Will my art portfolio hurt my Stanford application?

Applying to College
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I’m applying to Symbolic System and Art Practice (for secondary choice) in 2026fall. (I know these two is a bit unrelated but I am interested in interdisciplinary study) I find some stanford-accepted portfolios are done by mostly 1-2 traditional material like oil painting and color pencils. If I’m keen on multiple material art and digital painting personally, which could be not that fit (but not violated) their requirements, is it still valuable to submit the Art Portfolio? Will submitting make negative impact?

Personally I started my journey of art from kindergarten age and the portfolio could be an important way showing who I am. I’m just not sure it would be negative. btw It’ll not waste time since I’m preparing portfolio for other art schools.

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I also posted a Chance Me thread

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When the Stanford instructions explicitly state in bold:

Mixed category portfolios are permitted but not recommended.

I think you found your answer

Now, you might be the most promising artist in the world, which means s why they don’t say that it’s prohibited. IDK. Or perhaps you have an overly inflated sense of your own talent. Again, IDK

But given that you’re already at a disadvantage as an international, and given that they like applicants who can follow instructions, are you wanting to risk it?

So to be clear, unless it’s the best portfolio they’ve seen, yes, ignoring instructions will hurt.

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