Okay, first off, my story is an example of what not to do for your college applications. I came to college in a rather unorthodox manner, so I don’t know if any of you will be able to relate to it, but I can still offer some valuable advice, maybe even more valuable, because you are going to learn how NOT to go about it.
So anyway, I go to Columbia University, and before that, I spent two years at The Juilliard School as a piano major. For those of you rolling your eyes just about now, thinking I’m some snob who goes to these schools and says I did the whole thing wrong, you will see how the whole thing can be a roller coaster ride (and not a pleasant one at that – more like one in which you throw up during the ride). Another thing you should know about me is that my mom and I moved to New York City (from Denver, Colorado) when I was 13 so I could study music more seriously. Talk about culture shock.
Anyway, as you can probably tell, my life in high school basically revolved around music (meaning, that was my sole extracurricular activity). I did well in my classes, and I was practicing 5 hours a day and giving concerts as well. So obviously I didn’t have a life. Anyway, come senior year, everyone expects me to go to a conservatory (which means music school), because it had pretty much been determined that I would be a professional musician (for obvious reasons). So I only applied to music conservatories (Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College of Music, and New England Conservatory). Lesson #1: Don’t only apply to, and definitely don’t go to places just because people – your family, friends, relatives, etc. – expect you to.
So, I end up at Juilliard. Stayed there for a couple years, hated the place because it’s all about who you know, and not true musicianship (mostly, at any rate). Anyway, out of my burning desire to get out of there, I called up my guidance counselor from high school and said I had a change of heart and wanted to go to college after all (He was thrilled. He had told me from the beginning to apply to colleges anyway.) Soooo…. I had to go back and take the SATs again. I had never taken the SAT II’s in high school because conservatories don’t require them. I took Math, English, and French, and did as well as one can do two years out of high school, and not having touched the subjects for as long. Lesson #2: Unless you’re absolutely sure that you will never go to college (and look at me, there was a time when I didn’t think I’d be going to college), take those SAT II’s while those subjects are still fresh in your memory. I did alright on them, but obviously I could’ve done a lot better and passed out of some requirements had I taken them before they had almost entirely wafted out of my memory.
