<p>Usually quotes from harry potter series have become so common that adcoms dont want to see them anymore. </p>
<p>I feel like with colleges like HYP, the same might be true for Thoreau or Emerson. So is quoting from Walden, or Self-Reliance going to sound Clich</p>
<p>i didnt quote any classical or best seller literature…</p>
<p>As long as you don’t think bogus things like that the Transcendentalists opposed modern technology…</p>
<p>too late, wrote in my supplement… “just as Thoreau believed…”</p>
<p>dude, i totally quoted Emerson in my common app essay. As long as it works for what you’re saying, i dont think itll sound at all cliche</p>
<p>You’re probably ok if it’s not contrived. But I suppose if you are drawing parallels between Thoreau’s faux isolation in Walden Woods (he went home to his Mom’s for dinner most nights) and the “Occupy Harvard” movement (occupying tents right under the windows of the $15K/yr dorm rooms they usually occupy, and eating at the dining halls while Harvard police guard their tents and iPads) then I’d suggest you skip it.</p>
<p>What about quoting Charles Peirce, or William James, or Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. for a change? Thoreau and Emerson aren’t the only quote-worthy Harvard alum…speaking of which, those of you interested in American philosophy, go read Menand’s The Metaphysical Club. </p>
<p>Bonus points if you can name the piece of American music which incorporates both Emerson and Thoreau as movement titles, and why this fact is somewhat ironic.</p>
<p>^Concord Sonata - Charles Ives?</p>
<p>It’s ironic because Ives loved to use dissonance. Ives is really cool. Haha, the things I learn from quizbowl.</p>
<p>@JoyfulPoet: Nice. </p>
<p>@sebelius:Ha. That wasn’t what I was thinking of, but interesting thought nonetheless. Yeah…I wonder what the transcendentalists would have thought about their names attached to the rather experimental (for its time, and perhaps even to some modern ears) and perhaps slightly unsettling harmonies of the Concord Sonata. </p>
<p>In any case, I was thinking of the fact that Ives is a Yalie and a Wolf’s Head member to boot. Ironically (yes, more irony), Ives went on to write a rec letter for the now soon-to-be 103 year-old composer (and dean of American classical music) Elliott Carter’s application to…wait for it…Harvard. (Trivia: Carter is probably one of the few, if not the only College alum alive to not have lived in an upper class house. The houses opened shortly after Carter graduated) Leonard Bernstein would go on to premiere several of Ives’ symphonic works after the composer’s death, and another Harvard man, Jan Swafford would write what is the definitive bio of Ives. And of course, there’s the recent orchestral tone poem by composer John Adams (not the president or his son) named My Father Knew Charles Ives. Adams, being highly celebrated on his own work and merits, once conducted a production The Marriage of Figaro in the Leverett House dining hall. The stage director was a precocious English senior, and wanna-be-actor named John Lithgow. </p>
<p>In any case, the irony is simply that Ives is a Yalie. The existence of Yalies is always ironic. And yes. I am a classical music geek.</p>
<p>Where the heck do you guys find the space to quote literature? I’m sure the ad com. cares a lot more about what you have to say, rather than someone else…</p>
<p>@spiffy exactly. i mean i tried to fit something in there, but with the 500 word recommendation on common app, i just spent more time talking about me</p>