College Application Essay — Honesty

Throughout my life my parents, teachers, and mentors have all said that being honest is one of the best qualities one can have. “Honesty is the best policy”, they told me in elementary school. So I thought the theme of my personal statement should reflect this adage.

I am not a unique applicant.

Not what you were expecting right? I presume you thought I would try and boast about my accomplishments, my grades, my extracurriculars, or whatever else I could spit out to get you to accept me. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely thought about doing that, but then I thought again — why not just be honest?

I do have very good grades (4.0 unweighted GPA through high school). I also have some interesting extracurriculars (selected for all-state honor band for trumpet and have been learning classical Indian vocal music for over 10 years). And I have been working hard throughout high school to succeed through the college admissions process. But none of that makes me unique. In all honesty, there isn’t much that differentiates me from other applicants, particularly those with similar ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. I took extra classes at community college because that’s what all my friends were doing. I did a competitive summer program because college counselors recommended to do so. And I’m not sure if the major I selected on my application is a reflection of me, or my parents. Speaking of my major, let me talk about my next statement of honesty.

I don’t really want to study Computer Science.

I would much rather study music. My goal is not to become the next great computer scientist or software engineer, but one of the greatest singers in the world. The problem with that dream is that singers usually either make it big or don’t make it at all, so I needed a more practical field of study to keep me going for a while before I (hopefully) decide to quit and pursue music full-time. With the great salary and work-life balance at technology companies, computer science seemed like a no-brainer. It gives me the time I need after work to further my musical studies and well, I’d make some good money as well.

In summary, I am a very standard applicant with good grades and extracurriculars whose success has been 50% motivation and 50% parents. So why should you accept me, let alone read the rest of this essay?

High school, although at times intellectually stimulating, stifles creativity. The goal of high school is simple — do well in your classes, grades, and extracurriculars so you can get into a great college. Success is measured fairly easily through metrics such as GPA and SAT scores. But what about success in college? I know from speaking to my friends and family that there are innumerable paths to success at a top university. College allows students to succeed in their professional goals, personal goals, and social goals. The thought of the opportunities itself excites me, because for once in my life I feel ambitious. For me personally, Stanford is the only university which supplies ambition as a byproduct of the academic degree its students earn. And though I stated my accomplishments are not unique, my hunger to succeed and desire to become great make me one of a kind. Through Stanford’s numerous resources and faculty who truly believe in their students, I know I can become the next great alumnus you are looking to accept.

In any case, I hope this essay has brought some change in what I imagine is a quite monotonous application reading process. The effect of this essay is only realized if it is the 12,345th out of 16,527 applicants (the number of high schoolers who applied for admission to the class of 2014).

In my final act of honesty, I would like to direct your attention to the fact that I submitted this as my personal statement for the Common Application rather than the Stanford Supplement. It might be hard for me to apply to other colleges given this “mistake”. Hopefully my parents won’t kill me when they find out.