Arts Supplement

Colby welcomes arts supplements to your application. Arts supplements are evaluated by faculty members in the appropriate department, and we consider both the supplement and the evaluation as part of our holistic review process. 

Art, music, dance, and performing arts materials may be included with your application portfolio. Supplementary materials can only be uploaded after you have submitted your application to Colby and received a password providing you access to your application status portal. Please contact the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid with any questions.

All materials must be submitted according to the following deadlines:

Art

Students are encouraged to submit an art portfolio that is representative of their art studies and demonstrates their current abilities. Students are welcome to submit materials in any area that they wish to include in their application. We suggest submitting five to ten representative images in your portfolio, though there is not a requirement to submit a certain number of images. 

Please submit no more than 20 images of your strongest work. Images, video, and PDFs are welcome.

Music

Students are encouraged to submit a music portfolio that is representative of their music studies and demonstrates their current abilities. Students are welcome to submit materials in any area that they wish to include in their application. The following are suggestions, but are not required. 

•Instrumental and Vocal Performance: Two contrasting etudes or solos that demonstrate lyrical expression and technical proficiency.

•Jazz Performance: If you have experience improvising, perform a jazz standard of your choice and improvise one to two choruses.

•Composition: Scores of one or more original compositions, including recordings of those pieces if possible.

Please submit no more than 20 items. Video, audio, and PDFs are welcome. You may also link to media from YouTube, Vimeo, and SoundCloud.

Theater and Dance

Artistic talent is one of many factors considered in admissions, and students with theater and dance performance, playwriting, performance history and criticism, stage management, and/or theatrical design abilities can frequently strengthen their application by submitting evidence of accomplishment. Good quality video recordings, examples of playwriting, sample research papers, stage management documents, and examples of design and technical production work can be submitted.

Applicants are encouraged to submit videos of theater and/or dance performances of any style or genre (five minute limit). Original plays and research papers can be submitted as PDFs. Design images or technical production documents can be submitted using one of the image platforms listed below. Theater and/or dance résumés and a 400 word personal statement may be submitted as PDFs, but are not required.

Please submit no more than five items. Images, video, and PDFs are welcome. You may also link to media from YouTube and Vimeo.

Film

Students are encouraged to submit a film portfolio that is representative of their film studies and demonstrates their current abilities. Film portfolios should be edited to a three minute representative sample maximum.Please submit no more than five items. Images, video, and PDFs are welcome. You may also link to media from YouTube and Vimeo.

File Sizes and Types

Although we technically support media files as large as 2 GB, please be advised that larger files will take longer to upload from your Internet connection and may stall if you are on a wireless connection or one that cannot sustain a connection for the necessary period of time. Uploaded documents may contain no more than 75 pages. We support the following file formats:

• Video: .avi, .flv, .m1v, .m2v, .m4v, .mkv, .mov, .mpeg, .mpg, .mp4, .wmv
• Audio: .aac, .aif, .aiff, .iff, .fla, .m4a, .mpa, .mp3, .ra, .wav, .wma
• Slide: .bmp, .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .png, .tif, .tiff
• Document: .doc, .docx, .odg, .odp, .odt, .pdf, .ppt, .pptx, .rtf, .wpd