Does it help to include supplemental materials with your application?

Does it help to include supplemental materials with your application?

It all depends on the school – some will trash any additional info if it’s not requested. Call the school and make sure you ask someone in authority to get a definitive answer.

Does it help to include supplemental materials with your application?

Not usually! The colleges/universities will tell you what they want. Make sure you follow through and give them everything they request. Typically “extra stuff” is discarded. My suggestion would be not to send in anything extra. Even when you are writing the essay, you have to stick to the number of words they request. Frequently the extra words are not read or even eliminated.

If you are applying to a school that requires an interview, that might be the time to have extra things with you that you can share at the appropriate time which would probably be close to the end of the interview.

Does it help to include supplemental materials with your application?

Only if requested! The admissions office does not need more materials than they require as they are already overloaded with paperwork and it will probably end up in the “unread” pile. Always think quality not quantity.

Yes and No.

Short Answer:

Sometimes it helps, but usually only if the college specifically asks for the materials, and you will rarely know if they have or not read documents that you submit. If you have a grade or grade trend anomaly that has a legitimate reason, it can sometimes help to submit a letter of explanation. But often, that is not even read or considered. Detailed Answer: Honestly, every institution approaches supplemental materials differently. You can tell a great deal about a college by the way they deal with supplemental materials and the application, i.e., are they personal or bureaucratic, do they view you as a person or tuition dollars. Some institutions have specific ideologies and they want to make sure that the person you are – outside of a set of numbers – will be an asset to their community. In those cases, yes, they will review your supplemental materials carefully. The fact is, if you are applying to one of those institutions, you had better be very aware of their ideology and be able to make it clear to them (via creative essay, personal statement, extracurricular resume, etc., or however they request this information from you) that 1) you know all about the college and 2) you would thrive there. Aside from these exceptions, in general, many admissions offices are under tremendous pressure to function with fewer people and grow enrollment, so they manipulate the use (or non-use) of supplemental materials to meet their needs. I am aware of a major research university that several years ago not only told their admissions staff to stop reading essays and letters of recommendation, the staff was made to shred all those documents so that staff wouldn’t be tempted to read them. The thought was, if they read the documents, it would slow down the decision-making process. The type of supplemental materials “requested” by an institution is the result of hours of meetings trying to glean how to manage your attention (indeed, the design of the application and all its parts is intended to manipulate you.) The comments in such meetings may be similar to the following: 1. “If we request an essay from applicants, it will reduce the numbers of applications we receive, because students won’t want to do the essay, instead of applying to us they will apply to schools that don’t require that of them.” 2. “Maybe if we just make it a short personal statement instead of an actual essay, maybe that will encourage more students to apply.” 3. “If we ask them for 2-3 letters of recommendation, that’s more work for the student, so maybe we should just request 1 letter of recommendation – or none.” 4. “We need more applications and a longer wait list, so that we have a deeper pool of students to choose from if we don’t get enough tuition deposits. If we require essays, statements and recommendations, we might not get enough applicants to choose from if we need to admit weaker students to ensure our numbers and tuition revenue.” 5. “But if we don’t require the essay, it sends a message that we aren’t a serious academic institution. If we don’t require the essay, we may end up attracting thousands of weak applications.” 6. “That’s OK because the more applications we bring in, the more students we can deny or place on a wait list, and the more selective we appear, and the higher our ranking.” 7. “We don’t have enough staff to read supplemental materials, so let’s just not accept or ask for them.” As a result of budgetary cutbacks that reduce staff and increase workload, many institutions have ramped up their reliance upon automation in the application read/review process. This is intended to automatically admit the stronger students and keep the weaker applications separated out for deeper analysis if the institution believes they may not make their enrollment goals with only the top students. How does this work? There is an algorithm on the backend (crunching the same data that enabled the college to automatically begin communicating with you as soon as your PSAT scores became available) that crunches your numbers – SAT/ACT, GPA, RIC) and decides whether you are in or out. This means that your entire relationship with a college may have been via a machine; no one knows who you are or that you even exist – except as a number the institution can manipulate to its financial advantage. Now, if the machine says you are “out,” the admissions staff may begin to look more closely at the eliminated applications and admit/deny these students until the admissions department reaches its enrollment goals. At that point, the admissions officers may begin searching for more information about you, such as explanations of grade anomalies. They may find this information in your essay or in your letters or recommendation, or in a letter that you include with your application if they have requested those materials from you. Here’s an aside: If you are required to submit an essay, the most important point to remember is this: If the institution stresses an essay or a personal statement, pay VERY CLOSE ATTENTION to what they request of that essay or personal statement. In other words, if you write a generic essay to send to all your college search choices, and it is clear to the admissions officer reading your essay that you have not paid attention to what they wanted to see in the essay (subject, length, structure, etc.), your application will be denied simply because it is clear that 1) you cannot follow instructions or 2) you didn’t care enough about applying to their institution to follow their instructions. And they will be right on both counts. For example, if you look at the Purdue application this year, they offer three choices of essay topics, each one carefully considered to allow different types of students to write something that matters to them. This presentation of their essay request shows that they DO value the essay, and if you want to get into Purdue – and especially if your grades and board scores aren’t stellar – then you’d better pay attention to this part of the application. Other institutions, such as Indiana University-Bloomington, specifically state that they do not want to receive essays – so if you submit an essay, this also shows that you cannot follow directions. Again, the major reason for an institution to not request an essay is that essay-reading slows down the application review process. They don’t want admissions officers reading essays when those officers can simply be crunching through the numbers on applications and making their decisions based solely upon a student’s past successes or challenges. Here is an excerpt from the Indiana University-Bloomington denial email (IU-Bloomington does not accept essays): “We admit students whose previous academic performance meets the standards and enrollment goals set by our faculty and Board of Trustees. While we also consider documentation of extenuating circumstances, personal statements, recommendations and family history, decisions are made individually and based primarily on overall academic performance, standardized test scores, and the competitiveness of our applicant pool.” This is why it’s so important to do well in high school from 9th grade through 11th grade. The fact is that most admissions decisions are based on 8th-11th grade trends; they only look to senior grades at the end to ensure that you continued strongly and didn’t get “Senioritis.” So bottom line, it’s kind of a moot question as to whether or not they review any supplemental materials you submit. If they ask for materials, or you simply supply them without being asked, your grades and board scores will be what gets their attention. If they do request them, make sure you pay very close attention to what they are asking of you.

Does it help to include supplemental materials with your application?

It depends.

Supplemental materials might help tip a strong application over the edge into the admitted pile, but don’t send just any old thing. The office is cluttered with enough information–they don’t need to see the blanket you crocheted your junior year UNLESS it’s something you’re completely passionate about, you’ve won awards for it, or you run a startup that donates one blanket for every blanket bought to someone in need. Catch my drift? Now, supplemental materials like that might help an otherwise weak application (weak on stats, good or medium essay) as well. So if you’re going to send something along, be judicious about it.

Does it help to include supplemental materials with your application?

If the material is substantive and helps fill out the picture of you being presented to the colleges than it can be helpful. In general, the application should be focused on portraying as fully and as effectively as possible who you are, what you have done, and what you have to offer that school community. If you have supplemental material that does that, that reinforces and strengthens the central components of your picture than it is all to the good, but if it little more than a list of additional activities, things in which you have dabbled and adds no substance, than it can only serve to blur the core picture you seek to present and ultimately distract the reader and detract from your application. Quality over quantity is no small factor in an admissions process that involves the review of literally thousands of applications annually.

Does it help to include supplemental materials with your application?

I counsel my clients to use caution when adding extra materials to an application. It is one thing if a school has requested further documentation. Otherwise, it is a case of less-is-more when it comes to your file. Admissions offices have only so much time to read each folder. A fat folder could be viewed as a burden, a red flag or a really interested applicant; depending on the reader/college. Always check with the institution for their policy and you’ll be fine.

More info? Think before you submit it.

This is always a matter of circumstance. If a school is bombarded with a large number of apps, adding ” nice to know” info will actually hurt your admission chances. If you are using the Common App you can always add information that you think is really important in the proper area of the writing section. You should make sure that this info does NOT repeat what you have already revealed.

It COULD be very beneficial in the following circumstances: – you have a special interest or skill that you could not find a place for on the app – you need to show depth in an area where you only barely mention it on the regular app – you have special talent, usually the arts, and are NOT applying as an arts student. The submission of a CD or DVD or web link would be appropriate and possibly have a positive impact on your chances for admission.

That depends

Some colleges allow it, some don’t. If you send supplemental material it must actually add substance to your application. You don’t want to waste the time of the person reading the applications by sending something frivolous that does nothing to enhance your application. It should also not be big and bulky, nor should it be long (they are trying to get through a large number of applications and may not have the time to watch/listen to a lengthy recording).

Supplemental materials don’t help.

In general, supplemental materials are not required. Therefore, it would not be fair for committees to evaluate them for some students and not others. Most counselors don’t even have time to look at the supplemental materials.

However, if you are applying to a program that requests supplemental materials, it is critical that you follow the guidelines for submission precisely.

Does it help to include supplemental materials with your application?

It can be helpful if it adds new information or it provides evidence of talents and skills that you claim to have.

If necessary

I would encourage students to include supplemental materials only if they would be essential in giving an admissions officer a better sense of you (pertinent photographs or drawings, for instance) or to explain circumstances that might have affected your school performance (severe illness, death of a relative, etc.)

it is required to submit supplemental materials

if you are planning to submit additional materials that not requried by colleges as part of the common application, you should be careful to submit materials that may not attract positive attention from the admisisons office.

Supplemental material submissions

Submitting supplemental materials can be positive, depending on what the student’s sending to the school. Portfolio’s, examples of artwork, music, personal video related to achievemnets, etc…would enhance your application. It’s not guaranteed that it will be reviewed by the receiving school.

Follow the directions

Research the admissions page of the college’s website. Most admissions officers do not want supplemental materials–they are having a difficult time filing all of the required bits of information in any case. Of course, in some cases (such as the arts supplement) certain materials may be required such as a portfolio or a CD. Follow the directions always. If you have a specific question, then contact the admissions officer responsible for your area by email and they will be happy to answer your questions.

The thicker the file, the thicker the student

is an old expression that admissions officers use. Be careful and strategic as to what additional , unrequested, information that you might include. If the school allows you to send/upload forms/resumes that support a specific talent such as music, art, theater, sports, then it is indeed in your best interests to include such information. Even if you do not plan on majoring in music, dance or theater, all schools hope to have a diversity of talent on their campuses. As for sending in some additional recommendation/reference letters, consider asking individuals who can write from a new perspective that might enhance your overall application. Those letters need to be adding new information about either your character or talent to your folder, whether from an employer, someone who might have supervised your community service or an acting/dance/art teacher.

Does it help to include supplemental materials with your application?

What are supplementary materials? In college applications, supplementary materials could include CDs of your musical performances, DVDs showcasing your acting skills, blogs, websites showing your artwork or writing, etc. Visual artists, writers, and performing artists can really benefit from submitting supplemental materials because they quality of their work can be difficult to ascertain within the four corners of an application.

If you feel that supplementary materials can enhance the admissions staff’s picture of you as an application, you may want to consider submitting them. However, be sure to keep in mind that supplementary materials most likely will be forwarded to appropriate departmental staff for review. For example, if you submit a CD of you playing the piano, it will be forwarded to the music department for review. If you submit a link to your art portfolio, it will be forwarded to the art department. In other words, experts in the field will be reviewing your work so make sure you submit your best efforts.

Does it help to include supplemental materials with your application?

What are supplementary materials? In college applications, supplementary materials could include CDs of your musical performances, DVDs showcasing your acting skills, blogs highlighting your writing skills, and websites presenting your artwork or writing, etc. Visual artists, writers, and performing artists can really benefit from submitting supplemental materials because the quality, depth, and breadth of their talents can be difficult to ascertain within the four corners of an application.

If you feel that supplementary materials can enhance the admissions staff’s picture of you as an applicant, you may want to consider submitting them. However, be sure to keep in mind that supplementary materials most likely will be forwarded to the appropriate departmental staff for review. For example, if you submit a CD of you playing the piano, it will be forwarded to the music department for review. If you submit a link to your art portfolio, it will be forwarded to the art department. In other words, experts in the field will be reviewing your work so make sure you submit your best efforts.

Supplemental Materials

Based on what I’ve seen with students, it is a nice touch to include supplemental materials with an application, particularly if a student’s talent is in a non-athletic area. Supplemental materials may included a DVD, CD, website or other means of helping college admissions officers – or perhaps members of the appropriate department – learn more about the candidate. Colleges are very straightforward about what to submit and how to submit it, so students should seek guidance on the college website. The most common answer is that the college welcomes submissions but does not give back any materials. Certainly, a talented student should try to submit materials but only following the instructions of the particular college. He or she has nothing to lose and perhaps something to gain. There are even independent counselors who advise students in the arts and might change his or her advice depending on the talent and profile of the candidate.