Supplementary Materials

Applying to College
1

<p>So I've been searching around for a solution, and so far I have not received a clear answer:</p>

<p>Are supplementary materials a trap, or can they contribute to your chances of being admitted?</p>

<p>For instance, tomorrow I plan on sending my application to Carnegie Mellon. A while ago, I e-mailed them and asked if submitting a CD of my original music was wise. I was told that in some cases, supplementary materials help emphasize a student's non-academic work. However, they mentioned that they prefer any additional information to be in written form. I still really want to send in a CD because I think the artwork is visually appealing, and the music is quality, but I'm afraid it might hurt my chances to disobey them. </p>

<p>Does anyone have any input on this? Do supplementary items typically hurt you or help you? Will admissions officers likely throw your material(s) away?</p>

2

<p>CMU is a tricky one. I'm actually a near-conservatory level student-musician as well, and I don't think I'll be sending one, only because CMU already has enough of the arts types, and unless I was like internationally well known, I really wouldn't stand out from the conservatory applicants. I'm highlighting other parts of my application instead.</p>