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College Essay Refined

Blogs > Smokin_Squirrel
Post a Reply
Smokin_Squirrel
Profile Blog Joined November 2006
Korea (South)674 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-01-08 23:41:22
December 15 2009 02:06 GMT
#1
Hey TL it's me again. After working through my previous mess with your helpful criticism, I came up with a more self-focused essay this time. As deadlines are closing in, I'm pretty definite about turning this in soon so any grammar nazis in here, feel free to pick it apart. I'm really not sure I like the intro so if anything, I would appreciate what more I could add to it.

Also I'm sorry if anyone is annoyed by ANOTHER college essay help topic.

Old Essay

+ Show Spoiler +
Classical music has been a part of my life longer than I can remember. My mother began listening to Mozart, Mendelssohn and her favorite, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, since I was in her womb. Even now my mother loves to listen to Spring, her favorite while she drives to work every morning. It’s because of her influences that I could never envision myself doing anything other than playing the violin.

I come from a family that has always been faced with great obstacles, even to this day. Both of my South Korean parents moved to the United States with 2 young children and without a means of communicating efficiently. This forced them to work in many different kinds of underpaying jobs with little opportunity for advancement. While we made enough to have a roof over our heads, it is now very clear to me how much they truly struggled for us to get by. Even today I recall those dreadful days when my father would argue that we could not afford the lessons after my mother had already paid for them, disregarding several bills completely in progress. I would shake in anger and fear as terror struck my heart to even imagine a future without my tiny violin. I realized after some time that I was taking my lessons for granted, unaware of how hard my parents had to work to be able to afford my lessons.

Although I loved being praised by the supportive people around me, I had little taste for practicing. While many people connected lack of practice to a lack of interest, my mother saw through this. She recognized more than anyone else that although I dreaded practice, playing the violin was one of the few things I truly enjoyed doing. She would pressure me to start practicing whenever I was loafing around the house wondering what to do. If that failed, she would threaten to stop my lessons as we both knew that I did not want to stop performing in front of people. If it was not for her determination to keep me practicing regularly, I may have never understood my true passion.

I have gained an enormous amount of support from my mother all throughout these years. I am still amazed that she agreed to help me in my endeavors to play music for the rest of my life as a career when she herself or none of the family on her side plays music. She would constantly fix my posture from the little she learned at my lessons whenever I was practicing. In addition to this, my mother never complained about the long distances she had to drive to get me to my lessons or rehearsals. She always came to every one of my concerts even when I told her the drive was exhausting.

Her support was a constant reminder of how important playing the violin really was to me. My mother understood me and my love for music more than anyone else. Through her efforts to keep me practicing and working hard, I discovered more and more with each passing year how much music would be an inevitable aspect of my life. It is because of her that I now have a means of perfectly communicating what words cannot.



Running is the essence of battle
Sunhay
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
Canada303 Posts
December 15 2009 02:24 GMT
#2
On December 15 2009 11:06 Smokin_Squirrel wrote:
My mother began listening to Mozart, Mendelssohn and her favorite, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons since I was in her womb.


My mother began listening to Mozart, Mendelssohn and her favorite, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons since I was conceived.

For some reason, womb sounds a bit off to me.

Also, I don't know if colleges expect you to do these letters by yourself...but this letter comes up in a quick google search
www.sunhay.net
insectoceanx
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
United States331 Posts
December 15 2009 02:25 GMT
#3
New version is way better constructed than the first. One thing to look at in some of your sentences, this one for example:
"I developed a natural inclination for classical music as I lacked the means to communicate well as a shy kid at school. It was not long until people started noticing me."

You have a sentence, then a preposition, then a preposition, and another preposition. You could eliminate everything after music and rewrite it as a sentence of its own or like this

I developed a natural inclination for classical music. Being a shy child up to this point, it wasn't long until people started noticing me"

I often run into the same problem of writing unnecessarily long sentences. Sometimes it helps to look at all your sentences and as CHARACTER DOES OBJECT. if you have a hard time telling who the character of the sentence is or what that character is doing consider rewriting it.

Hope this was helpful
Nal_rAwr
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States2611 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-12-15 02:31:05
December 15 2009 02:30 GMT
#4
you should put quotes around "The Four Seasons"
and remember if you want to put punctuation near quotations, always put them in the quotations

reading the rest...
edit: naw no time sorry =O
Nony is Bonjwa
AtlaS
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
United States1001 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-12-15 02:55:37
December 15 2009 02:31 GMT
#5
This is just a general comment, not necessarily directed at you but still may give you a few thoughts. My english professor in high school told me a piece of advice that has helped my essay grades all the way through college(I think). She said that a quick and easy way to make your college essay standout is to include a few "choice" words in your essay. Basically, go to thesaurus.dictionary.com and exchange a few words in your essay with more eloquent and distinct words (aka, bigger and less used words that will make you look smart). I mean, don't go out and use words like "pulchritudinous" or something cause they'll probably just think you're full of shit. Use a word that you somewhat recognize but you didn't know the meaning of. And for the love of God make sure you use the word correctly. That hurts so bad in the reader's eyes if they see a word misused.

Anyways, the point of doing that is that it gives the essay flair, as well as showing the reader that you have a vocabulary that matches or exceeds your age and that you know how to use those words in the correct context. Of course if the essay is crap to begin with, this won't help whatsoever. You can't put roses on shit and expect it to fix the smell.
I don't have mono anymore. Woooo!
insectoceanx
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
United States331 Posts
December 15 2009 02:36 GMT
#6
Another thing, if this is for admission to a college i would think about scrapping the overview, and tell an exciting rendition of a profound single musical experience. Perhaps a very tough recital.

Thing is admission councilors read tons of these and most are boring as hell. If yours is really interesting and well written thats a big plus because you didnt put them to sleep and they actually enjoyed reading it.
SonuvBob
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
Aiur21550 Posts
December 15 2009 02:40 GMT
#7
On December 15 2009 11:24 Sunhay wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 15 2009 11:06 Smokin_Squirrel wrote:
My mother began listening to Mozart, Mendelssohn and her favorite, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons since I was in her womb.


My mother began listening to Mozart, Mendelssohn and her favorite, Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons since I was conceived.

For some reason, womb sounds a bit off to me.

Also, I don't know if colleges expect you to do these letters by yourself...but this letter comes up in a quick google search

womb's fine, it's the "began... since" that's awkward. And that Google search comes up with this thread, nothing else.
Administrator
Kwidowmaker
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
Canada978 Posts
Last Edited: 2009-12-15 04:06:28
December 15 2009 04:05 GMT
#8
began... ...when!

When specifies a moment in time, but since specifies an interval of time. While your mother has been listening to classical music since you were in the womb, she began listening to classical music when you were in the womb. I'd go with 'began... ...when'
Kk.
horang3
Profile Joined November 2009
United States261 Posts
December 15 2009 07:11 GMT
#9
On December 15 2009 11:31 AtlaS wrote:
This is just a general comment, not necessarily directed at you but still may give you a few thoughts. My english professor in high school told me a piece of advice that has helped my essay grades all the way through college(I think). She said that a quick and easy way to make your college essay standout is to include a few "choice" words in your essay. Basically, go to thesaurus.dictionary.com and exchange a few words in your essay with more eloquent and distinct words (aka, bigger and less used words that will make you look smart). I mean, don't go out and use words like "pulchritudinous" or something cause they'll probably just think you're full of shit. Use a word that you somewhat recognize but you didn't know the meaning of. And for the love of God make sure you use the word correctly. That hurts so bad in the reader's eyes if they see a word misused.


I would disagree very strongly with trying to use big words to sound smart. The whole point of a college essay is to try to get across who you are. One should try to use the best word to convey a desired meaning, not use the most unusual words that they can find.

Also, where are you applying to school?
Do great work
QuanticHawk
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
United States32146 Posts
December 15 2009 15:13 GMT
#10
Logically, it's a lot better than the last, but there's still a bunch of grammar stuffs in there that need to be addressed. i ll check it out later
PROFESSIONAL GAMER - SEND ME OFFERS TO JOIN YOUR TEAM - USA USA USA
hazelynut
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
United States2196 Posts
December 15 2009 16:22 GMT
#11
It's difficult to give edits if the writer is too stressed to really rework their essay, but here are some things you might want to consider if you have time:

1) how to bring the reader closer to your experience

you distance yourself a lot by saying, "I realized <this>," "I recall <this>," "I was <this>." It's partly the tell-and-not-show syndrome, and partly the time scope of this essay (being a huge range of time). Consider, as someone suggested earlier, choosing one specific moment to write about instead.

2) the register of your essay

It's very nostalgic, slightly formal, and very distant. Imagine that you're explaining this story to your friends. Would you talk like that? "as I lacked the means to communicate well" is quite roundabout. Where's your own voice in this essay? It's okay to put some of your own feelings into it, and not something like "I was angry," but something that really shows you were angry.

3) "It was a strange sight to see a 3rd grader listening to Bach and Mozart regularly in his free time."

Sometimes it's good to brag, but sometimes it's too heavy-handed and a little off-putting.
Zerg | life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery | www.cstarleague.com <3
LosingID8
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
CA10831 Posts
December 15 2009 16:28 GMT
#12
On December 16 2009 01:22 hazelynut wrote:
1) how to bring the reader closer to your experience

you distance yourself a lot by saying, "I realized ," "I recall ," "I was ." It's partly the tell-and-not-show syndrome, and partly the time scope of this essay (being a huge range of time). Consider, as someone suggested earlier, choosing one specific moment to write about instead.

of all the suggestions given so far, this one sticks out the most to me.

as i skimmed through your essay i saw you doing a lot of this, and to be quite frank, it bothered me a lot, lol.

i realize that you're talking about your past, but it didn't feel like you were talking about you
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