College Application Arts Supplement

[Green river]

Many schools include an optional section for submitting an arts supplement, usually a video, for students who have devoted a lot of time to an artistic endeavor outside of school. I can't find anyone who has done this at DD's school. I would appreciate advice from anyone who has made one of these. I'm interested in how-to tips and any feedback anyone might have regarding how they were received by various colleges. Thanks.

[quill]

We did it a few years ago. It was pretty straightforward, although many schools don't take the common application supplement and have their own. My daughter asked the school director, and who put her in touch with the person who does the performance videos for the program, and he pulled a bunch of performance clips, we gave him some video of outside performances, he filmed some classwork and an introduction and my daughter wrote and recorded a narration. They edited it a bit. He then put it up on his vimeo site where it was only identified by common application number. it was standard practice for all seniors applying to college at this school, if they want it. There was a small charge. I didn't have much to do with the process, but I imagine it would be possible to do it yourself if you knew how to edit such things, which I do not.

 

I did look at a lot of these on YouTube when we were in the process, and the effective ones are broken up between several elements and include something of the applicant's personality and connection to dance. I would look at a lot of them and find a format you like and replicate it, customizing it with your student's strengths.

 

As to how it was received, I have no idea. She was accepted to some very competitive schools, but ultimately decided to major in ballet, which is a completely different application process and the arts supplement didn't go to those schools.