Becoming an Artist: College Admission Essay Sample

I wanted to scream in frustration. It was Mother's Day and my family and I had gone out for lunch. After some small talk, I finally blurted out that I had been looking at art schools and wanted to apply to a few - a confession that I had been building up the courage to admit for weeks. I was terrified of what to expect, but assumed that my parents would be supportive of my decision. Whatever I had imagined, I was not expecting their reaction to be contemptuous. Squinting her eyes with confusion and disappointment, my mother hissed, "No, you will not. What nonsense! Are you trying to upset me?" My father said, "You need to choose a "professional" course, dismissing the idea.

Their disapproval arose not because they didn't want me to be happy or to choose a career path that I was truly interested in, it was because of the society we live in. In India, many high school students are encouraged to pursue the study of only certain fields: engineering, law or medicine. This realisation came as a bit of culture shock, as I had spent the first 11 years of my life in the US, where I felt that people were more open to children's opinions and aspirations. In India, parents often fear for their child's financial stability which prevents them from even letting their child think independently.

"You're just sick of studying and want to take the easy road. You don't want to work hard or focus." My mother accused. This was far-fetched, considering the amount of time and effort I was putting into my artwork. It was several arguments before my parents warmed up to the idea of me being in an art college. I spoke to them about exactly what my plans were, what I wanted to major in, what I wanted to do after college and told them information about the colleges I was applying to. They began to understand that this wasn't something I merely wanted, but something I felt was essential in my life. I believe that my decision to move into the school's boarding was a choice which really opened their eyes to see that I wanted this more than anything. Moving onto campus allowed me to spend more hours afterschool on my artwork and work with my art teacher, who has played a major role in helping me realise that success has absolutely nothing to do with luck, but everything to do with your concepts and how you put them across, not only in art but anything you do in life.

I had only begun to truly consider art as a career option in the 11th grade, as I had chosen Visual Arts as one of my higher level subjects. Before entering that class, I believed the words that I grew up hearing, such as only a handful of lucky people are capable of becoming successful artists, and the rest starve. I was unaware of the enormity of the field and its prominence in our world, and that the misconceptions are far from the truth. I believe that I have come a long way since then and have learned to appreciate intention, one of the aspects of art which is often ignored. It is this aspect which has really encouraged me to become interested in the subject and an aspect that I hope people become more attentive to.

I wish I could describe the comfort and relief I felt, from just being in the art room, leaving my thoughts out the door and being in control of everything that goes into my artwork. I believe that I made the right decision to stick to my choices, and that the art department is the right place for me. I would like to learn and explore more about this subject, because to me this is only the beginning.