Hello to all on College Confidential, I’m currently a junior who’s been playing violin for approx 10 years now. I started looking into some elite schools like Brown and Amherst and saw the requirements for their supplementals. My main problem is, I wouldn’t consider myself an “elite” violinist and don’t know if that would hurt me considering a. a lot of people play the violin and b. anyone whos submitting a music supplement would probably be really good.
To help put in some perspective, I’m only involved in my school, county and region orchestras, haven’t made it to states or done any competitions or what not. My “repertoire” per say consists of a few Bach partitas, Saint Saens Intro+Rondo Capriccioso, Kreisler Preludium and Allegro, Bruch Concerto in G minor and Haydn Concerto in C. Also, I don’t know if it would hurt me considering I live in NJ which has a lot of opportunities like precolleges which I haven’t been able to take. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
The general rule is that your playing should be of or close to conservatory level for it to help you with admissions. Unless that is the case, I would describe your orchestra/violin related activities in your application and let it go at that.
First, you need to be a fully compelling candidate, a match. If so, they can send the supp to music faculty. The bottom line is, do they want to work with you, see you in music groups, etc. That can mean less than conservatory level skills, at colleges without conservatories and not a music major.
But first, you need to match the rest they want.
There is a saying I’ve seen on CC: The thicker the file, the thicker the kid. Meaning sending in additional info that is not helpful smacks of desperation. Listing your extensive musical ECs tells the college quite a bit. Adding a supplement that is not great will not be a help.
In this case, imo, it’s legit. It won’t harm, if you’re good- and it does seem you are. (The harder part will be the adcom review.)
The usual critique is to kids sending more LoRs from non teachers, who want to send a whole research paper, their art doodles, and more. (And who never carefully matched themselves, in the first place.)
You can ask your violin teacher, for thoughts, as well as the right piece(s) and see what the college says about length.
Hi, I don’t think your music credentials rise to the level to send a supplemental in. No state level adjudications, or honors orchestra or audition competitions. I would still list it on your application because it is a meaningful extra curricular. In the end if you do send a supplement in it could ding you even more negatively on your overall application and hurt your chance, than if you had not sent it in to be compared. You would be compared to violinists at that level and imho come up short and the risk is getting passed over for that credential not rising to the level of sponsorship by the department. List it on your extras and best of luck.
I agree with @waverlywizzard . If you have not played at least on the state level, there’s no need to send a supplement. Students who send supplements do so as part of their overall story. They are conveying that they are music kids, that music has been the most or one of the most significant parts of their lives in HS. Doesn’t sound like you are trying to convey to admissions committees that you are a “music kid.”
Sorry. I do not agree with you two. OP is not applying to conservatory. She/he is not expected to be at state level and is “involved in my school, county and region orchestras.” Of course county and region are auditions. She’s not a music major, to be compared with them.
It will not ding. Period. Adcoms dont listen and she has to meet all their needs, first, for the supp to go to music faculty. They wont review her for a major. But to see if the quality of playing would make them want to have her in lessons and she can add to the EC groups- college orchestra or chamber, accompanying musicals, etc. Not future pro status.
See what your violin teacher thinks.
This seems to be a statement with which everyone agrees, and I think until there is a (hopefully) unbiased PoV, the question is moot.
FWIW, I’m in the middle on this. Yes, the student is not applying to a conservatory, but I do think that the supplement should be close to that level. Yes the AO will not evaluate it. The AO may not even send it on to the music faculty for evaluation if the rest of the application does not warrant. But I also think that an applicant needs to be cognizant of the faculty’s time and not send stuff just to send stuff. And I think it will ding if they faculty member says the piece is crap. The adage of “the thicker the file…” applies.
FWIW, and although I often say that the plural of anecdote is not data, I had a professor in college, who at the time was chair of the music department, who told me that she had sent some scathing commentary back to admissions on numerous occasions about wasting faculty time with lackluster supplements. I will also add that I did send a music supplement to this college, but after hearing that tidbit was afraid to ask if she had reviewed it.
Of course, if the supplement is indeed very good, the OP should send. But I have seen many kids who have a very inflated sense of their own skill set, which is why I recommended an objective adults’s opinion first.
Her repertoire doesn’t sound like a casual player. I’m no expert on that.
In contrast, ski, ime, faculty is more cursory in this sort of review than, say, for a physics major. If they send a phyics wannabe’s app to faculty and they don’t endorse what adcoms think they saw, it can be the end.
If faculty doesn’t like the piece, so be it. The admit competition is so fierce that, if OP even gets to the point where adcoms would like a feather on the scale, they won’t reject her for a music supp not intriguing.
And I think her challenges for Brown and Amherst run deeper.
I base my comments on numbers. Considering symphonic band, orchestra, wind ensemble, and jazz band, how many student musicians in the U.S. play at the region level as their highest level? Tens of thousands (several regions in each state). How many play at the all-state level? Low thousands. How many on the multi-state level (All-Eastern, e.g.)? Maybe 1,000, if that. Thus, a student who has reached the regional level is one of the best 20,000-30,000 H.S. musicians in the country.
I also suspect that the number of highest-level musicians is not evenly distributed among all colleges. Super-selective schools like Brown and Amherst will have more of them.
IMO, if you think you can play well enough that someone would see this extra dimension of you as something wonderful, go on ahead. It’s not going to hurt you.
It’s not likely to make any difference either unless you are extraordinarily good, or if you are going to continue your music at the school, perhaps join the school orchestra. If you take the trouble to see where you can use your music at the school , find some local or school group , and it’s something the school sees as a plus, it can be a bump. Otherwise, what difference to them is it that you play an instrument well ?
Schools like Amherst and Brown, HPY, Stanford have so many talented musicians applying that it’s nothing that’s in short supply. In fact, it’s become a frigging stereo type for certain over represented profiles.
It’s adcoms who are most cognizant of not wasting faculty time. They won’t forward smething they don’t need evaluated. And, considering the vast number of applicants, not that many send a music supp, IME.
The competition to tippy tops is so fierce that few of those apps will be so good as to interrupt music faculty time.
