The Time I “Lied” on My College Application About Being a Songwriter

17 year-old me was many things: eldest sibling by chance, Taylor Swift enthusiast by choice, a teenager by definition, and liar by the means of my own mind, which I still do not fully understand to this day. I say liar because technically I did lie on my college application about writing/making music, but not really, but also kind of.

Picture via YinYang

Okay, so it was November 2020. The pandemic was plaguing the world at full force and Joe Biden won the election or whatever, but those were not the most eventful things that happened during that time period. I was a senior in high school applying for colleges and that meant tedious applications. UC applications were due at the end of the month, and I had not started writing the personal insight questions (PIQS) yet. So I took a look at the list of questions and chose the four that I was going to answer. One of the questions was: “What is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time?” In my head that was an easy question to answer so I started to brainstorm on what talent I should write about. I have many so narrowing it down was a harrowing task. And then I settled on one: writing.

Okay, so I was going to write one of my PIQs on how I am good at writing. It was literally so meta like I really do set the standard for everyone around me, ugh. Now, I could have written about how over quarantine I started journaling more and how that resulted in me being more comfortable with my inner thoughts and feelings. Well, that did not happen. Instead I decided to write about how one of my greatest talents was songwriting. I do not know how to write a song and have never written one in my entire life. In fact, the last time I picked up an instrument was in fourth grade when I played the violin for the school orchestra. However, that did not last long as I quit because my orchestra instructor yelled at me for not playing well or something. I have prayed on her downfall ever since that day.

Picture of a minion via Universal Pictures

Now, I think it would be beneficial to all of us if I gave you direct quotes from my 350-word response to the highly exaggerated PIQ that I submitted to several colleges. You all are getting a behind-the-scenes look so do not take it for granted. Now starting with the first sentence: “Writing songs is an ability I never knew I possessed, until my freshman year.” I am literally so iconic for “lying” without hesitation. I acted like I was Olivia Rodrigo when I was 14 or something, knowing damn well the only song related activity I was doing at that age was listening to reputation (2017) by Taylor Swift. Also the way I stated, “until my freshman year,” like I was not in middle school pondering the existence of future artistic skills. My voice was cracking while wearing a minions t-shirt. 

“The first I wrote was based on the play Macbeth, and though subconsciously I think this was an ode to the person who revealed to me potential songwriting skills, it went deeper.” That sentence is so bad and I do not know what I mean by that. That sentence is on its own and the paragraph right after it has no connection to it whatsoever. I think I had to edit out the rest of the paragraph for the word limit, but I do not think the lack of that sentence would have meant college rejection. The most puzzling part of this sentence is “an ode to the person who revealed to me potential songwriting skills” because I do not know who this “person” is. Is it my English teacher? My Drama teacher? A guy I had a crush on? It could be any of them and I have no idea which one. I would also like to clarify that this sentence is true, other than the ‘song’ aspect which we have clarified already, but 17-year old me really went off with this one-sentence anecdote to be honest.

I then ramble about combatting masculinity or something (boring!). The following sentences that I am going to state are actually insane like why did I think this was good. You have been warned and will not be the same after reading these clusters of words. 

Photo of the U.S. Supreme Court Building via Gallup

“It is as if my entire body was unanimously voting to confirm the Supreme Court nominee that was showing my emotions. And it worked. The vote was certified, And one January night I let it all out through two materials. Paper and pencil. I wrote as if the stroke of midnight would be my final death cry.

The first sentence of that chunk? “Voting to confirm the Supreme Court nominee that was showing my emotions” is really a sentence I came up with, typed on my chromebook, and submitted on the UC application website. I think I wrote that to connect this PIQ with my other PIQ about loving politics. The last words being “my final death cry” is so melodramatic like Lorde was scared and almost jobless because of that sentence (she told me herself.)

Another straight up lie was me saying “I would not have discovered the chance to utilize my storytelling in other ways besides songwriting.” I do not need to elaborate because that sentence I think speaks for itself. However, the last paragraph I could honestly write forever about. “Currently, I am in the process of recording my first song. Afterwards, I hope to begin the process of putting it on various music platforms. I have abused my storytelling skills through tradition, but will now value it through opportunity.” 

There is so much to process there, but I am going to first discuss the fact that I was “in the process of recording my first song”. Okay the reason why I wrote this is also the main reason why I say I write songs when I technically do not. Over quarantine I picked up the hobby of writing poems, but in the structure of songs. I would write them with verses, a pre-chorus, bridge, etc. So when I say I write songs, that is what I mean. I write lyrics, which is a part of a song. Did I come up with a melody to sing along those lyrics to? Sometimes. Was there instrumentation set to those lyrics? Obviously no, if you remember the violin incident of 2012 that I told you about. Also I can’t sing well, which adds a lot of depth to this whole thing I think. 

Picture via ramonahouston.com

I want to state something for the protection of my future self, just in case my haters decide to leak this to the press (the job market). I had every intent of learning how to write a song and “putting it on various music platforms.” I know I lie a lot, as demonstrated by this entire article so far, but that part was true. I did want to learn how to write songs because I think writing and making music is genuinely one of the coolest skills one could have. Did I end up acquiring that skill? No. You should have assumed that before reading the question if you didn’t. 

Now, why did I end up going through with this exaggerated truth? Simply, I wanted to get into the best college possible. There was, and honestly still is, a lot of pressure to be the best I can possibly be. American academic culture, my parents, and myself all contributed to this feeling of aiming for something that cannot be seen. I did not think I was going to stand out that much on my other PIQs. I wrote about being the eldest of six siblings, my interest in politics, and being queer. I now realize that all of those aspects of myself are interesting on their own, but my 17 year-old mind did not comprehend that. I did not feel that I was a strong applicant compared to the other applications I had seen online. So, to counter that feeling of not being enough, I took the advice given to me by my teachers and the internet, and exaggerated. Whether that exaggeration was too much is up for interpretation.

Photo of Oski the Bear by Ethan Miller via Getty Images

I think the funniest part of this whole situation is that my “lying” worked. I got into most of the UCs I applied to with that PIQ (fuck you Irvine and UCLA). I attend the university (Berkeley) that I sent that response to. It is so wild looking back at that response because I just realized that I am so good at exaggerating the truth. I should pursue a career path in this instead of law or English or whatever I plan to major in. My mind is just top tier and that is what diving back into the past revealed to me. I don’t even need to be honest for it to be. My mind just exists, and lies about being able to write songs.

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