<p>I've been considering submitting a fine arts supplement to colleges, but I don't know if my work is decent enough to submit to the top schools. Are there any examples of successful Yale applicant portfolios (or portfolios of any other top-school/ivy applicants, really) so that I can see what it takes? (I've looked through the portfolios in the art major forum already, but they seem to be all aiming for RISD, MICA, or Parsons.)</p>
<p>Some additional info about me:
I have decent grades and objective stats (certainly not outstanding by CC standards), am an ORM, and wish to major in bio or psych and minor in visual arts. I've been drawing since I was 3, but mostly as a hobby. Due to family circumstances, I have received little formal art training and am mostly self-taught. I did not know of art award opportunities at the state, national, or international level, so the few awards that I do have are minor (one or two local art awards, the largest being a county fair department award). Does the art department consider personal circumstances, or do they make their decisions purely on the basis of the quality of the work?</p>
<p>If anybody's doubting my credibility (especially considering my low post count), I will gladly post some of my current work for evaluation.</p>
<p>(Eek, first CC thread... please don't rip me apart!)</p>
<p>Take the time to read through them. There is lot of food for thought. The op of the first thread I linked to is quite probably on a par with equating to a “high level music conservatory ability” if you want to relate it. But I have no background to confirm or deny that assertion. I am extrapolating based on experience.</p>
<p>Search the forums, you may well find specific art centered threads.</p>
<p>If you search “art supplement” in the Yale forum, you should find some discussion. When you haven’t been in many juried competitions, it is really hard to know how good you are. Is there a local college nearby where you could set up a meeting with someone on the art faculty for some feedback? Or a local gallery owner? </p>
<p>The fact that you haven’t had formal training won’t count against you. Yale understands that not everyone the means or access to specialized training in their extracurricular interests. Harder to justify is not knowing about competitions. I am not saying that you have to win competitions to be admitted, but Yale is looking for people who would actively seek out these kinds of opportunities even if there weren’t an announcement about them in their schools. Yalies tend to be very self-starting and have a “find a way” attitude. This isn’t meant as a put-down or to say that Yale will ding you for not winning competitions, I’m just trying to answer your “personal circumstances” question. Yale will cut more slack to someone at a lower SES high school, first generation college, etc. than they would someone attending a feeder high school where there is more knowledge about taking extracurriculars to the next level. BUT successful applicants are the type who show initiative, regardless of personal circumstances. </p>
<p>I claim no special knowledge of how Yale treats arts supplements, but I do know a few Yalies (including my D) who submitted visual arts supplements. These Yalies were also offered portfolio-based scholarships at schools like SAIC & MICA. If you look at the portfolios of the kids in the art forum who were ultimately admitted to RISD/MICA/SAIC (particularly those with merit scholarships), you may get an idea of the quality of the portfolios submitted by students admitted to Yale. The NFAA and AP websites will also give you a feel for what a high quality high school portfolio looks like.</p>
<p>If there is a National Portfolio Day in your area, take your work there & get some feedback. Even if you haven’t had a lot of formal training or won any big awards, the reviewers at NPD can tell you whether your work is of a quality that will catch the attention of Yale’s art department.</p>
<p>Having said that, I will add that I think my D’s art helped in her admission because she wanted to dual major in Art and XXX, and her entire application reflected her interest in/capacity for broadening her academics through art and her art through academics.</p>
<p>This may be true in some areas but not in art. Your portfolio will speak (or not) for itself. Don’t sweat the competitions. I say this as a parent of a kid who got in using her portfolio as a primary EC differentiator, with not a single competition to her name.</p>
<p>Hmmm. Is anyone willing to take a look at my portfolio and kind of gauge whether it’s good enough or not? I’m a junior right now, but I have some national and international awards under my belt for photography, and was thinking of submitting some photos for the art supplement. I was also kind of hoping it’d make me stand out as an Asian Californian applicant next year (:</p>
<p>I agree with John about not sweating the competitions. I think it’s more important to get some feedback on your portfolio before you submit it, particularly if you haven’t been been working with an instructor. You can also get advice on photographing your work, etc. in preparation for submitting it.</p>
<p>violadad - I’ve been following (and been intimidated by, haha) Pastel’s thread pretty closely for the past week. Thanks for the great links!</p>
<p>AA - Thank you so much for the suggestions. I’ll make sure to contact my local community college’s art department and ask for feedback on my portfolio. And, haha, sorry about the minors slip-up; I’d forgotten that they were only in the process of considering adding them. :'D</p>
<p>johnshade - Your reassuring comments made my day :]</p>
<p>lonestarmom - I’ve been taking art classes at school, but I feel like my instructor is overestimating my abilities. I do hope to ask her help come scanning/photographing time.</p>
<p>From looking at the AP art portfolios, I guess I should be focusing more on improving the content of my art rather than my technical skill… Again, many thanks to everyone who responded!</p>
<p>Yale doesn’t have to look hard for visual art talent. Like music talent, or writing talent, it seems to show up all by itself in the admitted classes. If a portfolio is going to make a big difference in your admission chances, it would have to be at least good enough for a merit scholarship at a top art school, and probably a lot better than that.</p>
<p>poachedivory: Aaah! Sorry if I appeared intimidating! Lol, I’m actually (hopefully) pretty normal. And I intially sought out those competitions to get some recognition (and to roll in the $$$ :P) and “validate” my portfolio for the admissions committee who wouldn’t actually get to see it. A friend of mine got into Harvard and she was pretty heavy on the art side, and with no awards. I would say it definitely comes down to your portfolio (technicality, creativity) and the subsequent recommendation or lack thereof as opposed to whether or not a jury likes it. Juries/contests are highly subjective and disregard a lot of things I know that art schools, and probably Yale included, like and require–whether the piece observational, technical prowess, diversity in media/subject, etc.</p>
<p>lonestarmom: I’m curious, could you give us a description of what was in your D’s portfolio, in addition to how her academics stacked up compared to acceptees?</p>
<p>Pastel: D’s portfolio included a series of large scale oils exploring a social issue close to her heart, plus a collection of diverse pieces that she hoped would demonstrate her creativity and technical skill in several media. </p>
<p>Honestly, I thought D’s portfolio could have been stronger. D didn’t really start producing finished work until the very end of her junior year. She never had private instruction and only went to one 2-week program the summer before senior year. Plus D’s high school teacher focused on “process, not product” and actively discouraged competitions. D is very grateful to have had this truly wonderful teacher, but her particular approach left D with a somewhat thin portfolio, and virtually no awards. Still, several top art schools liked what they saw, as (apparently) did Yale–so take heart, OP.</p>
<p>Her stats were almost identical to yours, Pastel. A smidge higher here, a smidge lower there, but basically the same.</p>
<p>Thanks, lonestarmom! And by “thin,” you mean not loaded with 20 pieces? Mine probably will have 12 at max, probably 11, where as you can send a max of 20. I’m a little bit concerned I might not be showing enough, but those are my absolute best pieces, to which I’m taking solace in knowing I won’t be flooding them with mediocrity (relative to myself of course). Have you also heard of visual artists getting lost in the RD pool? One of reasons for SCEA other than Yale being my absolute number 1 is that I feel it’s easier to stand out (correct me if I’m wrong) in the SCEA pool in terms of being a visual artist.</p>
<p>Also, OP I would love to see some of your work! I’d gladly exchange portfolios if you’re into that type of thing. My PM box is open, as always!</p>