College Application

[Crede]

Hi everyone, I'm a senior in high school this year, and I'm sure many of you remember the (pain-in-the-butt) process of applications for colleges. I'm just starting to write my essays-- well, gathering ideas really, and scribbling anything that might be of use later-- but I am, at this point, seriously considering writing my common application essay on magic.

For a bit of background, I've been into magic for approximately 2 1/2 years (yes, not a very long time), and I perform mainly for friends and family, although I have gone down the local Market Street to try out the whole "Street Magic" thing. I deal mainly with cards, and card sleights, but I love performing with rubber bands, coins, pens, and other around the house objects. I haven't actually bought from theory11-- I must shamefully admit that I started by watching YouTube videos of performing magicians, and then attempting to learn the methods from observation (I'm also sorry to say that upon close observation, some theory11 preview videos reveal the method, and I do perform tricks that I figure out)-- but I've recently bought The Expert at the Card Table and the Royal Road to Card Magic, which are both great. I'm not very good, but it's something I absolutely adore to do in what (little) free time I have.

My questions, anyways: Do you think that this is something feasible? Would you recommend for it or against it? If you think it's a good idea, do you have any reservations or things that you think I should be careful to not do? And if you're all for it, I'm totally open to ideas. I've seen tons of good quotes regarding magic floating around in various user's signatures, or in thoughtful posts...unfortunately I haven't bothered to record any of them, but if you have a tidbit of wisdom that comes to mind, that'd also be appreciated.

Lastly, at first glance, this post may seem, in a way, as if I am trying to get members of the forums to essentially write it for me; they give me information, and I throw it together into an essay. That is absolutely not the case here. I just understand that most users on this forum-- well, many that I respect anyways, I'm not talking about those who ask what to but and such-- are much more experienced and wise than me, and I value their opinions...so thank you so much for taking the time to read and respond, if you do. For that very reason, please, please, please do not flame this thread with stupid comments or stupid reasons why I don't deserve help, shouldn't write it, etc. I understand that it may be a bad idea, but if so, I'd appreciate thoughtful reasons, not just "No, another noob in magic, leave it be."

Whew that was long. Done. Thanks in advance

 

[YRAMagicMan]

What's the prompt?

 

[Crede]

Well, there's several, and I could probably tailor the essay to any of them, but I'd likely come up with my own thesis, something about how performing and practicing magic is important to me, etc, etc, and that'd just simply go under "Topic of your choice"

From the site itself though, the options are,
1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.
2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.
3. Indicate a person who has had a significant influence on you, and describe that influence.
4. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.
5. A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you.

1,2 and 4 wouldn't work, really, though.

 

[William Draven]

1,2 and 4 wouldn't work, really, though.

From the site itself though, the options are,
1. Evaluate a significant experience, achievement, risk you have taken, or ethical dilemma you have faced and its impact on you.

Ethical dilemma's could be those faced with exposing magic online, or performing another person's personal signature effects. Any achievement worth it's merit has come at personal risk, so both could apply to magic and anything you've done in it worth noting.

2. Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.

Again you could discuss the exposure of magic and how it takes away from the audiences experience, and inhibits your ability to perform well when the mystery is gone from your effects, just because someone exposed it online.

4. Describe a character in fiction, a historical figure, or a creative work (as in art, music, science, etc.) that has had an influence on you, and explain that influence.

You could talk about the magical contracts crafted by the mystical devil Mephistopheles in the German legend of Faust, or about the twisted genius of master magician and musical composer Erik in Phantom of the Opera. You could discuss the works of Houdini, Blackstone (Sr./Jr.), Mark Wilson, Thurston, Keller, or even Copperfield, Burton, Blaine or Angel. History and literature are loaded with magicians, or works of magic that you can draw inspiration from!

 

[rocket92]

You can totally write your common app essay about magic. (I'm a freshman in college, I went through that all last year) I think I wrote about a trick that I created and the process I went through to create it. But if you haven't created anything, you could discuss a trick that took you a while to learn, or what was the one significant effect you saw that first got you into magic. Both can easily be discussed in an essay. (1. significant experience/achievement) The one thing you shouldn't do is actually reveal any methods in your writing. This makes it difficult sometimes, but also makes it fun to try and write a really good essay without revealing anything.

 

[Crede]

Draven (may I call you that? or do you prefer Mr., or just william, or what have you?): thanks for the great ideas. The ethical issue is certainly a strong possibility, but I would have to be careful to present it in way to show its great importance; magic exposure is a big issue in the magical community, but it hardly ever makes the "regular" news. Perhaps, like I think you suggested, I could connect it to other areas of my life, or media in general, the internet being a huge resource, etc, etc. It's definitely do able, and I'll keep it on the forefront of the ideas bouncing around. Thanks for it!

As for the whole historical figure idea, while that is also doable, I feel that it is even more tricky. I don't want to have to lie during these essays, and while I respect various historical magicians and love to see what they do-- I dunno, I suppose it depends how you define influence, but I did not get into magic because of Houdini, Copperfield, or others, nor have I tried to emulate their ideas, but as said I am still wowed by what they do. Perhaps I could present the influence as a willingness, on my part, to strive to perform better.

rocket92: Thanks for the encouragement! I've created a couple moves, not that I use them a lot, but they're still fun to mess with. That creative process would be fun to write about, that's for sure. I could also fairly easily write about what got me into magic, which was I believe, funnily enough, watching Marcus Eddie's Stairway. It was the coolest thing I ever saw...I immediately grabbed two rubber bands, a dollar bill, paperclip, and spent the next 3 months or so with my brother trying to figure it out. I finally did, haha.

About not revealing-- yeah, it's an issue. For example, I can't just say "double lift" when referring to simple (relative to magicians) methods of astounding an audience. And it would become annoying and repetitive to say again and again, "a simple method that produces great effects." Not that I necessarily would have to say things over and over, but in general, I can't use terms that are common to magicians: ACR, double lift, reversals, passes, forces, and so forth. But there's ways around it. Carefully. I can't write as if I have actual magic powers, nor should I write condescendingly ("I love the fooling people on the street because I know more than they do and can perform all these secrets."). But I could write as if I enjoy learning and I enjoy giving my audiences feelings of satisfaction, which in return gives me satisfaction, due to my hard work of mastering methods of reading minds, predicting spectator's cards, and so on. But I digress. I think I'm getting a little to deep into the thicket here, after all, I'd be writing about the creative process, or what got me into magic, or ethical dilemmas, or a historical figure that I take influence from, all of which probably don't include what I just wrote above.

In general: Yeah, I know, if I just sat down and wrote the darn thing I'd be done already rather than writing these long response on the forums (heck, the thing's only 500 words long, max!) but have any of you seen the show House? Well, he often uses a whiteboard to bounce ideas around, and I fancy that I'm doing the same thing here. Perhaps that's inappropriate, but it's helping me at the moment...any more ideas would be appreciated, or if what I've said about is terribly erroneous, please let me know. Thank you thank you!

 

[cbmagician]

A few of my college application essays related to magic because I had some serious downfalls in my life and magic helped me get back on track. College admissions officers find topics like this very interesting because its not like every other essay they read about, which are almost always about parents, siblings, teachers, or friends. Remember they are always looking for something that stands out, so make it worth their time. Too many people bull**** essays into writing what they think they want the college to hear. Remember its important to be different.

 

[William Draven]

Mr. Draven is formal showing respect, William is personal denoting an existing relationship, and Draven would be casual. I'll answer to them all. So long as you're respectful in your post I usually don't have too much of an issue on what I'm addressed by. Please just don't call me "Bill". I hate that. Way to informal.

What ever you decide to do, break a leg at it. College is important, stay in school, and study hard! Best to you mate.

 

[Crede]

@cbmagician: I'm glad to hear that; it reassures my reservations of writing about magic. As you said, it is probably a refreshing topic for the readers and it is a bit different.

@ Mr. Draven-- Alrighty, thanks for the clarification. I think I will write about magic. Specifically, what I write remains to be seen, but I'll edit a dozen times and it'll come out right the end I hope. Thanks for the best wishes!

Time to get cracking though, I think.