Free College Admissions Essays: I Traded it All to Be a Filmmaker :: College Admissions Essays

I Have Traded it All to Be a Filmmaker I left a secure job and a lifestyle that would have catapulted me into the upper middle class by age 30. I disappointed my family and shocked my friends, but the applause from the packed auditorium vindicated my decision to pursue my passion. At great expense, I decided to follow my dreams, to refuse to be disappointed or discouraged by life. As I reflected on all the difficulties I persevered through in reaching that point in my life, I felt a hand patting me on my shoulder praising my work. I was born in Omaha, Nebraska on August 28,1972 because my mother slipped on an onion peel while shopping at the local Hinky Dinky Supermarket; the fall induced her labor and out I popped. In this rather unsophisticated environment, where on Saturday the second largest city is a packed college football stadium, I somehow developed artistic aspirations, but did not have the opportunity to make cultural pursuits a major part of my life. At the age of twelve, my father accepted a job with Levi Strauss and moved the family to Kansas City. At this crucial stage in my development, I found the arts fascinating, especially while studying literature in junior high. Unlike the other students who flocked to the hundreds of early eighties Spring Break movies, I developed a discriminating taste and longed for the quality I would find in a Stanley Kubrick film. At night, tackling Crime and Punishment or watching Dr. Strangelove took precedence over arcades and football. I carried my love for literature with me when I attended the University of Kansas. I also studied economics, which combined my interests in philosophy, history and mathematics. However, while I studied economics for somewhat practical reasons and never thought of the discipline as compelling enough to devote my entire life to, my interests in film and music began to mature. Exposed to the unconventional films of Hal Hartley, Mike Leigh, and John Sayles and to the poetic music of Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen, I prized their works' brilliant storytelling, and this feature inspired my own work and my eventual pursuit of filmmaking. Facing high college loans and a desire to be economically secure, I chose not to pursue my dreams immediately out of college. I fooled myself into thinking my passion for filmmaking was just a hobby and that I would be better off pursuing a more " serious" career, one with respect and a high salary.