Hometown: Brooklyn, NY

Year: First-Year

College: Branford

Major: Music

Extracurriculars: New Music Cooperative, president; Engender, policy associate; Theater

Free example college application essay

Profile

A musician from Brooklyn, New York, Sarah Sotomayor traveled the world performing with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Music not only shaped most of Sarah’s high school experience, but it also shaped her goals for the future. After composing the score for her high school production of The Tempest, Sara realized that she wanted to become a composer.

Sarah has continued her interest in the arts at Yale as the president of New Music Cooperative, the policy associate of Engender—a student group that advocates for the coeducation of fraternities—and an avid participant in the theater scene. For Sarah, a first-generation student from Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn Heights, applying to college was an intimidating, and demanding, experience. She began attending her arts-oriented K-12 private school in seventh grade after finishing Prep for Prep, a New York–based leadership program dedicated to preparing promising students of color for admission into some of the country’s most prestigious secondary institutions. She says that the driving force in her life has always been, and continues to be, her love of music.

By the end of her senior year, Sarah faced the difficult decision of choosing where she wanted to spend the next four years of her life. At first, she was hesitant about choosing Yale. Many programs across the country had offered her a music-intensive education, all of which held great appeal for her.

“I didn’t want to make a decision until I had ‘that feeling,’” she recalls. “I was looking, truly, for a place to call home.”

That special feeling came to her on the first day of Bulldog Days—Yale’s admitted student days—after she attended an arts panel, and convinced Sarah that Yale was right for her. Entering college with a definite understanding of her passions has been hugely influential over her freshman experience.

“Yale has been exactly what I have put into it,” she says. “It can be a rollercoaster. The lows are really low, but the highs are really high.” At the end of the day, Sarah explains, Yale boasts a community that allows her to endure the lows and celebrate the highs—and that is what she especially cherishes.

Sarah’s essays include her Common App personal statement and six of her Yale supplemental essays.

ESSAY 1 (COMMON APP):

Personal Statement

English is an incredibly strange language. At least that’s what my mother always says. The verbs don’t have different conjugations for every subject; certain words have letters tucked in amidst consonants and vowels that are silent, or that change the pronunciation completely. English was my first language, but because of my parents’ complicated relationship with it, it never felt as simple as that.

As a little girl in the public school system of Brooklyn, nearly half of my friends had a parent who was an immigrant. Two of my best friends were the children of Russian immigrants; another had parents who had just moved from Haiti; one girl had moved from China with her family at the start of elementary school. So, in the background of my playdates, class parties, and drives to and from events, I heard an array of “Englishes”—there were the accents, both heavy and slight, the mispronunciations, the quirks, the strangely conjugated verbs—language truly seemed as fluid as water to me.

It wasn’t until I entered private school that I really felt like there was a “right” way to speak English. My friends’ innocent comments about my mother’s cute accent—something I had never noticed—and jokes about words I misused or mispronounced—”Sal-mon? It’s Sah-mun”—gradually began to expose me to my misconceptions about language. Speaking “well” and “with eloquence” took on an entirely new meaning for me. Anytime anyone would compliment my writing or what I said in class, I held tight to it, because eloquence seemed so crucial to be regarded as intellectual and capable of success in this country. At twelve years old, I was just starting to pick apart the differences between my lifestyle and the lifestyles of my private school friends, and from what I could understand, language was one of the big factors separating me from them.

Frustrated by the fact that the thoughts that danced through my mind were never done justice by my writing, I took to expressing myself through the studio and performance arts, especially through music. I found solace in a new language, one without concrete “rights” and “wrongs.” Growing up being exposed to music that constantly broke boundaries, I was able to develop my own understanding of this universal language, and it helped me interact with the new community I had entered. I made friends through the numerous ensembles I began performing in and in the theater community. I collaborated with students and teachers, developing relationships that not only expanded my knowledge of music, but provided me with a support system as I navigated the hurdles of living what felt like a double life. I had discovered something that had given me the courage and confidence that I needed to begin stepping outside of my shell.

There isn’t very much that is simple about my identity. I’m a woman-of-color, but I am also white-passing. I come from a low-income family, and live on the opposite side of Brooklyn from my school in Brooklyn Heights, where I spend my days with my wealthier peers. I understand parts of the languages I grew up hearing, but never enough to be able to fully utilize them to connect with my community, or even with my own family. But whenever I dance to a Latin beat, I feel my Puerto Rican heritage. When I pick up my accordion, I understand the pain my grandmother felt when she lost hers as a young girl growing up in 1930s Poland. Music was the missing puzzle piece that helped me make sense of my world.

ESSAY 2 (YALE SUPPLEMENT):
Why do these areas appeal to you? (Music, Psychology)

I hope to incorporate music in my studies of the brain by seeing how certain timbres and wavelengths can trigger reactions, possibly tying musical ideas to releases of particular chemicals, such as endorphins for people with clinical depression, or serotonin, which would benefit people suffering from an anxiety disorder. If we can tie specific aspects of music to reactions in the brain, I believe it may be possible to develop a form of composition for psychological purposes.

ESSAY 3 (YALE SUPPLEMENT):
Why does Yale appeal to you?

When I began touring schools, all the seniors told me about “the feeling”; it hits you when you step onto the campus of that one school that was just right. That is exactly what I felt when visiting Yale. In the few hours I was there, I discussed abstract art with a girl painting in the Old Campus and got a personalized tour by an enthusiastic first-year. I was struck by the energy and drive of everyone I met. There was a sense of occasion that I could not shake, and it was apparent in every person I met.

ESSAY 4 (YALE SUPPLEMENT):
Short takes

Who or what is a source of inspiration for you?

As a family living off of welfare, my brothers had a very difficult youth. Unlike our other brothers, Jose broke out of that cycle by pursuing a higher education, then teaching in similar communities.

If you could live for a day as another person, past or present, who would it be? Why?

Cast as Eleanor Roosevelt in a song cycle by Jeff Beal, I have become very familiar with my counterpart, Pauli Murray. A day in this activist’s shoes would recreate my perception of affecting change.

You are teaching a Yale course. What is it called?

Filling in the Gaps: The few female composers who are acknowledged in history are often known as Mendelssohn’s sister or Schumann’s wife. I would explore the experience and role of the female composer.

Most Yale freshmen live in suites of four to six students. What would you contribute to the dynamic of your suite?

Waking up to the smell of fresh coffee and bacon—that’s what my sleepovers are known for. Cooking is a big part of my family, so my roommates can always count on good food far from home.

Buying ice cream that isn’t on sale ($6.79!); writing out pages of Spanish grammar rules; opening my door late at night for someone needing a place to stay; “group mom” is my much welcomed role.

ESSAY 5 (YALE SUPPLEMENT):
What is a community to which you belong? Reflect on the footprint that you have left.

I have always felt that because of the different aspects of my identity I had a foot in multiple worlds. I am a white-passing woman of color who has grown up in an area of rather low economic class. Because of the Prep for Prep program, I have spent the past 6 years at a private school with mostly white, upper-middle class kids. My experiences have helped me realize how important being in a diverse community is, and how important it is for me to actively strive to help these communities work. Saint Ann’s has recently taken the initiative to support the diversity in our community, and as a multicultural student, I have made sure to help in every way I could. I utilize the complex circumstances of my life by bringing a sense of awareness to the table that I frankly regard as a privilege. While it is hard growing up feeling as though I can not mold into one part of my identity, it has put me in the position to lead discussions that draw conversation from an array of people. I have learned to become the bridge between perspectives, because diversity is so much more than what one can see with their eyes.

ESSAY 6 (YALE SUPPLEMENT):
Reflect on a time in the last few years when you felt genuine excitement learning about something.

Since I was a child I have found myself constantly seeking logical explanations. I was never satisfied with simply being told something was true. I found myself drawn to disciplines where I was capable of finding a result by myself, thus proving I truly grasped the concept. 

It wasn’t until I began studying Calculus in junior year that I was able to truly grasp my capability of independence. Our teacher was determined to get the class to stop simply memorizing rules and applying them through a series of identical problems; she incorporated many opportunities for us to use the knowledge we had gained in trigonometry, geometry, and algebra to form our own understanding of calculus.

I was inspired to strive to form my own understanding of every math problem. I even remember one class when our teacher asked us to come up with two functions that were their own second derivative, and I had managed to come up with a function that she had never even thought of! It was electrifying when I realized math could be treated much like art; the process can be individual and organic, and the result completely unique.

ESSAY 7 (YALE SUPPLEMENT):
Write about something that you love to do.

There is no stone I want to leave unturned when it comes to music. First and foremost I am a student, so being a professional performer in the bustling city of New York has never been easy. But my love for what I was doing inspired me to strive to juggle my academic work with the demands of the concert season I found myself in year after year. In a community of artists, personalities may not always click, and music rarely remains as it initially was presented, but every concert and show has taught me fundamental lessons about collaboration and leadership. I have worked with many instrumentalists and composers who inspired me to not only begin studying a variety of instruments, but also to try my hand at composition. I have also been exposed to the inner workings of the music industry. My experiences in music have ultimately taught me what it means to be  a leader in a field that is dominated by people who don’t look like me, or come from places similar to those that I do, and  the desire to be a leader has been ingrained in all my aspirations.

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.