping others. She was an elite athlete (on a US national team) and had limited time for community service. She only needed to assist in the class for a semester to get her service hours but she stayed for the entire school year because she felt that she was really helping her two students. It changed her for the better.

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Thanks all. I think this might be a very good, actually a GREAT time to start a NEW, SEPARATE thread about community service and volunteering, possibly for introvert kids, so you can continue that discussions.

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Lol, SculptorDad. I think some of us hope you see the value in doing good for others, that stretch and compassion, versus a kid just doing what interests her at the moment and ending up unilateral. It’s about their growth. Same goes for engaging with peers.

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SculptorDad: I think you don’t get what people are saying about the benefits (not just getting into college or getting $$) of doing good/helping others.

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MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Since the OP asked about art submissions, and the conversation has drifted far off topic, I think there’s nothing left to say. Closing thread.