<p>Just wondering if anyone's acceptance chances got changed a lot due to their music supplement (like personal stories where a person has like bad scores or something, and it was evident that the extra supplement helped). I have a slight suspicion, but I do not want to automatically assume anything until I get opinions from others.</p>
<p>well, it didn’t help me much. I’ve been playing violin for 13 years and submitted a music supp, and didn’t get in. I felt I was a pretty qualified applicant (2340, 4.0 UW, most challenging course load, etc.), but I just didn’t quite fit the “Stanford mold.” Ultimately, I don’t think art supplements do much for any school, unless you’re applying to the music department. I’m sure they can be slightly helpful in some cases, but that hasn’t been my experience thus far.</p>
<p>I was planning to submit me playing Tchaikovsky’s Concerto in D Major for violin, but decided against it. First I listened to David Oistrakh play it and felt that I wasn’t worthy. Second, fate made me jam my fingers playing basketball.</p>
<p>My cousin who is an AMAZING violinist submitted some redonkulously good piece, but didn’t get in. She got into Juilliard though. So in her case, awesome music didn’t help.</p>
<p>@ jr5570: oh noo, you sound exactly like me in a way (a little sad now). lol. I’m also 13 year violin performer, but with lower SAT score and lower UW gpa. but i have taken the hardest load, like you did. I’m now a little worried ): lol. but, I sort of spinned mine a little differently, since I also have a lot political involvement (president of school, state directorship, successfully advocated for new park creations etc). sigh. i’ll see what happens. thanks for letting me know ><</p>
<p>@addchang: ah :x sorry to hear a bout that. thanks for letting me know >< I submitted two pieces: Zigeunerweisen by Sarasate and Chaconne (Ciaconne) by J.S. Bach. Possibly she had a lot more commitment to purely music, and not academics/other extracurriculars? Is that a possibility? :o</p>
<p>haha. I’m just curious, since I’m currently college-less, with no rejections/defers/acceptances. haha</p>
<p>Nah, she had a lot going for her (quite a bit more than I do actually). 2390 SAT, tennis champ, A+'s in most of her classes, tons of AP’s, club officerships, volunteering, etc. Course, I suppose the “cookie cutter Asian” effect hurt her. </p>
<p>I don’t really like Chaconne (or Bach in general, except for the Double Concerto. Me and three friends are trying to play it, 2 people per violin for Senior recital, haha). I like the Zigeunerweisen sort of, but it was one of those pieces that never agreed with me: I think my teacher made me play it before I was really ready. They’re both great pieces, and I bet you’re a great violinist. I think that your submission will help. </p>
<p>Only thing is, I don’t know if Stanford wants to listen to like… a half hour of music? I hope for your own sake you’re only submitting a movement from each one…</p>
<p>oh my o_o oh gosh, now I will never know my chances ): sigh</p>
<p>lool. I only sent in the first movement of the Chaconne. I know that the admissions people will not stop and be like “whoa, I’ma listen to it for 30 minutes even when I have millions of submissions to go through still” haha. Thanks >< I hope so. I was (when younger) had the intention of becoming a violinist, and switched my decision the moment I started high school. hope I made the right choice</p>
<p>oh. there’s only one movement of Zigeunerweisen, so mine was a little over the time-limit, but I asked the person who handles the phone at Stanford admissions, and she said that it is okay to set it over the time limit (they will only listen up to the time-limit, then decide if they want to listen to more of it)</p>
<p>oh, also to add, I fall into the “cookie cutter Asian” scenario also ):</p>
<p>I feel that adding a music supplement will just add another dimension to your app, so if its good, I think it’ll help either way. If the adcoms have to choose between two Asian kids, the one with the music supp will win. (geez, i hope we don’t get compared with you, I’d lose XP) Unless of course your adcom is someone who hates Bach with a passion, hehe.</p>
<p>ah thanks >< haha</p>
<p>nah, im not that smart / competitive, thats my personal belief. just hoping haha</p>
<p>they usually have like 4 ppl listen to the same recording/evaluate and such. so i hope not ALL of them hate my performance/music selection XD</p>
<p>I submitted the music supplement on clarinet. I played the 2nd movement of Mozart concerto, which is the easy one. I mean REALLY easy. and I played the fast, technically difficult region band piece.<br>
But after reading this thread, I don’t think that’s why I got in.</p>
<p>@jsungoh: I also had additional extracurricular involvement (mock trial lead attorney, XCountry, extensive peer tutoring, paid internship) and some other pretty quirky/unusual musical achievements and activities. Honestly, I think my getting rejected had as much to do with the somewhat generic nature of my “why stanford” essay, and also with my basically talking about how much I loved Harvard in my “intellectual experience” essay. Haha, no, I’m not kidding. It also could have been because I didn’t have much leadership involvement.
In any case, I agree with adchang in that it’s just something to bolster your application a little bit, and I don’t think it would hurt to send one, unless you’re very bad (though if you’ve been playing for 13 years, I don’t think that’s the case).</p>
<p>@jr5570: I think that was your folly. not exactly the generic Why Stanford essay, but because you talked about Harvard .___. there’s that sort of stigma for colleges to desire to feel superior to other colleges.</p>
<p>^I’d agree. Especially with Stanford and its “anti-ivy league” image.</p>
<p>Uh…I’m not sure if this helps, but I’ll just say it: one of the people I know sent in a music supplement to Stanford and got in. He was a pretty bright kid and played on the USA Cadet team for table tennis (how I know him). He plays for Stanford now. Anyway, here’s his music supplement thingy.</p>
<p>[YouTube</a> - Preston Chin Jazz Drums Performances Common Application #5782023](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)</p>
<p>It can’t hurt, especially if it adds cohesion to your application (i.e. it won’t be very useful if the rest of your application has nothing to do with music, but mentioning music in the essays, etc. and having the supplement would go much further).</p>
<p>^agree with above poster</p>
<p>thanks for the posts. I’ve just been a bit worried, since I worked so hard on my music supplement (and hope that it helps me get in). I currently have my recording up on youtube right now, and I start noticing few mistakes in it now, after listening to it a few times (thus why I was a little disappointed in myself)</p>
<p>oh, and i talked ab out violin in my common application 1st essay / why stanford (said i wanted to join their orchestra with details etc)</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I submitted a composition supplement to Stanford and I think that this DID play a role in my admittance. As phantasmagoric stated, a key focus of my application was music so I think that my composition supplement let them know that I was a serious musician as much as I am a serious student. It definitely added another dimension to my app and I don’t see how this could possibly hurt. The supplement is just reviewed by a musician who communicates its merit to the adcoms, if you’re submitting a supplement, I doubt you are going to be god awful. I really don’t see how this could “hurt” your chances - but the degree to which it helps likely varies widely.</p>
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