<p>To whomever may read this--</p>
<p>I'm a senior in HS (like most of you I assume) who lives in Manhattan. I applied to the Clive Davis Dept of Recorded Music at Tisch for ED and should hear back by the 15th or earlier.</p>
<p>I was told by my college counselor that this would be a double reach for me... and I didn't realize that you basically had to devote your life to being perfect at everything in order to get into NYU so I'm freaked out about everything.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, in sophomore year I went through the murder of someone very close to me in my family and it's been somewhat of a news spectacle since then. To say this has been detrimental to my personal and academic life would be an understatement. 10th grade was my year just to try surviving, and last year I fell back and really realized what had happened and had to take my time to understand my circumstances.</p>
<p>My GPA is small compared to what I read from people here: it's around a 3.2-3.3 at the moment and to see how the majority of you are crying if you get a B makes me wonder if I made the right choice in applying. I'm not a slacker at all; in fact my grades are better than the average high school student. I don't mean to sound negative, but it's impossible to be absolutely perfect and I'm scared that NYU won't think I deserve to be accepted. I was also absent due to being sick which hindered my grades (and just got over swine flu. Maybe I'm plagued.) That being said, my grades do not reflect my potential but that may not matter now.</p>
<p>What I do have is a strong passion for music and creativity. It's gotten me through everything! For three years (2005-2008) I volunteered at a very high profile celebrity's charity foundation and since then have assisted a CNN Hero at her charity foundation as online marketer and trying to get our message out to youth. I also am a member of my school's diversity club and global issues club in addition to having took three years of vocal training in the past. I take AP Spanish but cannot take the test because I stutter (which was the subject of my Common App essay).</p>
<p>I worked extremely hard on my portfolio which includes mediums such as audio mixing and voice, a statement of intent, a critical essay, and some of my graphic design pieces as a bonus. One of my family members owns a record label and has made sure that people at the school know about me; as much as this is helpful, I don't want people to think I'm banking on getting in just because of that -- I'd be stupid to think that.</p>
<p>We're probably all at some level of nervousness, but I just wanted to say my little bit to show that those of you who have shown academic and extracurricular excellence should not be as worried. If anyone has any comment or advice for me, feel free to say something; I respect what anyone has to say!</p>
<p>Hopefully this wasn't too overwhelming to you guys; it was rather therapeutic for me to type this all out, haha.</p>