This year, art supplements are submitted online. The Common App teamed up with Sideroom, a company that has managed portfolio submission for many schools for a while now. Our faculty are thrilled that this part of the application is moving online. Submission is easier for students and professors can review supplements without hauling packages around with them. Most think that this will also save students some money, since the mailed portfolios required making slides or burning discs and mailing things in protective packages. It costs $5 to submit a supplement in Slideroom. Looking at the mailers in our supplement bins from the past, it seems like most people spent about that in postage.
If you tell the Common App, in the UVa section, that you'll be submitting a supplement, you'll see a new tab appear at the bottom of the application menu.
When you go into Slideroom, you'll see that there are 18 different ways to submit an art or architecture supplement. In the past, we had a massive document that listed all of the requirements from the different departments. Now, you only see the instructions that pertain to the supplement you are submitting. So, those submitting supplements about playwriting don't have to see the instructions for jazz instrumentalists.
One quirk of Slideroom is that they don't allow us to show you multiple deadlines at once. If you log in right now, the deadline shown is November 2, 2013. That's the art supplement deadline for Early Action applicants.
Once the Early Action deadline has come and gone, you'll see the next deadline appear. January 2, 2014 is the deadline for Regular Decision applicants.
So, why the 2nd of those months? Slideroom wisely only lets your submit a supplement once you actually apply. This saves faculty from reviewing supplements from students who aren't applicants. It might sound odd, but this happens every year.
Any questions about submitting an optional supplement?