You should think carefully before submitting supplementary materials with your Yale College application. Most successful applicants submit only the items that we require. There are cases in which too many submissions, or submissions that do not reflect a high level of talent, can actually work against a candidate. Because the Admissions Committee gives greatest weight to the documents required of all applicants, we recommend that you focus your energy primarily on those elements of the application.
Supplementary submissions may make sense for students with substantial and well-developed talent that cannot be conveyed adequately in the rest of the application. Due to the large number of applications that Yale College receives, we cannot evaluate all supplementary materials. Admissions officers and faculty members will be selective in choosing which submissions to review.
We will accept audio recordings, musical scores, art samples, writing samples, scientific research papers, film, and dance. We generally do not encourage you to submit additional letters of recommendation, resumes, or personal essays; these are less likely to shed helpful new light on your application.
How to Submit Supplementary Materials
Please submit all supplementary materials online through the Common Application. Please note that SlideRoom, the program used by the Common Application for the submission of supplementary material, charges a fee to students.
If you are considering the possibility of submitting material, even if you have not made a final decision, it is critical that you create a Slideroom account before you submit your Common Application. Once you have submitted your application you will not be able to access the Slideroom program.
Types of Supplementary Materials
Supplementary Materials - Art
School of Art faculty members will review selected portfolios from advanced visual artists, whether or not they wish to major in art as undergraduates. Please consider sending visual art materials only if your accomplishments are truly outstanding for a student artist, and if your work is a strong and important part of your application. Submissions that demonstrate an average or merely competent level of ability for a student artist will not help your application.
If you wish to submit images of your artwork as a supplement to your application, you may do so online through the Common Application by the appropriate application deadline (November 1 for Single-Choice Early Action candidates; December 31 for Regular Decision candidates; March 1 for transfer candidates).
Supplementary Materials - Music
Yale College does not conduct musical auditions for applicants. Music faculty members will review selected audio recordings or scores from advanced musicians, whether or not they wish to major in music as undergraduates. Please consider sending musical materials only if your accomplishments are truly outstanding for a college musician and if your playing or composing is a strong and important part of your application. Submissions that demonstrate an average or merely competent level of ability for a college musician will not help your application.
If you wish to submit audio recordings or musical scores as a supplement to your application, you may do so online through the Common Application by the appropriate application deadline (November 1 for Single-Choice Early Action candidates; January 1 for Regular Decision candidates; March 1 for transfer candidates).
Supplementary Materials - Film
If you wish to submit a film as a supplement to your application, you may do so online through the Common Application by the appropriate application deadline (November 1 for Single-Choice Early Action candidates; January 1 for Regular Decision candidates; March 1 for transfer candidates). Please consider sending a film only if your accomplishments are truly outstanding for a student filmmaker and if filmmaking is a strong and important part of your application.
Supplementary Materials - Dance
Yale College does not conduct dance auditions for applicants. Dance faculty members will review selected video recordings from advanced dancers and choreographers, whether or not they wish to concentrate in dance studies as undergraduates. Please consider sending dance materials only if your accomplishments are truly outstanding for a college dancer and if dancing and/or choreographing is a strong and important part of your application. Submissions that demonstrate an average or merely competent level of ability for a college dancer will not help your application. The video should be no more than fifteen minutes in length and may contain a single work or excerpts of different pieces. If you wish to submit video recordings as a supplement to your application, you may do so online through the Common Application by the appropriate application deadline (November 1 for Single-Choice Early Action candidates; January 1 for Regular Decision candidates; March 1 for transfer candidates).
Supplementary Materials - Academic Work
If you have been engaged in advanced scientific research, you should consider requesting a letter of recommendation from a research mentor who has been involved personally with your scientific work. The letter should be sent to us directly from the mentor and include your full, legal name as it appears in your application and the college/university you attend. If your research incorporated work from many individuals, or was part of a larger project, please indicate what specific contributions you made to the project. If you contributed to a paper on the work, you may also submit a research abstract or a full paper for possible review by a member of Yale’s science faculty. Full papers are generally more useful than abstracts.
Creative writers with very well developed talents may submit their work for review. Some students have been recognized at a regional or national level and many have successfully pursued writing opportunities beyond their English classes and school literary magazines. If you are thinking about submitting extra writing samples, you might consider sending a carefully chosen short piece rather than a long manuscript. Bear in mind that the required application essays are the most important “writing samples” in an admissions file.
If you wish to submit this kind of academic work as a supplement to your application, you may do so online through the Common Application by the appropriate application deadline (November 1 for Single-Choice Early Action candidates; January 1 for Regular Decision candidates; March 1 for transfer candidates). You should check ‘Yes’ in response to the Common Application question “Do you intend to submit an art supplement so that your special talent in one or more of the arts will be considered as a part of the admissions process to Yale University?” This will provide a link to SlideRoom that will allow you to upload submissions of academic material to Yale.
Supplementary Materials - Extra Recommendations
If you feel the need to submit extra information, you may ask one additional recommender to write on your behalf. Please do not solicit this additional letter unless you feel it will add substantially to your application. The writer should know you well personally or have mentored you closely in some capacity. Please ask that person to include the following at the top of their letter: your full, legal name as it appears in your application, the college/university you attend, and your date of birth. The letter should be labeled “Supplementary” to avoid confusion.
If you have been engaged in advanced scientific research, you should consider requesting a letter of recommendation from a research mentor who has been involved personally with your scientific work.