My quirk

Required of ALL applicants, regardless of school or program. Answer one of the following questions in a half page or roughly 250 words (Please select the prompt you are responding to): We are a community with quirks, both in language (we’ll welcome you to Grounds, not campus) and in traditions. Describe one of your quirks and why it is part of who you are.


“Hey now, hey noowwwowww.” A Hilary Duff Song set to the tone of a grieving walrus. That is basically what I sound like. All the time. Why all the time? Because I sing all the time. Why a grieving walrus? Well you probably haven’t heard me sing. But if you did, you would understand that I am an unapologetically terrible singer. The world is my shower, except with far worse acoustics.

This sudden need to sing is often triggered in the most random of circumstances. Someone will say a line like, “Don't go—“ and before he or she can finish I will start belting out “Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls.” For the whole day. Each day brings some new song, or rather some new verse of a song, because I never manage to remember the whole thing. Instead, I inevitably end up singing just a few lines, often the chorus, and beat it till it’s dead.

My friends, my classmates, my acquaintances have all accepted that about me. It is in my nature to be outgoing, to make people laugh, even if it is at the expense of my terrible singing voice. Yet, despite the fact that my voice isn’t the best, or that my ears aren’t the most key sensitive, I will sing as long as it makes me happy. I am unafraid of embarrassing myself, or of exposing my flaws. If practice...

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