Anyone else a high school senior and working on those apps? My dad handed me a list of about 15 schools to apply to lol. And I'm not totally against it because I figure that there's really no harm in trying, and some of these essay questions are even fun, but the number of "Why do you want to come to OUR school?" questions is sort of bothering me after a while.

I'm a big on music and I plan on at the very least, minoring in it, though I'd prefer to get a major.

When I opened the Common App website to go to my colleges, I clicked on Harvey Mudd and started to write my essay. Then I stopped and thought, "A while back, Day[9] was doing the same thing. But probably on paper." And then I giggled a little.

OpticalShot

Canada6330 Posts

November 27 2010 09:17 GMT

Not a high school senior (I'm graduating from university in a few months, w00t!!!!), but allow me to wish you best of luck!

Actually, what programs are you applying to? It might be difficult to acquire a major (or even a minor) in music if you're going for stuff like engineering...

ReketSomething

United States6012 Posts

November 27 2010 09:33 GMT

Harvey mudd college yay!

+ Show Spoiler +

over 2K diamond please.

deafhobbit

United States828 Posts

November 27 2010 09:43 GMT

Wow, you needed your dad to research schools for you? And you've just started working on apps in late November? That's not really a good place to be in. I hope you've at least taken the ACT or SAT and talked to a teacher about writing you a letter of recommendation.

Your attitude suggests you're not really all that motivated to go to college, which isn't a good sign. College costs a lot of money, and it's worth thinking about whether or not you really want to go. Unless by "music" you mean stuff involving classical music, college doesn't really improve your prospects much. Even there you need to attend a school with a good reputation to have any chance of getting a performing or teaching job. Admittedly, people attend college for more reasons than improving their income potential (socializing and sex being probably the two most common other ones), but it's always worth thinking about whether or not you're getting what you pay for from school.

At the very least, it might be worth your while to attend a community college for a year or two, to get generals done and figure out what you want to do with your life. I didn't do this myself, but I've known several people who have, and it's turned out very well for them. It's cheap, and it gives you the time to try out different areas of study to determine what you want to learn about.

Where and what you study after HS is a big decision, and one you should put a lot of thought into. Your attitude in the original post suggests you're not really doing this, and i strongly suggest you start taking this more seriously before you make a decision you come to regret.

In)Spire

United States1323 Posts

November 27 2010 09:45 GMT

Yeah. I got accepted to the University of Texas at Austin already. Just waiting to see whether USC is willing to accept me. Those essays took up a lot more time than i needed them too -.-;;
I suggest you get em done quick cuz Dec.1 is the deadline for a lot of em. Be sure to fill out lot of scholarships too! Good luck!!

shindigs

United States4795 Posts

November 27 2010 10:33 GMT

On November 27 2010 18:43 deafhobbit wrote:
Wow, you needed your dad to research schools for you? And you've just started working on apps in late November? That's not really a good place to be in. I hope you've at least taken the ACT or SAT and talked to a teacher about writing you a letter of recommendation.

Your attitude suggests you're not really all that motivated to go to college, which isn't a good sign. College costs a lot of money, and it's worth thinking about whether or not you really want to go. Unless by "music" you mean stuff involving classical music, college doesn't really improve your prospects much. Even there you need to attend a school with a good reputation to have any chance of getting a performing or teaching job. Admittedly, people attend college for more reasons than improving their income potential (socializing and sex being probably the two most common other ones), but it's always worth thinking about whether or not you're getting what you pay for from school.

At the very least, it might be worth your while to attend a community college for a year or two, to get generals done and figure out what you want to do with your life. I didn't do this myself, but I've known several people who have, and it's turned out very well for them. It's cheap, and it gives you the time to try out different areas of study to determine what you want to learn about.

Where and what you study after HS is a big decision, and one you should put a lot of thought into. Your attitude in the original post suggests you're not really doing this, and i strongly suggest you start taking this more seriously before you make a decision you come to regret.

I think a lot of well to do seniors who are applying to college sort of have the same attitude. For students who are used to doing fairly well in school, college is just the next logical step for them. I didn't put much thought into what I wanted to study when I applied even though I sort of knew the direction I wanted. I somewhat regret it now since I would have taken classes I would have enjoyed a lot more my first year. Then again I was exposed to some subjects I never thought I'd enjoy but turned out very interesting.

My biggest advice is to pick something you think you want to study or do for the rest of your life and go all in on it. If you find out that you don't like that subject at all, at least you've experience mostly everything about it early enough that you can still switch into something new.

Best of luck!

Animostas

United States568 Posts

November 27 2010 12:55 GMT

Yeah my original post was more of a bunch of thoughts strewn together out of a bit of stress and tiredness so I can totally see where you're getting that idea of me going through this really casually. And re-reading it, yeah I sound like a bit of an airhead lol. At my school (same school as Synapse/Synapsii and Supernovamaniac and a few others' who's screenames I can't remember) everything is super competitive. And here it's honestly just a given that you've taken the SAT, scored fairly well on them, asked teachers for recs, etc.

My original plan was to apply for 9 schools which I decided in about July. 1 early which I've already submitted about a month ago, and the rest are due on January 1st. My dad wanted to add a few more to that, and we sort of came to an agreement since there was a lot of overlap so now it's 15, which is on the heavy side but still manageable I think. Also since he's footing the bill I thought it'd be fair to go for his input as well.

By music, right, I'd like to pursue classical composition since I've taken AP Music Theory and gotten a 5 on it, and I'm in an advanced theory course at my high school right now which is actually really challenging and yet enjoyable. My only concern is everyone I've spoken to says that composition is ridiculously hard to make money off of, which is why I said it might end up being a minor. My other interest is in theoretical physics, but personally I would much rather going for music.

To be honest this blog was more of a bitch thread for anyone else working on apps haha.

Lexpar

1813 Posts

November 27 2010 15:28 GMT

Grrr. It made me jealous when you said your dad handed you applications. Not that that's an overly pampering thing to do or anything, it just gets at me. I'm trying to be really honest when stuff gets me jealous instead of just saying something mean. Like I have this friend whos mum still makes him little snacky plates when hes watching a movie or playing games or whatever and hes the same age as me. Now right away I say thats stupid grow up but really I think I'm just jealous cause like I can't remember the last time my parents cooked me a meal LOL. We're all different I guess!

Don't go to Harvey Mudd just cause Day9 went there. He's not the messiah or something, he's just a nerd who played a lot of starcraft. That holds a lot of weight in this community but it shouldn't as much in real life!

Good luck with the music stuff. I love it too

emperorchampion

Canada9496 Posts

November 27 2010 15:50 GMT

Bleh, filling out apps is boring -_-

good luck! :D

commiboi

United States74 Posts

November 27 2010 19:50 GMT

#10

Cool, its good to see that you have an interest in music. Im also applying to a bunch of places like you >.>, for me its just like apply to a bunch of places and see where I can get in, but I really hope I get in my ED one so I dont have to do the rest of em

May I ask where are you applying and what major do you wanna do?

zzaaxxsscd

United States626 Posts

November 28 2010 03:28 GMT

#11

hey man, this is cool

I was a music major in college, got a 5 on my AP Music Theory too

classical composition is awesome, and a lot of fun to learn and use, but there isn't much of a market for it these days unless you do soundtracks/stock music and even then, it's hard to find work. it really is all about talent. you don't need a music major if you can compose, though you'll need to learn how to orchestrate, play piano, etc.

Honestly, I would recommend you double major - I wish I had!

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