We love music. Who doesn’t? In the past, we’ve gotten some emails about how to approach a common app essay about music and our TKG clients have asked the same question. Keep reading for our thoughts:
The most important thing to keep in mind is that your common app essay needs to be about you. And we get that music might be a big part of your life. But there are two traps that we don’t want you to fall into:
Trap #1: Writing a common app essay about an extracurricular activity.
One of our favorite things about our job is the discovery process with our clients. We don’t try to fit people into boxes, and we love uncovering layers of depth that speak to a diversified list of interests, passions, and qualities. But let’s say that you’ve been playing jazz music since sixth grade. We know for a fact that “jazz musician” is going to be on the activities list of your common app account. A lot of people like to write about music through a lens that has been overdone: music helped me come out of my shell and allowed me to express myself. And while this might be true, colleges have been reading these essays for years. Your essay will be placed into the “music” pile, and that’s not a good place to be. So if you’ve been making music or studying music outside of school and it’s on your resume, you should avoid writing about it in your common app essay.
Trap #2: Writing a common app essay that’s a love letter to your favorite musician.
Whenever you write an essay about someone else (your grandmother, your favorite teacher, Drake) you unfortunately miss the mark. By definition, your common app essay is no longer about you. And that’s problematic because colleges can’t tell what kind of person you are based on your favorite musician. So no matter how love deep your love for Elton John runs, it’s best to skip this approach as well.
So, how can you write a common app essay about music? It’s best to reframe this to: how can I incorporate music into my common app essay? Writing about music can be a helpful lens if it shows how you see the world and how you think, but it has to be done the right way. To use an example, we once worked with a client who loved learning about other countries and cultures. He was sitting in French class one day and was trying to figure out how he could learn about France without his textbook. In hopes of brushing up on his pronunciation skills and knowledge of the country, he decided to start listening to French music. He continued along this path, listening to playlists from almost every country in Europe. This is a great example of an essay that incorporates music, but isn’t exclusively about music.
The best advice that we can give is to avoid of trap of thinking that you want to write a common app essay about music, art, hardship, or any topic for that matter. This line of thinking often stints the brainstorming process because you put yourself into a box. Instead, think about writing an essay about yourself – and then use what comes to mind to tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
Need help brainstorming? We’d love to help. Contact us here if you’d like to work with someone one-on-one.