<p>i read somewhere that recently princeton got this huge grant for the arts department, and they're looking for students interested in the arts.</p>
<p>if i went to princeton i'd likely major in art & archaeology, or possibly a dual major in that and sociology. i'm DEFINITELY sending in a supplementary portfolio because art is one of my main ECs (private lessons, professional installments, guilds, awards, publication) and i have some nice things to back it up.</p>
<p>would this be a significant boost (enough to overcome a 3.83? it'd drop if freshman year removed; sophomore year was my "transition" year)?</p>
<p>Definitely send in a supplement! I got “recruited” for the theatre department. Its still important to do well academically, so keep trying to bring your GPA up, but it will help a lot if your portfolio is solid.</p>
<p>Just so you know, you can’t double major at Princeton. So don’t write about your plans to double-major on your application because they’ll assume you don’t know anything about the school! There are certificates, though, which are kind of like minors. You might want to check out the Visual Arts certificate…that, combined with a art supplement, could very well be a tipping factor. Good luck!</p>
<p>Princeton automatically drops freshman year in recalculating your GPA. I don’t know if an arts interest can overcome a lower GPA, but it doesn’t hurt to try.</p>
<p>without freshman year, my GPA would be 3.79 by application time, including senior year grades. in context, that’s @ at extremely rigorous prep school (30%+ NMSF, avg. SAT ~2100, give or take 20; my SAT is ~2300). plus, i wasn’t at this school all four years, and when I came from an easy, large public i had adjustment issues that my counselor is writing about.</p>
<p>would, say, a strong portfolio (and a strong note, or whatever, from P’s art dept) be a significant boost from my 3.79?</p>
<p>A boost is usually being recruited for athletics, legacy status, or URM. A great portfolio might be a “tip” however. And if your GPA is from the rigorous prep you describe, then it should be very competitive. Just remember P’ton is a reach for everyone. Good luck.</p>
<p>One more detail- you do know that Art and Archeology at Princeton is the Art History department, and not Studio Art?</p>
<p>Correction- I see on the P website that they now have a visual studio program called “Program 2” with an emphasis on studio art in the A & A department–seems great!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies, guys. fauve–i actually wasn’t aware about program 2, as you described, but I guess I was always under the impression that A&A had some studio art program in it as well.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard about/had experience with the appropriateness of contacting the fine arts department before applying? I’ve been talking to a few other CC’ers for advice on this but it’d be great to have a little more. I was thinking of doing this because not all schools forward art supplements to the art department and I wanted to let them know was interested in their dept and studying art there and for them to watch out for my supplement. However, if I achieved a balance between interest and fowardness, would this still be too annoying or inappropriate to the respective department?</p>
<p>I’ve read that Princeton does indeed send the arts supplements to arts faculty for a ‘professional’ opinion. You should double check with P’ton admissions first before contacting individual faculty–if the prof you bother is not a reviewer it might be overly intrusive.</p>
<p>Better to spend more time on the quality of the portfolio, essays, and app, than plotting faculty contact.</p>