I am a huge fan of Broadway musicals and play show tunes in the car just for fun, often belting out dramatic songs when I am alone. One of my favorites is The King and I (I especially love the soundtrack recorded with Julie Andrews and Ben Kingsley in 1992).
One of the many famous songs from the show is “Getting to Know You,” which Anna Leonowens, a British woman hired by the King of Siam to teach his many children, sings to her new charges. If the college admissions process could be characterized by different Broadway tunes, this song would describe the role of the essay in the application:
Getting to know you
Getting to feel free and easy
When I am with you
Getting to know what to say
Haven’t you noticed
Suddenly I’m bright and breezy?
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I’m learning about you
Day by day
When Anna and the children meet, she puts everyone at ease by assuring them that she wants to know them as individuals. Anna made herself vulnerable by sailing halfway around the world to work in a foreign culture, but she ultimately won over the King and his family.
The college essay is your chance to put yourself out there and win over people who have never met you but want to like you. While college admissions officers don’t break out into song as part of their job, they are inviting you to start a conversation with them through your essay. After reading your essay, she or he should have learned more about you, like Anna sings that she wants to do. You may never get to continue that conversation, but if the opportunity arose, you could.
Maybe I’ll put together a Broadway playlist about adolescence, parenting, applying to college and leaving the nest. Ideas welcome!