Playing the piano is a very common trait among a generous amount of students who tend to apply for ivy league colleges. Although the competition is tough and a lot of students will put this on their resume, selectors might consider this with all the other achievements a student has if he/she is exceptionally talented in playing on the instrument.
Although applying to a college is more academic, selectors tend to get impressed by the hobbies and passion a student has. Because, co-curricular activities have a good impact on a student’s social behavior, ability to work in a group and even their academic results! There are a wide range of activities like this, but music is something that almost everyone can relate to. Even the selectors. So, putting your ability to play the piano, in general, music on your college resume isn’t a bad idea!
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What Instruments Do Colleges Want?
Alongside the piano, the ability to play other key instruments like the keyboard, the accordion, the harmonium etc.are well appreciated in college resumes. Besides these, being able to play the guitar, the ukulele, the cello, the violin, the saxophone, the harp or even rocking the drums might be seen as the same as it would have been for the piano.
Do Colleges Care About Band?
One of the most crucial mistakes young students make on their resume is not including their band activity in highschool. If someone is good at playing the snare drum, they might be an asset for the college marching band. Similarly, an exceptionally talented pianist, or at least someone with experience working with a band or an orchestra might deem themselves worthy of getting themselves admitted to the college of their dreams as an asset to that institution. If someone has experience playing an instrument at an orchestra or a band, they should include it in their college resume as long as it’s after middle school.
Does Piano Count As An Extracurricular Activity?
Although it might not seem so, prestigious universities like Prinston, Harvard, Yale, Stanford etc. take playing the piano as a serious extracurricular activity. But they put it into consideration when they see that the applicant is passionate about it. Playing the piano casually at home might cause some debate over whether it is a serious extracurricular activity or not, playing for an institution, say a local cafe or at a retirement home or even at your school play will undoubtedly count as a co-curricular whilst applying at a top university.
Do You Need To TAke Your Instrument To College?
One of the main things that concern a young pianist applying for college is whether or not they should bring their instruments at the college premises as the piano is certainly not the type of instrument you can bring to your dorm room. Well, to be perfectly honest, universities don’t actually have to see you play the instruments you claim that you can play. They may check some facts about major award claims, but they will certainly not tell you to play for them. Remember, they need the information about your co-curriculars to know about you. They don’t care if you can play the keys like mozart. The only thing they want to know from these is how the applicant spends their time. They will see if you spend your leisure time in productivity or not. So, you certainly do not have to take your gigantic piano to college. The most you can do is send them a recording tape of you playing the instrument only if you are exceptionally good at it. Because, if you do, they will review it by a professor or a graduate student from the music department to learn if your playing style is unique and exceptional. teacher It might help you to get some extra points at the selection board.
Does Piano Help With Studying?
Playing the piano comes with some perks which experts keep in mind whilst reviewing college applications from the mass. Playing the piano helps increase your memory by establishing a new neural connection every time anyone plays a piece. This increases the brain’s ability to master other forms of communication.This helps improve memory, attention, manner of speech, mathematical skills and so on. As a result, people who know how to play the piano tend to develop more cognitive development which leads to the ability to think and reason much higher from the average limit. It also increases hand to eye coordination hence the ability to multitask gets raised naturally.
Does Piano Increase IQ?
Playing the piano causes improvement in the balance between the left and right hemisphere of a person’s brain resulting in better perception processing information resulting in an exponential increase in one’s IQ. Research shows that playing the piano increases the intellectual quotient upto 7 points in both children and adults.
Playing the piano is a good extracurricular activity to apply for colleges in many ways. But, as playing the keys is common these days, one has to be really good at performing on it. Otherwise, playing the piano shouldn’t be the only co-curricular activity a student depends on while applying for college.