<p>Admissions Officers are not experts in the field of research, art or music. When a student submits a portfolio or supplement, Admissions has the option of reviewing it or not. If a college is interested in a student after reading their transcript, test scores, teacher recommendations, Secondary School Report (SSR), essays and EC’s, they might forward a supplement to the appropriate academic department for review. Supplements are usually reviewed by the Dean or Chair of the academic department; they review the material and send back a short report to Admissions which will include key sentences like “This is about average for a high school student; nothing special here” or “Wow, this kid is doing something really special; get them here!” Obviously to be accepted you need the latter review.</p>
<p>Not all supplements submitted are reviewed. A student is first judged on the required materials – if those are not sufficient to create interest, the supplement will not be read or evaluated. If the supplement is reviewed it needs to be a “wow” otherwise it tends to take away from the required materials and ends up hurting an applicant more than helping.</p>
<p>Students should submit abstracts. If the abstract is reviewed, and the academic department wants to see the entire project, Admissions will email you and ask for it.</p>