Supplemental Materials

Colleges and Universities A-Z Harvard University
1

Hi!

I’m applying EA to Harvard. I wasn’t initially planning on uploading any supplemental materials (besides the supplement essay). One of my major excs is a magazine/activist writing/writing in general, but I don’t have any awards for it (a lot of involvement though).

I’m currently putting together a short collection of poems I’ve written about my culture/excerpt from interviews with members of my community (I’m in a post-genocide diaspora and a large part of my activism focuses on this) which I was going to self-publish in order to easily distribute at a seminar I’m attending in November.

Now that I’m working on it, I’m wondering if I should submit this as a supplement since it is an example of my work? I’m hesitating because

a) it’ll be published this weekend, which seems sketch without context

b) I don’t think it’s “extraordinary” and it might even be redundant – I know 2 of my recommenders wrote about how great a writer I am, and I also attended a very prestigious summer humanities program, etc; my CommonApp essay was also about my culture & using my writing as an activist platform.

So basically: Should I submit it or not? Would it support my application or be redundant/nothing “extraordinary”?

Thanks!

2

It’s hard to know without reading them I guess. If you yourself don’t think they are wonderful, then don’t submit.

Have you considered including a short poem that you like the best, in the supplemental essay?

3

Hi! As a rule of thumb for submitting supplemental stuff, I would suggest the following: If you were to be an admissions officer, would that document/suppl. material help you create a much better case for the student who sent it (you, in this case)? If so, send it. If not, don’t send it. Good luck with your application!