<p>So, I’m applying to the College of Arts and Sciences and I’m picking a piece of music that challenged or unsettled me. </p>
<p>So, the song I am picking is a song by an iconic Southern Rock band, and the school I’m going to talk about is the University of Alabama. I’m going to talk about how you can’t judge by stereotypes and how the song has helped me look beyond common stereotypes and find the truth for myself. </p>
<p>I’m incorporating 'Bama into my essay because I applied there, and I’ve been getting a lot of crap from all sorts of people about it, based of off all of the negative stereotypes the state of AL has accumulated over the years. </p>
<p>The song I’m using goes against all of the stereotypes of Southern society, in the 70s(just after Civil Rights movement, etc…) when the band was prominent.</p>
<p>Good idea or not? I mean I’d pick UVa over UA unless of course I don’t get in to UVa, or don’t get any aid from UVa (I’m from Ohio, so I’ll need a little help with the OOS costs), but I don’t want to make my essay readers to get the wrong idea. </p>
<p>I know a controversial issue is sometimes good to use, but was wondering if this would count or would it hurt me? Plus I’m OOS, so the odds are against me, and I need a pretty good essay. </p>
<p>Are you talking about “Sweet Home Alabama?”</p>
<p>I would probably try and generalize the essay to incorporate the entire South rather than just Alabama. If you were applying to a lot of Southern schools, for instance, talk about how you wanted to experience the culture for yourself and have a learning experience by living in a new part of the country. It works considering Virginia is considered a Southern state.</p>
<p>Nah, “Saturday Night Special” actually. Thought about “Sweet Home Alabama”, and it would fit the UA topic well, and I could make it work, but it seemed a little too cliche and this is an essay for UVa, I don’t want overdo the Bama connection. Still a good song though. </p>
<p>I don’t really want to go over my argument in public, but would you mind if I PMed it to you?</p>
<p>After writing the essay, I don’t even mention UA because I run out of room (but I still go over 250 words by a lot). I just generalized about the South, and how everyone dogs it up where I live. </p>
<p>Oh, and word count. I did a search and Dean J said that someone who was 60+ words over would be fine. Well, I cut my essay down, but can’t seem to take it down past 345. Thats 95 words over…</p>
<p>Big deal or no? For my essays, I’ve tried to follow the +/- 15-20% of the word count rule, but this one was hard to fit everything in. </p>
<p>Anyone mind reading it? I could use some feedback.</p>
<p>I guess it is about 2/3 of a page so its not that horribly over. And in another thread, you said as long as it is not like 2 pages you should be all right. </p>
<p>Thanks so much. </p>
<p>Last year when I saw these thread I was wondering why people were flipping out about word counts, but its different when your the one applying to school like UVa, haha. </p>