Meaning In Music - Harvard - Example college personal statement
Hometown: Medfield, Massachusetts, USA
High School: Private all-male school, 72 students in graduating class
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
GPA: 4.3 out of 4.0
SAT: Reading 800, Math 800, Writing 740
ACT: n/a
SAT Subject Tests Taken: Mathematics Level 2, Chemistry, Physics, Literature
Extracurriculars: Student body president; editor and contributor to the school literature and arts magazine, academic journal, and newspaper; guitarist and bassist in ensembles at school and at the New England Conservatory; guitar teacher at Pope John Paul II Academy
Awards: Williams College Book Award; Pursuit of Excellence awards in religion, music, and literature; Cum Laude Society; Saint Sebastian’s Medal for Fine Arts’, Cardinal Cushing Memorial Medal for Student Service
Major: History and Literature
Example college personal statement
Nothing could have prepared me for the first time I heard the jangle of John Lennon’s Rickenbacker guitar that opens the theme song of the Beatles’s film A Hard Day’s Night. Thinking I might enjoy a movie that had played a part in her childhood, my mother exposed me to the film, inadvertently sparking an obsession that may never fully subside.
I watched the film constantly until I had every tune and lyric of the soundtrack down. I could recite each line and mimic every one of the characters’ gestures. A visitor entering my bedroom at this point would have been bombarded with Beatlemania, encountering posters, pins, T-shirts, and my personal favorite: a Beatles-themed lamp.
When my uncle learned of my fixation, he took me to buy my first guitar. As I began to explore other artists of the British invasion, I begged my parents to let me take lessons in order to emulate the sounds of my favorite artists. I took advantage of any free moment to sneak up to my bedroom and work my fingers into ready position to play the Who’s “Pinball Wizard.” I often stayed up until the early hours of the morning plucking the “My Generation” riff, crouched behind a wall of pillows I had constructed to prevent the twang of my guitar from traveling down the hallway and into my parents’ bedroom.
Although the opening sound of A Hard Day’s Night and the image of the Beatles fleeing a throng of bawling girls triggered many different thoughts, my immediate reaction was to know I needed to play in a band. I joined my school’s pit band and began attending grueling two-hour practices in preparation for performances of musicals like Anything Goes and Guys and Dolls. Through the New England Conservatory, I attended classes and participated in small jazz combos. Though I collaborated on recordings of covers and original pieces with classmates as well as teachers, my most rewarding recording projects were the tracks I created with my brother. In these songs, we blended hip-hop style beats, rock instrumentation, and samples from vintage vinyl to create an aesthetic that we’d never heard before. Few feelings can compare to the fulfillment of playing back a piece of music I’ve created with a sound I believe to be completely my own.
Playing with others provides an escape from the obstacles that bog me down in other areas of my life, and when I lose myself in music, I am unfettered and uninhibited by my weaknesses.
Since I discovered my passion, I have accumulated a myriad of experiences that the pre-Beatles Joe could have never imagined. I am most proud of a service project I initiated that entailed weekly drives into Dorchester to share my passion with young students through guitar lessons. Many of my other musical adventures have transpired at events I attended. I spent hours in the pouring rain waiting for Wilco to perform at their eclectic indie festival in western Massachusetts. At one o’clock in the morning, I participated in a tribute to Don Cornelius featuring a “Soul Train line” at a poetry slam in the basement of the Lizard Lounge. In a welding shop tucked amid several warehouses, I attended a DIY punk show in Worcester and braved my first mosh pit.
This year marked the 50th anniversary of the release of A Hard Day’s Night, and to honor the occasion, the film was reintroduced into theaters. Although much of the movie had faded from my memory, I made the trip north to Portland, Maine to see the film. As the lights in the State Theatre dimmed, I shivered in anticipation. This time, when I heard the familiar chord from that tinny twelve-string echo through the building, I knew I was in for something special.
REVIEW
The strength of Joe’s writing in this essay lies in his anecdotal beginning and descriptive language throughout. His personality shines through as he reveals a comical and thoughtful character, for example, mentioning that his personal favorite piece of Beatles memorabilia is a lamp. The concluding paragraph also connects well with the introduction, creating a bookend effect. Unfortunately, Joe’s essay at times reads like a list of accomplishments. It would have been helpful if Joe had chosen one rewarding experience that stemmed from his discovery of the Beatles and expanded on it with an anecdote. For example, the service project he is “most proud of” is teaching guitar lessons to high school students in Dorchester. Yet, he offers little evidence to explain why.
From 50 Successful Harvard Application Essays, 5th Edition edited by the Staff of the Harvard Crimson. Copyright (c) 2017 by the authors and reprinted by permission of St. Martin's Publishing Group.
