College essays that made a difference - Princeton Review 2010

Haley A. Connor
The applicants

Haley was managing editor of her high school’s yearbook her junior and senior years. After playing piano for six years, she began playing the harp her senior year. She also attended the High School Summer Scholars Program at Washington University in St. Louis between her junior and senior years.

Stats

SAT: 1300 (620 Critical Reading, 680 Math)

High School GPA: 3.04

High School: Regents School of Austin, Austin, TX

Hometown: Austin, TX

Gender: Female

Race: Caucasian

Applied To

Washington University in St. Louis (early decision)

Essay

Washington University in St. Louis asked each applicant to make up a question and answer it. Haley posed the question:

Who or what has influenced you as a person the most up until now?

From the time I was a small child I loved to draw but never had formal instruction on how to draw realistically. Then one summer, while still in my elementary school years, I met a kind-hearted elderly wildlife artist at an art school day camp.

Mr. Hal Irby, an experienced and well-known local artist and teacher, helped me to develop my passion for art. At Laguna Gloria, the art studio where he taught, he was a revered instructor. The art studio requested him to return to teach his beginner’s drawing class, long after he had retired and moved to the peace and quiet of the country. Mr. Irby had a unique style of drawing that looked realistic yet he drew only with small dots, no lines at all, even to create shading.

He changed my perspective on art. He made art more enjoyable and interesting. Art has become more than just a pastime for me. Mr. Irby taught me how to draw what I see, something for which I yearned. For me he made art more than just being creative.

Mr. Irby brought books, magazines and his own drawings to class. He asked the students to copy the pictures exactly as we saw them. We were taught to draw what the eye sees, not the image we might have in our mind. He encouraged me and helped me to draw the picture I had in front of me by showing which parts needed improvement and which parts were correctly rendered.

I went back to attend Mr. Irby’s class for two additional years after that first camp to get the basics of drawing ingrained fully into my mind. After that first class, I felt more confident and pleased with my own talent and my learned skills. A desire was ignited in me to pursue realistic expression in my art. I intend to improve my skills in the coming years. I may decide in the course of my studies to have my hobby of art become my career because of the fulfillment it gives to me.

See this page to find out where this student got in.