[Day 40] No Such Thing

Dear NYU Admissions Team,

I’m not actually going to send this letter to you, for fear of your rejecting my application as it comes in. But I wanted to thank you, in spirit, for making your supplement for the Common App so much fun to put together.

I’ve dragged my feet through college applications and scholarships; I’ve grown so used to entering my first and last name, my home address, and my birthday that’s it has become automatic. I had hoped that the supplements for each of my three choice schools would be a breath of fresh air into the monotony that was entering my basic info. But to my chagrin, two of the three schools made me enter, once again, all my already listed information, just more in depth and twice as boring.

I almost didn’t apply to your esteemed university, because of a certain non-existent $60,000 dollars a year, but upon opening your supplement, I knew that I had to try. The last time I had that much fun making creative answers for questions was back when MySpace bulletin quizzes were big.

And now, since I’ve built this up as much as I feel I need to, here are my answers:

If you had the opportunity to spend one day in New York City with a famous New Yorker, who would it be and what would you do? (Your New Yorker can be anyone -past or present, fictional or nonfictional – who is commonly associated with New York City; they do not necessarily have to have been born and raised in New York.)

In her latest promotion for her new book, “Going Bovine”, author Libba Bray dressed in a cow suit and walked around New York City. If I could spend one day in this same city, I would spend it with Ms. Bray, one of my most admired authors. After we made our way to the most popular tourist spots in matching cow suits, the two of us would convene in a small, cozy coffee shop and discuss character development and swap embarrassing stories.

Write a haiku, limerick, or short (eight lines or less) poem that best represents you.

There once was a girl from Seattle
Who wanted to win all the battles
To win the war wasn’t ample
And for your example
She once tried kung-foo on some cattle

In the year 2050, a movie is being made of your life. Please tell us the name of your movie and briefly summarize the story line.

Director Bri Castellini’s newest film, “In Pursuit”, demonstrates a new side to her work. Instead of dramatizing and satirizing events from her 25-year-old turtle’s point of view, “In Pursuit” is an autobiographical look at the year long blogging project the director took part in during her senior year of high school. The movie follows young Castellini through her blogging, hoping of finding herself through the experience. “I’ve got life, I’ve got liberty, so now I’m in pursuit of happiness.”

Please tell us what led you to select your anticipated academic program and/or NYU school/college, and what interests you most about your intended discipline.

If you asked either one of my parents do describe me in one word, the word would be “dramatic”. As a writer, I take this as a compliment, because few classical literary figures gained their heightened intellectual status through quiet, dull observations of life. While searching for the perfect collegian writing program to fulfill my dream of becoming a published author, I came across your dramatic writing program, and instantly I knew I was looking straight at the aforementioned dream.

…

In summation, thank you, NYU Admissions Team, for allowing me to have that much fun doing something that isn’t usually associated with a rip-roaring good time.

Regards,

A Hopeful Applicant