Dear Doctor Rowing,
am a high school senior and it’s time for me to sit down and write my college essays. Because rowing is so important to me, I have been planning on writing about it. But a friend said that if there’s one thing that you don’t wont to do, it is write about rowing. According to him, the admissions people hove rood so many of these things that any mention of crew will immediately kill my chances. Could you look into this? Soon?
Thanks.
Cut out for College
Dear Crewcut, The Deadly Crew Essay (DCE), eh? Yes, the good doctor has heard the same rumors that you have - that the slightest mention of rowing can put the kibosh on a promising young lad’s chances for admission. Are all readers up to speed on what we are talking about here? Perhaps we need an example. Is certainly not Doctor Rowing’s intention to embarrass anyone, but I think I’ll quote liberally from a friend’s application to college: “My legs burned like two tall sequoias in the midst of a Yellowstone forest fire. I gasped for precious oxygen, not realizing that oxygen feeds a fire. From somewhere deep down inside I found the strength to keep going, to push for another ten strokes. I could feel the lactic acid coursing through my capillaries. Every fiber of my being screamed out in pain. "The coxswain, that satanic overlord, zeroed in on me like a swarm of angry hornets. ‘Chapin. Chapin, you overweight, underpowered boost. Give me 10 of your hardest strokes. It’s up to you. Do you want to let the boat down? You call that a puddle, Chapin? I’ve seen angrier looking millponds.’ "When would it end? When could my lungs collapse in gratitude at the end of the piece? When
would the fire in my loins be put out? When could I use the men’s room?" With prose like this, it may shock you to learn that this writer was not granted admission at the college of his choice. But was it the writing or the subject matter? I called an acquaintance in the Harvard admissions office, Bill Blood. After laying out my question - whether or not there is
a standing order not to accept candidates who submit the DCE - I wanted to make sure that he knew exactly what was talking about. I read him the brief sample quoted above and he responded, “But suddenly, the boat lifted out of the water. We were rowing as one; there was a lightness, a swing, a transcendental feeling of awareness...” His chuckling voice came through the phone, obviously enjoying himself. Yep, I guess he’s read these a few times. He said, “Yes, we ore all aware of the Ode to Rowing or Ode to Football or whatever. I don’t know that I would agree that you should avoid writing about crew at all costs, though. We want to read about things that applicants have a sense of passion about. Don’t write for us. Write for yourself. "The college essay," he continued, "gives you a chance to convey a piece of yourself. Your sincerity will come through in the quality of writing itself." Princeton’s Dean of Admissions Fred Hargadon agreed. ‘No, I wouldn’t say that a crew essay hurts you. These days with admissions so competitive and with everyone trying to stand out, it is refreshing to read an essay about a sport like crew where the object is to fit in with a team, not to stand out. It is a change from hearing about how many goals or touchdowns the individual scored or what a brilliant violinist you are.” Hargadorn, whose support of rowing at Princeton is well’ documented, continued, I love the fact that a kid can come to Princeton having never rowed before and four yearn later be a national champion or make an Olympic team.” What other college activity can boast that? Harvard’s Blood adds one more point. Don’t feel obligated to write about crew if you are an oarsman. Especially in this age of specialization, we love to see that a national-caliber oarsman has other things on his mind. We won’t worry that you aren’t serious about the sport if you don’t choose to write about it,’ So, go ahead and write that crew essay. But I’d be careful of clichés. Keep in mind that your readers will have heard of the sport before and will know a few things about it. Try to avoid purple prose. The self-consciously literary style is best left to true musters of self-importance, like Doctor Rowing himself.
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