This is my essay for my Vassar Supplement. I'm a male high school senior attending a performing arts high school, applying Early Decision [Round I] and my deadline is November 15. I like it and my teachers and peers have proofed it, but I'd like to see how people who don't know me at all may perceive it. I'd like to hear your reactions. :]
Right now, it clocks in at 789 words. My prompt was: How did you learn about Vassar and what aspects of our college do you find appealing?
The One
As I stood in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport bookstore, skimming the fiction section for a self-indulgent airplane read, I came across a title that piqued my interests. I was thirteen going on thirty and undergoing my fashionista stage, as proven by my wafer-thin scarf and wool beret in the humidity of my native Philippines. I picked up a thick paperback from the shelf, a glamorous woman decked with scarlet stilettos and an arrowhead tail on the cover. After reading the sidebar, The Devil Wears Prada sounded like the perfect blend of decadence and bite I was looking for. On my flight, I learned that while working for the fashion magazine Runway, the protagonist Andie befriends a beauty editor named James, a Vassar graduate. Naturally, I enjoyed the animated James and his scathing wit and decided to keep tabs on his alma mater. I believed that if someone who was essentially the me in ten years, albeit fictional, attended Vassar College, it could be a fitting place for me. After eighteen hours of crossing the Pacific, I landed in scalding Las Vegas, scarf and beret in hand in a summer desert, ready to begin my freshman year of high school.
Between musical rehearsals and English lectures and frog dissections, I began my college search. A counselor advised me to seek a college where I can study what I want to study and learn how I want to learn. Well, I thought, I want to study everything from the history of Greek drama to how magazines influence people's lives. I want to learn those things through diverse approaches and points-of-view. I want to experience the "ivy-covered buildings" of a traditional college setting but I want to be near a metropolis, too. All of that, and I had to go and look for it? The hunt for the right college loomed and it was daunting.
My counselor said to me, "Don't worry. When you find the right college for you, you'll know. You'll get that vibe. You'll find 'The One'."'
I picked up The Devil Wears Prada again for fun and as I read, my eyes passed over the word "Vassar". I stopped myself and thought about James, the me in ten years. A peculiar sensation surged through my chest. Could it be? All I knew about Vassar was the Shakespeare Garden and the Powerhouse Theatre. I hungered to know more.
A Vassar student from my own high school taught me everything I needed to know. As a fellow dancer, she knew about my desire to continue theatre and dance in college and illustrated how Vassar's extracurricular activities could nourish my own interests. My loves of musical theatre and mass media would both be welcomed and cultivated at Vassar. I even made it a personal goal to join the Future Waitstaff of America, Vassar's musical theatre troupe, after seeing their production of Bare: A Pop Opera online. Additionally, Vassar's proximity to New York City would be a major plus. I would be able to visit the capital of the world and sit on the hill near Sunset Lake and embrace the serenity of Hudson Valley all in one day.
I learned that the Freshman Writing Seminar, the quantitative courses and the foreign language requirement would allow me the academic freedom to explore various fields of study, including the opportunity to double major in Drama and Media Studies. Finally, I obtained Vassar's College Catalogue. The statement of academic purpose read like a list of my life goals. Vassar would help me study what I want to study and learn how I want to learn. My counselor's advice echoed in my mind. With each bullet point I read, I experienced that same curious sensation in my heart crescendo into a climax that I can only describe as reaching nirvana or slipping into the perfect pair of jeans.
I could not believe it. I found "The One" when I was in the eighth grade. Vassar was my soul mate and it took me four years to figure that out.
A funny thing about Vassar and The Devil Wears Prada: Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway starred in the movie adaptation and guess what? Both went to Vassar. Anne attended briefly while Meryl graduated with a B.A. in Drama. Without a doubt, it was fate at work. I spent the last four years learning about my soul mate, and I would be delighted to share my life with Vassar for another four. One day, I will be driving down Raymond Avenue, scarf around my neck and beret on my head with the next four years in a trunk full of boxes, and my eighth-grade dreams will be fulfilled, because Vassar and I, we go way back.
Any kind of constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
Right now, it clocks in at 789 words. My prompt was: How did you learn about Vassar and what aspects of our college do you find appealing?
The One
As I stood in the Ninoy Aquino International Airport bookstore, skimming the fiction section for a self-indulgent airplane read, I came across a title that piqued my interests. I was thirteen going on thirty and undergoing my fashionista stage, as proven by my wafer-thin scarf and wool beret in the humidity of my native Philippines. I picked up a thick paperback from the shelf, a glamorous woman decked with scarlet stilettos and an arrowhead tail on the cover. After reading the sidebar, The Devil Wears Prada sounded like the perfect blend of decadence and bite I was looking for. On my flight, I learned that while working for the fashion magazine Runway, the protagonist Andie befriends a beauty editor named James, a Vassar graduate. Naturally, I enjoyed the animated James and his scathing wit and decided to keep tabs on his alma mater. I believed that if someone who was essentially the me in ten years, albeit fictional, attended Vassar College, it could be a fitting place for me. After eighteen hours of crossing the Pacific, I landed in scalding Las Vegas, scarf and beret in hand in a summer desert, ready to begin my freshman year of high school.
Between musical rehearsals and English lectures and frog dissections, I began my college search. A counselor advised me to seek a college where I can study what I want to study and learn how I want to learn. Well, I thought, I want to study everything from the history of Greek drama to how magazines influence people's lives. I want to learn those things through diverse approaches and points-of-view. I want to experience the "ivy-covered buildings" of a traditional college setting but I want to be near a metropolis, too. All of that, and I had to go and look for it? The hunt for the right college loomed and it was daunting.
My counselor said to me, "Don't worry. When you find the right college for you, you'll know. You'll get that vibe. You'll find 'The One'."'
I picked up The Devil Wears Prada again for fun and as I read, my eyes passed over the word "Vassar". I stopped myself and thought about James, the me in ten years. A peculiar sensation surged through my chest. Could it be? All I knew about Vassar was the Shakespeare Garden and the Powerhouse Theatre. I hungered to know more.
A Vassar student from my own high school taught me everything I needed to know. As a fellow dancer, she knew about my desire to continue theatre and dance in college and illustrated how Vassar's extracurricular activities could nourish my own interests. My loves of musical theatre and mass media would both be welcomed and cultivated at Vassar. I even made it a personal goal to join the Future Waitstaff of America, Vassar's musical theatre troupe, after seeing their production of Bare: A Pop Opera online. Additionally, Vassar's proximity to New York City would be a major plus. I would be able to visit the capital of the world and sit on the hill near Sunset Lake and embrace the serenity of Hudson Valley all in one day.
I learned that the Freshman Writing Seminar, the quantitative courses and the foreign language requirement would allow me the academic freedom to explore various fields of study, including the opportunity to double major in Drama and Media Studies. Finally, I obtained Vassar's College Catalogue. The statement of academic purpose read like a list of my life goals. Vassar would help me study what I want to study and learn how I want to learn. My counselor's advice echoed in my mind. With each bullet point I read, I experienced that same curious sensation in my heart crescendo into a climax that I can only describe as reaching nirvana or slipping into the perfect pair of jeans.
I could not believe it. I found "The One" when I was in the eighth grade. Vassar was my soul mate and it took me four years to figure that out.
A funny thing about Vassar and The Devil Wears Prada: Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway starred in the movie adaptation and guess what? Both went to Vassar. Anne attended briefly while Meryl graduated with a B.A. in Drama. Without a doubt, it was fate at work. I spent the last four years learning about my soul mate, and I would be delighted to share my life with Vassar for another four. One day, I will be driving down Raymond Avenue, scarf around my neck and beret on my head with the next four years in a trunk full of boxes, and my eighth-grade dreams will be fulfilled, because Vassar and I, we go way back.
Any kind of constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
