Hometown: Queens, NY

Year: First-Year

College: Grace Hopper

Major: Computer Science; Music

Extracurriculars: Yale Precision Marching Band; Yale Rugby; Yale Undergraduate Jazz Collective; Music New Haven; Black Student Alliance at Yale; Yale Black Women’s Coalition; Yale Varsity Track and Field; She Code; Cultural Connections Counselor; Yale Undergraduate Ambassador; Immersive Media Students Association at Yale

Example common application essay

Profile

From the start, Roxanne Harris wanted to attend a college that could accommodate and develop her varied interests and passions. She wanted to study computer science, but was passionate about the alto saxophone. She was interested in athletics—though she opted out of being recruited for any college teams—and hoped to run track and field.

Roxanne says she wanted a combination of humanities and STEM courses, which pulled her away from applying to schools like MIT and Stanford and more in the direction of Yale. Additionally, her older brother, who graduated from Yale in 2015—in addition to both Yale Law School and Yale School of Management in 2018—encouraged her to apply.

Roxanne attended a high school in Manhattan, where she excelled both academically and also extracurricularly. A successful saxophonist and avid gamer, she’s familiar with defying odds and making her mark in those predominantly male fields.

Roxanne also can’t forget the invaluable help that her high school’s counselor offered throughout the college application process. “They gave us a timeline of things we needed to do and followed up to make sure that everything was completed,” she explains. “I applied early to Yale and was accepted, but I had completed applications for eight other schools that I didn’t end up submitting.”

Roxanne intended to apply to schools like Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, and Duke, but accepted her offer from Yale.

Roxanne finds her coursework challenging, yet manageable. She has continued her studies with computer science and enjoys her courses, though she admits that the rigor of the work required that she manage her time better.

At Yale, Roxanne has pursued similar interests to those she enjoyed in high school. As a first-year, she joined the Yale Precision Marching Band and Women’s Rugby Team—while also volunteering to teach elementary and middle-school girls in the New Haven area about coding each week. In her sophomore year, Roxanne walked onto the track and field team and joined the Yale Virtual Reality Club.

She says that her favorite memory from her time at Yale so far has come from the Ivy League Rugby tournament. In one game, she remembers shaking off three opposing players who latched onto her during a play—a move that her coach captured on tape. She ended up being named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, despite the fact that she had never played rugby before coming to Yale.

To Roxanne, Yale is most of all a place where she feels surrounded and stimulated by the best minds in the world.

“I love collaborating with and being a part of this community of people,” she says.

Roxanne’s essays include her Common App personal statement and five of her Yale supplemental essays.

ESSAY 1 (COMMON APP):

Personal Statement

Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The fine-boned eight-year-old with the exploding, kinky, palm-tree hairdo puts knuckles to her cheeks and teeters on the edge of her metal chair, transfixed. It is September 2007, and Paul Effman Music is introducing its band program to Saint Ignatius Loyola School in Manhattan. In the chilled auditorium the glorious array of brass mesmerizes her. Instinctively, she centers on the one, radically curved cone. The artist grips its neck, latches lips to its mouth, and exhales an incredible, warm sound. I was the eight-year-old, and I was the most purely ecstatic I can remember. In that moment I fell hard for the alto saxophone.

I still smile remembering my parents’ initial alarm when I told them I was going to be a saxophonist. “That thing is two-thirds your size and weight!” they exclaimed. But I was sure. Their popped eyeballs when my elfin structure expelled profound sounds from my sax are indelibly etched in my mind. I became my school’s first female saxophonist, and quickly its lead saxophonist. I mastered march and classical, and I fell in love with jazz, America’s indigenous music.

The ancient victory symbol, the palm tree, was my emblem for success as my passions—painting, drawing, sprinting, and jazz—grew. I embraced the art of woodshedding on the sax, relentlessly practicing hard mechanics to hone my improvisational skill and sensitivity. My confidence deepened as I performed with and without accompaniment. The irrepressible sound of the alto sax became my other voice. In June 2013, I was thrilled when I auditioned for and was admitted to the selective Jazz at Lincoln Center High School Academy. This brought me, and my jazz, to a whole new level.

My life is like jazz—an ongoing experimental remix playing extemporaneously. I love the paradox of it, requiring me to pop-out yet simultaneously coalesce. Jazz mirrors how I strive to be: a free-thinking team player who walks with the crowd but with a distinct footprint.

In July 2015, I was a volunteer rebuilder in New Orleans. It  was “real hot” in the shade. A familiar, intoxicating sound rising from the French Quarter wrenched me from the harrowing Katrina exhibit in the Presbytere. Never one to simply observe, I quickly descended to the stir. It was jazz. Again, jazz’s defiant, uplifting, ceaselessly inventive voice drew me in.

I assumed formal black with glossy Yamaha brass—the typical Manhattan scene. But no! An unlikely trio stood in threadbare blue jeans and bright, rumpled tees jamming to the rambunctious, time-honored “Second Line.” Shaded by the massive girth of a centuries-old live oak, its naturally exposed roots anchoring the fissured sidewalk, the group was incredibly captivating. Within that stark space of distressing remembrance and unscripted entertainment, I was awestruck by the electric, unified humanity.

The bassist strutted his supple fingers along nylon strings, directing time. The drummer’s gray-blond dreadlocks escaped from her crocheted wrap as she masterfully beat her trap set and gifted her infectious groove. Like Charlie Parker’s avatar, the alto’s lithe digits calmly traversed the rapid chord changes. Ease overtook the strapping, finely tailored businessman standing next to me. When he unknotted his fuchsia tie, I was not surprised that he joined me, Converse sneakers and alligator shoes shuffling side-by-side to the carnivalesque jive. When their movement ceased, they soaked up hearty applause. Whether at world famous Dizzy’s or curbside in the French Quarter, jazz offers an impartial release.

In 2016, I returned to help the birthplace of jazz continue to restore its water-damaged homes. I credit the people’s spellbinding resilience to their DNA, their jazz. I am determined to spread harmony through jazz in the manner Marcus Aurelius posits: “While you have life in you, while you still can, make yourself good.” I will continue to blend and solo, expound my positivity, speak with my brassy saxophone and my mind—unabashedly offering my jazz in college and beyond.

ESSAY 2 (YALE SUPPLEMENT):
Why does Yale appeal to you?

Having strolled across Yale’s campus many times over the past five years, I am certain I want to experience the collaborative, academic vigor present throughout Yale’s halls. I want to bolster the Yale School of Music Jazz Initiative by bringing soulful jazz to Yale’s residential houses. Yale’s multifaceted lifestyle aligns perfectly with my multifaceted interests. I know distinct disciplines can share inexplicable connections. I want to explore the link between Computer Science, Mathematics, and Music. At Yale, I can explore my passions—jazz, art, academia, and athletics—with the confidence that I will be collaborating with the best in the world.

ESSAY 3 (YALE SUPPLEMENT):
Write about something you love to do.

I play video games whenever I take a break from academics, sketching, running, or jazz. As soon as my hands were big enough, my then nine-year-old brother stuck a PS2 controller into them. We played for countless hours, fixated on the flashing screen of the bulky, square box. Two years later, when my little brother was born, we sucked him into our gaming world as well. The Harris siblings have starkly contrasting personalities: Richard (24), stoic yet comical lawyer-in-training; Rainier (13), sassy charismatic “baby;” and Roxanne (17), busy Energizer Bunny. Gaming is our bond. Anytime we play together, it becomes a battle royal where I almost always emerge victorious (often defeating their double-teaming schemes). My agile digits also launched me to the top 1 percent on the international leaderboard of Amplitude, the action-music video game. Gaming gives me a real life edge. Years perfecting my trigger finger make me react quickly out of the starting blocks. My sharpened eyes interpret facial nuances in remarkable detail. My sensitive hearing detects the slightest shift in complex high-speed jazz chords as I keep in time with my band. Gaming dexterity is one of my recipes for success.

ESSAY 4 (YALE SUPPLEMENT):
If you selected one of the computer science or engineering majors, please tell us more about what has led you to an interest in this field of study, what experience (if any) you have had in computer science or engineering, and what it is about Yale’s program in this area that appeals to you.

In the ninth grade, I penned an opinion essay for my school newspaper “Technology Injures the Intellect.” I asserted that the growing reliance on technology—laptops, iPads, SMART boards—and the phasing out of manual writing and physical books in the classroom did nothing but stunt individual creativity. Increased dependency on technology only suppressed individual effort to stand out because it promoted group mentality. However, technology itself is not the culprit responsible for any decline in our functions—it is our interaction with it that makes us better or worse.

I think back to my first computer class in the third grade. We had to draw Frosty the Snowman with the notoriously crude “Paint” application where lines could only be drawn by the cursor of an unstable ballpoint mouse. Frustrated at my inability to perfect Frosty’s hat, I dreamt of a pen that could draw directly on the screen. Back then, in 2007, that digital pen was a sci-fi fantasy. Now, in 2017, a digital pen is a reality, a commonplace phenomenon, a necessity for any successful technological product.

My initial interest in Computer Science stemmed from my hours-long video game marathons with my two brothers. I was always fascinated with the transformation of two-dimensional art concepts into full-fledged three-dimensional animation. For the longest time, my dream profession was to become a video game art designer and programmer for mega brands such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Naruto Shippuden, and Final Fantasy—much to my parents’ dismay. Understanding the importance of traditional academic education and the need to earn a living, I stored that dream in the back of my mind where it became dormant throughout my middle school years.

In junior year, I enrolled in the Computer Science course and my passion came roaring back. Computer Science is like mathematics, second nature for me. As I continue to enjoy programing, my childhood dream of a career in technology is rekindled anew.

As I prepare for a college education, I am excited to finally explore the interaction between technology and creativity—Computer Science. Today, exponential technological advancements have vastly expanded the possibilities for content creation and art manipulation. With this knowledge, I am determined to revolutionize the way we interact with technology. From browsing available courses from the Yale University website, I would be thrilled to start this journey by enrolling in Introductory Graphic Design (ART 132a or b) and Fundamentals of Music Technology (MUSI 325a). Still, I see that these courses are only the tip of the iceberg of the opportunities Yale has to offer in Computer Science and beyond.

From 50 Yale Admission Success Stories: And the Essay That Made Them Happen, edited by the Yale Daily News Staff. Copyright © 2020 by the authors
and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Publishing Group.