<p>I know I will need a academic and counselor recommendation… what about an artistic one?</p>
<p>Just yesterday I went to the Tisch open house, and someone asked the same same question during the q&a.</p>
<p>They said that they only wanted the two letters from an academic teacher and a guidance counselor, not from a drama/music coach or teacher, because they want to get some insight on how you are in the classroom and in school.</p>
<p>Hope that helps!</p>
<p>NYQ, I know that NYU makes it clear that they do not want any additional materials submitted. This is for any applicant, not just those applying to Tisch. What my D did, years ago when she was applying, is to supply exactly what was requested to go along with her application. She did, however, take along an additional letter of recommendation from one of her drama teachers (she attended an arts h/s) who had also directed her in several productions, the day she auditioned. She included this with her headshot and her artistic resume. One of the auditors, during the interview portion of the audition, read the letter and inititated a discussion as a result of something which was contained in the letter (I forget all these years later exactly what that was!). I don't see anything wrong with doing that, as the admissions office won't even see it, and it will definitely be looked at by those doing the artistic review part of the process.</p>
<p>From the post above it sounds like one letter of recommendation comes from the guidance counselor. In using the Common App there is a secondary school report that is filled out by the guidance counselor and includes a section to write a recommendation for the student. Is this the same thing as the second recommendation? We had intended to have two teachers write recommendation letters in addition to the secondary school report, but one was the theatre teacher so that may not be right. Thanks for any help!</p>
<p>The school report must be filled out by the guidance counselor. </p>
<p>Teacher recommendations (for any college, including NYU) are meant to be academic core subject teachers. </p>
<p>In my opinion, and what all my clients do and my own children did, it is OK to include on top of the required materials, two supplemental recommendations from people who know you outside the academic classroom. For a theater applicant, these would typically be artistic recs. These have no official forms and are written on their own letterheads. These cannot substitute for the academic recs (which should be from core subjects). These need not be from anyone AT school either. Just from those who know you in a different capacity than an academic classroom teacher. </p>
<p>Some BFA programs specifically ask for artistic recs with the app or at the audition. For those that do not, including two supplemental artistic recs is worth doing, in my opinion.</p>
<p>I truly believe these are read. Same with an annotated activity resume. Just from a personal standpoint, when I look at the criteria that was used to select Tisch Scholars (which is, btw, ending and not available to new students), and we didn't even know such a program existed when my D applied, but some of the criteria relates to things she had on her annotated activity resume or were mentioned in her recs and had these not been read, then I have no clue how they'd know she possessed those particular qualities (leadership and so on).</p>
<p>I will add that what I interpret when NYU says they do not want additional materials is that they don't want supplemental submissions such as DVD, CD, scripts, stories/papers, or other samples of work. They will not look at those things. Supplemental recs or annotated activity resumes are things that many schools are willing to take whether they say so or not. These are different than supplemental packages of samples.</p>
<p>kgallo, when they said they didn't want the rec from a drama teacher but from an academic teacher....that is true.....the teacher rec forms are meant for academic core subjects and are required. However, submitting a letter of reference from an artistic rec in addition is different than asking if they would take that as one of the required recs. You could send it with the application or take it to the audition.</p>
<p>one more thingy....LOL...</p>
<p>Definitely follow the instructions and submit what is REQUIRED. But let me add that submitting supplemental artistic recs or an activity resume or both are not going to be detrimental to you. After all, my own kid did it to every school and got into many, including NYU. I have had many advisees who have submitted these same things and been admitted and several are now attending Tisch and so it wasn't held against them and in my view, likely rounded out their file.</p>
<p>What was not clear to me is that the earlier note said one recommendation should be from the guidance counselor, so does the guidance counselor also complete a recommendation form in addition to their comments on the secondary school report?</p>
<p>Re-read the applications page on the NYU website and it sounds like there is only one teacher rec required and the guidance counselor rec which I believe is part of their secondary school report as there us a section for the counselor to write about the student. We have one academice teacher writing a rec but had planned to have the theatre teacher from whom our D has taken classes from for 4 years write a second one (using the same common app rec form). Should we not do this?</p>
<p>The guidance counselor recommendation at all colleges is not truly considered one of the "recommendations". In fact, it is a required recommendation and not a choice as to who to ask. The GC must fill out what is called the School Report and that has questions on it and a narrative evaluation (which really is not the same as a recommendation because a recommendation is something someone agrees to write and usually just agrees if they feel they can write favorably on your behalf). The GC MUST write for every applicant on the school report form (this is NOT one of the teacher recommendation forms). </p>
<p>I forgot that NYU has only one academic teacher recommendation required (some schools require two). So, you only have to submit one. </p>
<p>I still believe, one should or could have supplemental rec writers outside of academics, such as artistic rec writers, which are not required and do not use the required academic teacher rec forms but just write on their own letterhead. Again, my advisees do this for all their schools and my own children both did as well.</p>
<p>I wish I had known that it was Ok for kids to do this. Oh, well .... :)</p>
<p>NMR....but I'm glad you are mentioning this as your D got in anyway and in fact, had a highly successful BFA admissions outcome overall! So, there is no one "right" way but there are things one can do to put together an effective application, even if not required or necessary to be admitted. There are so many applicants who have the requisite stats to get in, and so whatever one can do to present a package that shows about themselves while following general guidelines, can only help. It goes beyond basic "stats" and so applicants need to show who they are in their materials. Lots of ways to do that. It can't hurt, even if it not necessary to do.</p>
<p>I understood there to be a guidance counselor "recommendation" when my d was applying, which was ridiculous, because she was brand new during my d's senior year and hadn't even met her yet! As far as an "artistic" recommendation, there was no way in #@!! she was going to get one from her chorus teacher/drama director from HS as he basically told many of her friends that she didn't have talent......and he got teacher of the year this year. So d got one rec from her SS teacher, one from Eng, and her guidance counselor.</p>
<p>For supplemental or artistic recs, they need NOT be from school teachers. They can be from athletic coaches, theater directors, private voice teachers, supervisors at a job, supervisors of a club, dance studio directors, summer program staff, etc. The academic recs do need to be from core academic TEACHERS. My daughter's artistic recs were not from teachers at her school. </p>
<p>While it is very unfortunate for s student who gets a brand new guidance counselor in senior year and/or has a GC who has hundreds of students, the applicant truly needs to give their rec writers and GC sufficient information to help them write an effective recommendation. My daughters' GC and rec writers knew them extremely well (which is obviously more ideal) but even then, they prepared detailed "packages" to each person to solicit an effective recommendation.</p>
<p>Quick question Soozievt--when you take a letter of recommendation from a theatre or other coach to the audition, should it be in a sealed envelope or does that matter?</p>
<p>I don't recall my daughter bringing the recs to audtions. Obviously if asked to bring one, you do. Generally speaking, OPTIONAL recs....and often artistic recs are optional, would not have to be sealed. I don't recall any of my D's artistic recs being sealed. They were not on any official forms but on the person's letterhead. Our HS guidance counselor sent all the recs in one package with the school stuff (transcripts, etc.). At an audition, I don't think it needs to be sealed but you could always ask ahead of time (if it is a requirement in the first place). If you are bringing it out of choice and it wasn't asked for, there surely is no need to seal it as it wasn't required to even hand in. If it is required to bring it to the audition, ask them this question about sealed or not directly as it may differ from school to school.</p>
<p>If you are asking about Tisch specifically, she did not bring recs to that audition. She submitted the artistic recs with her application. They don't even ask for artistic recs at Tisch. If you want, I suppose you could bring it to the actual audition. Being unrequired, however, implies to me that it need not be sealed.</p>
<p>Thank you! I always appreciate your advice and now is the year we will be putting it into action!</p>