<p>1 Has anyone hand-filled their app out?
2 How much supplemental writing is enough? Better, how much is too much?
3 For those who submitted arts supplements, how "advanced" were they?</p>
<p>That's all for now!</p>
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<li><p>I would do it online if you can. I don’t think admissions officers enjoy reading handwritten documents, but I don’t know, honestly.</p></li>
<li><p>I would say keep it under a page.</p></li>
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<li>They better be advanced, or they will only be detrimental to your application. Send in supplements only if you are unusually gifted.</li>
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<p>That’s not too big of an issue for me, I guess… Of course, “advanced” is somewhat subjective, so I was curious.</p>
<p>I think the Harvard website says that the applicant should have “exceptional talents” or something like that, so it’s really your call. </p>
<p>Personally, I equated “exceptional talents” with being top notch - aka the applicant would get into Colburn, Curtis, and/or Juilliard - so I didn’t send a CD. I did, however, attach a list of accomplishments under the Additional Writing section of the Common App(attending international summer programs; winning several state-wide competitions; soloing with several symphonies; being in the top 6 at my state’s All-State Orchestra for all four years; stuff like that).</p>
<p>1) I hand wrote my applications, but this was years ago (even though it was already possible to complete the common app online at that point)…If they’re neat, I don’t see a problem. Of course, it’s so easy to fill out applications online and to submit to multiple institutions simultaneously, I don’t see why one would NOT do it online. </p>
<p>3) “Art” is subjective, in that there’s really never a clear cutoff point where on one side, you have ‘bad’ and one side, ‘great’. It’s more of a slope, with certain things that are almost certainly incompetent or amateurish, and certain things that are clearly skillful. But amateurish doesn’t automatically mean uninspired, and technically skillful doesn’t mean transcendent. The degree of subjectivity also changes depending on the discipline. Performance on an instrument is easier to judge than composition. Figurative drawing is (probably) easier to judge than conceptual art etc. etc. Also, you have NO idea who will be looking at your work; there’s always a judgment call to be made when sending off art supplements–ideally, you can have a few objective eyes looking at what you’re sending before you do so (i.e. not your studio art teacher).</p>
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<li>I went to one of those “Harvard is visiting your city!” things, and someone asked the rep JoonBug’s question #3. The rep said that supplements are forwarded to the appropriate faculty member, who will rate supplements on a scale of 1-10: 1 = this applicant doesn’t know which way’s up; 5 = average high schooler; 10 = could be a professional right now (like Yo-Yo Ma probably got a 10 when he applied). The majority of the supplements score a 7-9, which doesn’t help or hurt an applicant because the applicant’s extracurriculars and accomplishments usually show the AdCom that they’re good at what they do. A 10 would greatly help an applicant. A score of 6 or lower would greatly hurt an applicant.</li>
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<p>^On second thought, that info might not be the process for Harvard (the sessions I went to are all blurring together!). If it isn’t, then it’s the process for Yale or Princeton :)</p>