Should I submit supplementary theater materials?

Hi!

I’m applying to Emory RD and I just got an email from them requesting supplementary material for theater (like a resume or a recording,) and I’m not sure if it’s worth sending it in. It makes sense that they’d ask because I do a lot of school theater, but I’m not a particularly good actor, and I don’t think anything I could produce would be very impressive. I love theater and I definitely want to stick with it in college, but I know where I stand. That being said, I’m worried that optional doesn’t really mean optional in this case. Should I submit the materials?

I’m in the same boat! I applied RD (but earlier to be considered for scholarships) and I got an email today inviting me to submit vocal samples (I sing, but I didn’t say I would be majoring or anything; I would like to sing as an extracurricular though even in college). I think I’m going to submit, just because it can’t hurt, right? Like let’s say your acting/my singing is terrible – they’re not going to decide to reject.

Same re: applying RD! You checked off the box for the scholars program too, I assume?

I doubt that my acting skills are so godawful that they’d be a dealbreaker, but I think the admissions officers and/or the theater department faculty want to be able to visualize the applicants as part of the Emory community, and I don’t know that if they’d be excited by what they see.

Good luck getting those samples done!

My daughter got the same email today. She is applying RD also. She is going to ask her theater teacher and guidance counselor how she should respond. She does not want to major in theater but would like to be involved while in college.

I also got the email, but for music! Do you think it’s okay if it’s just a recording from a concert? It was taken with an iPhone so the quality isn’t great but I don’t know if I can find the time to do a real recording…

You should submit supplementary materials if you want your art area to be a possible basis for a merit based scholarship. Without it, you chances of receiving a merit award based on your art area are substantially reduced unless you happen to have some other evidence of your talents and interests in the art area.