College Bound: Acharya transitions to regular applications

Senior Saro Acharya could feel the anticipation as he clicked the gray submit button. He was submitting his New York University (NYU) application on the afternoon of Oct. 31, the day before the deadline.

But nothing happened. The server had crashed. It was “a very frantic hour,” Acharya recalls, as he was unable to submit his application. Even after rushing to check with friends, who confirmed they were having the same issues, Acharya could not relax until his early applications for NYU and Loyola Marymount University (LMU) were successfully submitted in the late afternoon.

The week of the Nov. 1 early application deadline came with another unexpected change for Acharya. For his application to Chapman University, he decided to switch his major from film, which only offers an early deadline, to television, which offers both early and regular deadlines. He said that the acceptance rate is higher for television than for film but added that pursuing television will give him the opportunity to diversify his skill sets.

“A lot of people in the industry switch between film and television. So, I think once you break into the industry in one medium, it’s easier to go between them,” Acharya said.

Because he now had the option to submit his Chapman application with the regular deadline, Acharya only applied early decision to NYU and early action to LMU, leaving Chapman for later.

Counting Chapman, he is applying regular decision to nine private colleges — a list boasting well-known names such as the University of Southern California, but also schools like the Art Center College of Design and the California Institute of the Arts. Like most students, he has what he considers to be safety schools, and in his case, they are the California State Universities at Long Beach and Northridge.

For the NYU supplemental he submitted as part of his early application, Acharya was asked to identify his favorite movie and how it had affected him. He wrote about the Alfred Hitchcock crime thriller “Dial M for Murder” due to the movie’s influence on his style of filmmaking.

“Alfred Hitchcock is considered a master of suspense and tension, and that’s something I really like about him,” Acharya said. “‘Dial M for Murder’ is set in one room, and he uses that to build up a lot of tension. If you look at it closely, there are a lot of shots slowly creeping toward the person, and by the end of the movie, it’s very close up shots.”

With the UC deadline passed on Nov. 30, Acharya has devoted himself to his remaining regular applications. He feels apprehensive but ready to meet the January deadlines.

He consistently allots Saturday afternoons from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m to working on his essays. Outside that block of time, he works on essays "at the most random times," starting them late at night or even very early in the mornings before school.

Acharya has struggled to come up with ideas for the broader prompts because he wants to draw upon personal experiences while portraying his ideas in a creative way.

“Usually, I love creative writing, but when it's for an application, I tend to be more critical and even pessimistic of my work,” he said.

Acharya finds the revision process to be especially challenging, since he often has a changed mindset from when he first wrote the essay.

“When you look back on it, you might have a different perspective or a different vision for what you wanted to get across,” Acharya said. “It’s hard to change that.”

With expectations for another stressful month, Acharya is looking forward to a second semester without all the extra work of applications. More than anything, he craves a change of pace by moving away from the area.

“It could definitely help with the creativity,” Acharya said. “New York is a central place for art, and L.A. is also a center of the arts — there are so many opportunities there. I can develop the skills to get jobs and meet like-minded people.”