The Smith essay for this year is “If you had a theme song - a piece of music that describes you, what would it be and why? Please include the name of the song and the artist.” The thing is that I may have a lot of songs that I truly love, but to find a song that describes me well is not an easy thing for me. When I try to draft the essay, it sounds more like “why I like the song” instead of “how the song describes me”. Anyone can give me any advice to approach this question? Any help is appreciated, thank you!
One suggestion is to approach this from the other direction. What do you want Smith to know about you? Then try to find a song that would communicate that to Admissions. Note that it doesn’t necessarily have to be one of your favorite songs.
I am guessing that they are looking for a thoughtful or insightful or *humorous response that is 1) well-written, and 2) tells them a little bit more about you.
*only write something humorous if that is really who you are - it can be hard to be funny!
I think the key is that the reasons you like the song, can also be windows into who you are. Maybe try to do a mind map around 3-5 things about you that you want to highlight, and relate them to a few songs. Then pick the one that generates the most connections, and feels the most meaningful.
You could also try a stream of consciousness approach, describing listening to the song, and where your thoughts go while listening. Then you can edit down if the story gets too long.
This is the approach I took for my essay for Smith eons ago. The question was different, but had the same goal, it asked for 3 favorite objects instead of a theme song. I wrote a 5 plus page stream of consciousness exploration of the things in my room. Then I had my mom read it for feedback, and edited it down to focus on 3 things that stood out from the rest as especially meaningful, that provided key details about me that weren’t covered in the rest of my application.
If I were answering this question today, I would probably pick a song that lets me tell a story from childhood to present, or a song/piece that I listen to when I need a boost through challenges, large and small.