Sorry all, I have another question that came up today. Application was submitted a few days ago. My child attends a supplemental math and science high school that you apply to. The courses are called “honors” which is what he put on the common app under courses . We just found out today they are supposed to be categorized as college level and not honors. I knew that from the 4000+ level that shows on his transcript, but defaulted to name of course which calls it honors. Should he just hope that they see it’s college level when looking at the transcript or address it? Thanks for help!
Do the names/titles of the courses also suggest advanced college level subject matters? Also, did your child finish a progression of STEM courses in regular HS, such as AP Calc BC, AP Physics, etc… where it is evident that the supplemental classes are advanced? These factors plus the transcript numbers should be sufficient for the AO’s to know that these are college level courses.
At some point soon, you will receive communications from the AO confirming receipt of your child’s application with an assigned ID number. I believe there are also instructions on how to communicate with the AO. If you are still concerned that there is not enough clarity, you can send a short explanatory email.
He did take most of the AP science and math at his home high school. The supplemental high school courses are more specialized. For example, things like computational science, medicinal chemistry or molecular genetics. They have “honors” before course name, but on the transcript at the bottom it will show weighted as college level. I don’t know why the supplemental school tells us on 10/30 to categorize as advanced and put college level in parenthesis. This would have been helpful info months ago. Of course I am overanalyzing on all the reach schools as I wish they saw true rigor at quick glance on the common app courses list. I am torn as to whether pointing it out is insulting, like saying you don’t read the transcript carefully. However, I also know they read a lot so wish the info was clear up front.
IMO, you are fine. It will be pretty obvious to the AO that your child has taken advanced courses.
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D24 submitted her app today. Considering majoring in creative writing, film/media, and neuroscience.
FGLI
4.0 UW
34 ACT
8 APs (school offers 10, plus languages)
ECs:
literary mag founder and editor
composer, piano (hobby)
artist/animator (hobby)
soccer
travel softball
poetry club
fine arts council
community service at humane society and school store
mural painted in student activity center
I think that’s it … not really sure exactly what she put on the common app as I have not looked at it. I left that to her and her GC.
She’s recording two piano pieces now and will add those as supplements, along with some of her artwork.
Her decision to apply to Yale was a complete surprise to us, but we told her to shoot her shot. She knows the odds are slim, but anything can happen.
Good luck to all!
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I think you have a great chance. All your ECs gives a holistic picture of your strengths. There’s an overall theme which is excellent. Best wishes.
My son applied for REA to Yale last night.
He is a dancer who has been dancing for last 10 years, but we didn’t submit any of his dance portfolio since it’s going to be reviewed by their dance faculty and if they don’t find him good enough ?
We still have time to submit before midnight today , should we consider submitting it ? Will it help him ? If so, how many should we consider submit ? Couple of pieces ?
Thanks for rhe timely response.
Towards the end of their latest podcast (posted today) the Yale AOs talked about submitting artwork supplements and I think their answer would apply to dance as well. You should check it out, because I didn’t pay close attention (my daughter is not an artsy applicant 
) My impression was only submit if it was a fantastic piece.
That’s what I thought as well, but fantastic is very subjective 
DD also put her application in this week; she has put in a supplementary arts questionnaire and material. It is difficult to judge what the helpful vs unhelpful level is i agree! who knows! She put three pieces of material in and more info via the questionnaire; that was helpful as she hadn’t been able to include some things in the main application
Another way to look at it is will it harm his chances anyway ?
DD took the view that this is a long shot and her particular interest (which is linked to things in her app) wouldn’t do harm - the odds are so low, she decided to do what she considers her best. She will never know either way i guess. A long way of saying no one on here can tell you which way to do this, but your DS needs to be happy with their own decision and are prob best placed to judge whether dance is a stand out talent and commitment or not
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Agree 
. No one would be able to say that or decide for us. I guess we all start panic and need answers from outside about these uncertain questions. Thanks .
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This should pull up a transcript of the Supplementary Materials podcast:
https://admissions.yale.edu/podcast-transcripts#Supplementary
My executive summary is:
You are right to think carefully;
You would be asking them to see dancing as a really big part of the student’s life;
You would be asking to have relevant faculty evaluate the student’s level of skill.
I think this passage is particularly illuminating:
[Mark] John, could you give a sense of, in your experience, who benefits the most from submitting a piece of supplementary material with their application?
[John] I think supplementary material really makes sense for those students that have exhibited really, really consistent dedication to one kind of craft. Our pool is filled with students that have spent a lot of time for things like music, athletics, art, maybe even film or dance. But there’s a small subset of students for whom this is such a big part of their lives that a review of how significant that talent is really crucial to our understanding of their identity as an applicant but also as a person.
So, especially for those students for whom they’ve been spending a lot of time on weekends kind of practicing or attending festivals, students that have invested significant time and energy into independent study. The supplementary material is going to be a way to demonstrate to the admissions committee what contribution they might make to the Yale community.
[Mark] Yeah. And I know that this is sort of a complex, nuanced point, because we’re trying to say, this has to be a big deal for you but I want to emphasize it’s not the only thing that’s going for an applicant, right? We have to see that the student is academically strong and that they have put forth a compelling application along all the other dimensions that we have talked about. Again, we want to sort of be ready in the admissions committee discussion about the student to advocate for them along all of our dimensions and we are interested in that sort of saying, and one of these extra ones could also be that the student is really sort of impressing one of our outside reviewers. . . .
[Mark] And we know that our faculty who are running these programs have a real interest in ensuring that we have really strong ensembles and strong players across the board. And so we look to them for their expertise. We don’t just want to say, oh, we’ve admitted a bunch of students who said on their resumes that they were really, really involved in these areas. We know that they’re professionals. And so they can give us a sense of really what a student’s contribution to their particular area might be.
They also specifically discuss dance:
[Hannah] All right, let’s talk about dance.
[Mark] Yeah, dance submissions are a relatively new option for our applicants. They’re reviewed by the head of our dance program, which is now part of our theater and performance studies major. There’s a wonderful Yale faculty member who has really sort of built Yale’s dance program from the ground up. And so she has helped to develop what her evaluation process will be like. And she’s explained to us that she’s really focused more on technique than on choreographic creation.
[Hannah] Yeah. So, the top rating there is a student with exceptional and promising talent, exceptionally high quality pre professional training, could dance professionally in a top tier company with the potential for admission to top conservatories.
[Mark] And, again, in the middle is someone who’s exhibiting really solid technical proficiency, has the potential to be an engaged participant in various dance studios, and also part of the big student led dance community on campus and will go all the way down to submission sort of merits no special consideration.
[John] This might be a good opportunity to just note that your ability to pursue any of these artistic disciplines as an extracurricular activity is not at all contingent upon submitting one of these materials.
[Hannah] Yes, good point.
[Mark] So, a lot of our dancers on campus and many of them who are very talented didn’t actually submit a dance supplement, right? So, you don’t have to be submitting any of these supplements to engage in that scene.
To me it sounds like you could rationally decide this either way. And while this is not always helpful, I personally agree sometimes just asking the student how they feel about it is a good idea.
Like, if you have put a lot of time into something like this, you are proud of the level of skill you have developed, and are eager to have an outside reviewer (not just an regular admissions officer) evaluate your skill, because you think they will give you a strong rating indicating they would love to have you dance at Yale–great, go for it!
If you are more like, “Hey, this is was a fun and important activity for me, I am glad the normal AOs will know about it, but I am not so interested in having an outside reviewer at Yale judge my level of skill, and I would prefer just to go there and participate in dance at whatever level works out,” then also fine, don’t do it.
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I don’t have the answer for you, but sending a positive thought. My youngest dances at a ballet school and a boy that studied there is now a senior at Yale. I’d ask if he submitted a supplement, but I don’t have contact info since the family left. He was an impressive young man, but I’d say just above average dancer in ballet and tap. I do think being a male seriously studying dance is a nice stand out activity in many ways. Wishing him the best!
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Pertaining generally, and not specifically to Yale, we have been advised that, yes, in fact submitting an arts supplement can hurt.
Without the supplement, with nothing more to go on, the AO will assume “average”. Won’t help, won’t hurt. If you submit a supplement, the AO sends it to faculty who is qualified to assess it. They will respond with “terrible” or “outstanding” or anywhere between. We were advised only to submit a supplement if we’re reasonably sure that our kid’s performance in his art would, at least be better than the average applicant to the school, but really should be excellent or even extraordinary.
That said, if you think your odds are slim anyway, you can also go big or go home. Submit it. Maybe the faculty member says, “Hmm, not bad. I looking for male dancers. I’d like that kid in my troupe.”
Thanks for taking the time to respond in detail. For my DS this is something that defines him and his identity. He has been investing over 20 hrs a week (averaging weekend, workshops , rehearsals etc) for number of years. So I think it will be a good idea to showcase his talent. He trains for technique and performance and hope that comes across. Of course he’s not auditioning for their theater program, but he’s better than a recreational club level dancer .
Thanks again for your perspective. Highly appreciated,
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D24 submitted an art and a music supplement, too. She is majoring in neither, probably not minoring either. She wanted to showcase another part of herself that is significant to her.
Opinions of whether to include or not were mixed so I left it as her call. I think what she ended up submitting was good - not too much, but enough.
There are obviously 2 schools of thought on submitting supplements. I’d take the AOs’ word on how they view supplements as per their podcast.
I do think that if your decision is that there is no “downside” to submitting, you are wrong.
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If your performance is average or less than average and the applicant is representing this as a special talent, what impression does the applicant leave the AO on the credibility of other parts of the application where the applicant is self assessing their abilities/impact?
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There is a finite amount of time that the AO’s have with each application. Supplements dilute attention from the other areas of the application. The applicant must consider this tradeoff and not assume a supplement is purely additive with no cost.
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We went with that choice too. Let’s see how it shakes out.
Do they send a separate questionnaire once the portfolio is submitted ? We haven’t received it yet. Would love to know if you are aware of this and if you have received it yet.
Thanks
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