(no subject)
Man, I hate applying for scholarships. I know that sounds bad...I mean, it's an opportunity for "free" money, but it can really suck. I keep doubting my writing ability, which I shouldn't do because I'm a pretty good writer. But there's just all this doubt that comes swelling up that what I'm writing isn't good enough for the application. Like one I'm doing now. One question is "Why did you choose art school over other educational opportunities? And what contribution will your art make to the world?" They have recent winners and their essays, which one way is great because you get an idea of how much you should write and what you should write about, but in another way sucks because you're constantly comparing what you're writing to their $500 essay. The last girl that won had all these instances where she'd done art fundraisers and won this and won that, and blah blah blah, I've been drawing since I was two, blah blah blah, I have all these artists in my family, blah blah blah. I don't want to compare myself to people, but it always begs the question "what have I done?" I didn't think I did jack shit until last year when I applied to a bunch of schools and had to make a resume of my work. Then I realized I'd done a lot of shit. It's just that where I am, there aren't a lot of real opportunities for artists unless you really want to dig them up, and I just don't have that kind of time.
And the, "what contribution will your art make to the world?" part...ugh. Yes, I want to make a contribution, yes, I want it to be great, but what hasn't been said already? Seriously? I'm not going to be telling them anything they haven't heard before. Although it's a lot better than another essay topic: Discuss the merits of this statement; "Violence on television is the leading cause of crime committed by today's youth." WTF! The only reason I'm still interested in doing that one is because it's worth $10,000, and I'm hoping there won't be many applicants because of the essay questions (that one was the easier one, so you can guess what the 3 others were like!).
I also hate the ones that ask you to list community service activities. This was no problem in high school because I was one of the Latin Club nerds, but nowadays there are none. You know why? Because I WORK. Between work and school, I don't have the time or energy to do community service projects. And I don't even work that much...but, let me tell you, after about 4 hours of making sandwiches for shitty customers (in the rich part of town, no less), you don't want to do much aside from stare at your laptop and rot on the couch with your feline compadre.
But I have to get these done. Since, you know, I don't want to spend the rest of my life paying off loans. Not a good idea for an art major.
And the, "what contribution will your art make to the world?" part...ugh. Yes, I want to make a contribution, yes, I want it to be great, but what hasn't been said already? Seriously? I'm not going to be telling them anything they haven't heard before. Although it's a lot better than another essay topic: Discuss the merits of this statement; "Violence on television is the leading cause of crime committed by today's youth." WTF! The only reason I'm still interested in doing that one is because it's worth $10,000, and I'm hoping there won't be many applicants because of the essay questions (that one was the easier one, so you can guess what the 3 others were like!).
I also hate the ones that ask you to list community service activities. This was no problem in high school because I was one of the Latin Club nerds, but nowadays there are none. You know why? Because I WORK. Between work and school, I don't have the time or energy to do community service projects. And I don't even work that much...but, let me tell you, after about 4 hours of making sandwiches for shitty customers (in the rich part of town, no less), you don't want to do much aside from stare at your laptop and rot on the couch with your feline compadre.
But I have to get these done. Since, you know, I don't want to spend the rest of my life paying off loans. Not a good idea for an art major.