Incubator of Creativity: College Admission Essay Sample

Walking towards Asia House from south campus with Joe, my host whom I had met about an hour prior, we talked about the little idiosyncrasies of Oberlin as we prepared to eat the co-op made pizza. There was an indie rock-jazz fusion band performing in the courtyard, where a sizeable crowd was forming. A bicyclist darted towards us out of nowhere, barely missed us, and continued through the crowd. The bicyclist wore black combat boots, black stockings with a few holes in the thigh, a black thermal shirt under a patent-leather overcoat that hung just above the back wheel, black eyeliner and solid black lipstick applied a half-inch around his lips. Joe and I laughed that he reminded us of a character from “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” then took a seat with some locally made apple cider and surprisingly tasty pineapple onion pizza and watched the band. The same bicyclist, now on foot, approached the jug of apple cider next to where Joe and I were seated. He looked around a moment for a cup, gave up, and carefully tried to pour cider into his mouth without touching his black lips to the brim. The cider spurted out of the jug too fast and splashed against his mouth, smearing his lipstick down his chin, causing him to gag on the little cider that actually fell into his mouth.

“Bet you saw that coming,” he said to us, chuckling. We talked with him for a while, and he turned out to be a funny, sociable guy.

As I reflected on this scene I realized Oberlin is perfect for me. From the pineapple onion pizza to the fusion bands, innovation and creativity flows naturally through everything at Oberlin. I can think of no better place to foster my creative spirit. The sense of a musical community attracts me to Oberlin even stronger, in that there is always a musical event going on, and they consistently attract a large group of supporters, even the midnight “organ jams.” The communal interest in music is an incubator for inspiration, and I feel that Oberlin would not only further me immensely as a musician, but as a music lover, too.

Most of all, I fell in love with the unyielding individuality that is shunned in my high school, but embraced fearlessly at Oberlin. I suppose I had to meet that bicyclist to see how very sick I am of the judgmental attitude so common where I’ve grown up. Oberlin is the place I must go to grow into the person I want to be for the rest of my life. It embodies the accepting, creative, and communal ideals I connect with on a deeply personal level, and the apple cider is delicious.