<p>I am vaguely thinking about applying, although I'm not 100% sure yet. I do have a question about the "supplementary materials" part. It says that you may include "selected samples of academic work". Here's my situation.
I take a graduate-level course in English at the University of KS. This course is extremely reading and writing intensive and as a result I've produced quite a few papers for it. My professor is "highly encouraging" me to submit one of the critical essays I've written for the class with my application.</p>
<p>Will this help me or hurt me? I don't want the admissions committee to be annoyed with me, as I'm sure they have tons of other material to consider as well. I don't know if this question has been asked before on these boards, and I apologize if this is a repeat.. I haven't read much on the Harvard forum.</p>
<p>Also, do most students write the "additional essay"? </p>
<p>Any comments would be helpful.. again, I'm really sorry to bother everyone, especialy if this has already been asked and answered! Good luck to all.</p>
<p>If your proud of the piece you've written, why not send it in. If you're worried about being annoying, just send in the material as early as possible. Hey, they offer the opportunity, so don't worry about being unnecessarily nice to admissions. It's YOUR application, afterall.</p>
<p>Well, the supp material had better be sth that u take pride in. And make sure that it shows how good in this course u are. If it is really good and highlights an aspect of u send it ASAP</p>
<p>congress23 makes a good point. Its your application, and its their job to try and learn as much about you as they can so they can make an informed decision. Helping them do that I am sure is not bad.</p>
<p>However, I do have a side question. Lets say we did independant history research paper, although it didn't win any contests or it didn't get published, we can still send it right? </p>
<p>A-san- they have professors (or TAs, or other faculty) in the field look over it and send their opinion to the admissions comittee. It doesn't need to have been published or have won any prizes- they'll still look it over, and if you feel it's a good piece of research, it'll probably help (they're not going to hold it to as high a standard as they would a graduate research paper, but they will certainly hold it to a higher standard than any high school teachers would).</p>
<p>I would agree about sending in the paper, get your $65 worth. Regarding your second question, I applied EA and did not write the additional essay (it seemed to me like a way to explain an extreme circumstance, not something that would be expected or even encouraged). That's just my interpretation, though.</p>
<p>Hey, just wanted to piggyback my own question about a supplementary material: the activity list.</p>
<p>I did most of my activities outside of school, so I want to mail a more detailed activity list to the schools I'm applying to, supplementing the Common Application. However, most of the stuff I did is not the kind that has convenient proof of participation like certificates and the like (things like being a self-taught guitarist and starting a rock band), so they won't show up on my counselor or teacher recs. My question is will the admissions officers think I'm lying if I don't have someone to stamp and seal my activity list? Would you recommend getting my counselor to sign it so that it's lent the weight of authority? This is probably a stupid question, but I just don't know if it's par for the course for an outside-activity list to be verified by a school counselor. </p>
<p>I made up my own supplementary activity sheet including all activities - both inside and outside school - and didn't get it verified by anybody...i just sent it in.</p>