<p>I’m just starting my BC supplemental essay (I know, I know, I’m a procrastinator) and I’m kind of lost on what to write about. I’ve chosen essay number 3:</p>
<ol>
<li>In his novel, Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann writes:
We seldom know what we’re hearing when we hear something for the first time, but one thing is certain: we hear it as we will never hear it again. We return to the moment to experience it, I suppose, but we can never really find it, only its memory, the faintest imprint of what it really was, what it meant.
Tell us about something you heard or experienced for the first time and how the years since have affected your perception of that moment.</li>
</ol>
<p>because it’s the only one for which I can think of anything to write. My idea is to write about a song by my favorite band and how it affected me emotionally, made me feel the first time I heard it, and about how every time I listen to it I try to bring that feeling back, but it’s never the same. It’s not really the lyrics of the song that affected me, but the music, the sound, the singer’s voice and what all of it represented to me at that time. Do you think this would be a good topic? Does it seem too vague or silly? I don’t know.</p>
<p>The topic is fine but make sure you quickly fast forward to the ‘here and now’. BC will not be accepting the person who heard the song for the ‘first time,’ but rather what that person has become since s/he heard the song (and therefore what that person has to offer to the collegiate community).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t necessarily rush the story as bluebayou said. Your Common App can speak to what you can offer to a collegiate community. I chose #3 also on BC’s supplement, and I spent the majority of the word limit (all except a final paragraph) telling my story. People are made up of stories; that’s what makes life interesting! I think BC would rather you prove you’re a good storyteller with that essay choice rather than just say something that the admission committee may be able to pick up on from another part of your application.</p>
<p>Dear bubbles321 : If I can offer some further thought to bluebayou’s observations, your interpretation of a song “then and now” does not provide a platform to really demonstrate “Why BC?” which is the real underlying reason for this new supplemental essay section. So, a completely introverted essay talking about how you felt at the moment does not allow you to connect to a broader Boston College campus.</p>
<p>Let me offer the following thoughts : Boston College is a Jesuit school (as you see in the other essay topics) where “Men and Women for Others” is a core theme. Given this foundation element in the institution, you want to choose a topic that you initially saw as “all about you” but how time allowed you to mature in your perspective to expand the “all about you” to “all about us” and potentially “all about them”.</p>
<p>How might you structure your discussion? This is a very elementary and contrived example, but illustrates the point. Suppose you loved acting. In elementary school, you did the school pageant because it gave you some personal satisfaction. However, as you grew into High School, you found acting gave joy to many others and brought the community together at the school play. However, that then extended into doing the show at several local nursing homes which gave a level of joy to those beyond just your initial stage.</p>
<p>So, this little example goes from “me” to “us” to “them” … thereby giving all three the same common ground on which to know each other.</p>