Swing Joined: 8/7/05
Hey people, I was thinking, when you are about to apply for a school and you need to prepare your essays, they always ask about an experience in life and what you learned from it....... well maybe not every school ask this same question but if you were to write an essay answering this question would you pick an experience from life or an artistic experience? I'm wondering which one to pick..........
As long as its a strong, meaningful experience to you it shouldn't matter. I do remeber some school specifying that they wanted an artistic experience though. Just be sure to choose somehting that you feel passionate about, and you'll be fine! :)
I agree with Cait. Unless they specify, I'd just write about something that's extremely important to you. They can see your artistic side in your auditon, and your essay can show who you are as a person.
Swing Joined: 8/7/05
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/18/03
The topic is secondary.
They want to see that you can write, that you can string sentences together and make sense.
They want to see how you make your point.
They want critical thinking.
Then again, don't write about the time you planned out the murder of your eighth grade English teacher down to the second.
I disagree that the topic is secondary. They want you to stand out. Anybody can get their essay edited and re-edited and employ perfect grammar and sentence structure...but they're really interested in knowing about YOU. It's not so objective. In fact, if you pay too much attention to the logistics of essay-writing, you might come off as uptight and...not someone they're interested in meeting. That's not to say you shouldn't pay attention to sentence structure...just don't make it your main motivation.
That's what I think, at least...and what I've heard from admissions officers at NU.
Swing Joined: 9/27/08
regardless what topic you choose, the purpose of the essay (as mentioned above) is YOU.
YOU. YOU. YOU.
your SAT or ACT scores will tell them if you know grammar and big words, etc. your resume will tell them what kinds of things you do. your audition will tell them if you're an artist. the essay, however, is your one shot to let them see an aspect of you that simply can't be portrayed in any other component of the application.
choose something that gives insight to who you are. don't be cliche. write about something unique to YOU and YOUR life experiences. if you choose to describe an "artistic" experience, make sure you have something truly original to say. simply describing the excitement rush you feel onstage as a performer may be an accurate assessment of your love for musical theater, but is not always interesting. make an observation about a very specific aspect of an "artistic" experience to discuss. be exact. be concise. but MORE THAN ANYTHING... be YOU.
haha... i think i probably gave you a lot more info than you asked for...
=)
good luck and happy writing!
[p.s. i'm a freshman at yale and have spent a lot of time speaking to the admissions officers here... so i'm not just making this stuff up...]
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