<p>So I haven’t taken an art class since middle school but I LOVE photography. It’s not really my main interest but I guess one of my hobbies. Should I send a separate thing of photos? I’m applying next year by the way (Fall 2011).</p>
<p>Heh, I thought these were of yourself, and I was going to say, “As long as you’re extremely comfortable with your body image and hope to get a male reading your application…” </p>
<p>Yeah, photos would be a pretty good thing to attach, in my opinion.</p>
<p>I didn’t do the research myself, but I asked my D why she didn’t choose to send ANY arts supplements to ANY of her schools (choir, band, etc.). She said that it was her impression that, unless they were national level talents, she felt the didn’t want to be bothered. (She’s state champion in two of those things, I thought it was worthwhile, she didn’t, so…?)</p>
<p>If you are planning to go straight into a VA track at Brown the dept may review your materials, otherwise you’ll just waste paper and time.</p>
<p>I think they will see anything not sent on the app so unless you’ve done something super amazing it may not be necessary.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t know if it’s a good thing to send. Seriously, in this applicant pool, there are definitely always bigger fish in the sea. Don’t send in your photos unless they’re excellent, or you risk being overshadowed by someone with better work.</p>
<p>they sort through the portfolios sent in and don’t even look at not up to par ones</p>
<p>There are specific guidelines for sending in arts supplements, and they vary school-by-school and can vary year-by-year. I’d recommend not sending photographs or any other kind of artwork without looking into exactly what they want for formatting in an arts supplement. Brown is one of the schools for which an arts supplement may be especially helpful, according to some successful applicants with whom I’m quite familiar.</p>
<p>I really wonder why someone who isn’t a state/national champion photo student can’t send in a portfolio. They may be good enough, but u just never competed. Let the admission office know I think. It’s another hobby u enjoy. Photos can display your personality very well. I say send it</p>
<p>if your work is good, take really good pictures and put it together in a semi-professional way. do not get a professional to do it – they look for that and don’t want you to do it. but they definitely want to see quality work presented in a quality, effortful way and it will help with admissions.</p>
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…and how would Brown know what is not “up to par” without critiquing a portfolio?</p>
<p>Weird. I sent an email to the admissions office asking if they wanted an art supplement. They said that it was discouraged because of the high volume of apps.</p>
<p>I wrote/drew a 61 page one-shot comic anyway, and sent it off to my other unis. Sucks to be Brown. (pun intended, offense not intended)</p>
<p>Toolmaker and altruition: Read my post above.</p>
<p>I’d say in general, don’t send. Even if you have national awards, sometimes it’s better to just let the awards speak for themselves, since art is so subjective-- you might not get so lucky with your portfolio reviewer when you send it in, but any award listed will demonstrate quality, especially if it’s a national or international one. Besides, a lot of people claim to do photography “as a hobby”; I imagine that photography portfolios are one of the more common types of visual art portfolios. Unless your work is really that good, and you have demonstrated commitment to photography outside of “it’s a hobby of mine”… or have had galleries showcase your work or something, don’t send it in. I had national awards and I didn’t send in a portfolio to Brown.</p>
<p>When reading student files, they form a holistic picture. They aren’t going to pull out two students’ photos and say “Aha! This one is in, this one is out!”</p>
<p>It’s difficult for the student because they obviously want to showcase as many talents as possible. But if you think from the file readers’ perspective, they know that they must operate efficiently – if not with absolute thoroughness. Therefore, they rely on intuition and experience in reading the recommended materials. Basically, they don’t need anyone’s photo portfolio to determine admit/reject.</p>
<p>tool – my friend has this job. they look through them.</p>
<p>but in most cases admissions will not review them unless you’re a va applicant, and therefore it will not help your chances any.</p>
<p>Yeah I sent in my photographs to Brown.</p>
<p>But I have some ethos behind my work; I got an internship based on my photography work at a highly esteemed creative services division in a major corporation.</p>
<p>So as long as you can back up your work, it should be fine.</p>