OMSAS sketch - advice

[cracklebrite]

Hi everyone, I just had a quick question regarding the OMSAS sketch. This is my second time applying through OMSAS.

Last year for my sketch, I had added items such as competing in certain music competitions with my high school band. We also did some workshops, clinics, etc. and I included those in my sketch. However, I am reviewing my sketch now in preparation for OMSAS to open up again, and I can't decide whether or not I should keep these one-time competitions and clinics in my sketch. Basically we'd just travel to some city, compete in the competition, spend a few days in the city, and then travel back home.

What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance for any advice/help

[m1428]

Hi everyone, I just had a quick question regarding the OMSAS sketch. This is my second time applying through OMSAS.

Last year for my sketch, I had added items such as competing in certain music competitions with my high school band. We also did some workshops, clinics, etc. and I included those in my sketch. However, I am reviewing my sketch now in preparation for OMSAS to open up again, and I can't decide whether or not I should keep these one-time competitions and clinics in my sketch. Basically we'd just travel to some city, compete in the competition, spend a few days in the city, and then travel back home.

What do you guys think?

Thanks in advance for any advice/help

 

MusicFest Canada by any chance? I wouldn't include it... I never did. Wayyy too trivial, adcoms will see it as padding. You can add band activities in one slot, maybe try to include it in the description (participated in competitions, etc?)... then again, you probably won't have room to add even that.

[thatonekid]

Can you bundle all of that into one single OMSAS sketch item? You could include it that way, but having a bunch of single one-time items gets to be a bit redundant.

[cracklebrite]

Hm good point you guys, thanks for your help! Last year when I applied it seemed like a good idea...I was definitely thinking quantity over quality. Now looking at my sketch again, it definitely just looks like padding. I think bundling them all into one item would be the best idea.

And nope m1428, not MusicFest, although I always did want to go to that! We actually went to the States to compete, specifically, Chicago, NYC, and Boston. What else did you compete in?

[m1428]

Hm good point you guys, thanks for your help! Last year when I applied it seemed like a good idea...I was definitely thinking quantity over quality. Now looking at my sketch again, it definitely just looks like padding. I think bundling them all into one item would be the best idea.

And nope m1428, not MusicFest, although I always did want to go to that! We actually went to the States to compete, specifically, Chicago, NYC, and Boston. What else did you compete in?

 

Just MusicFest a couple of years when the band was actually good enough to go to nationals, US once... my high school was never the "artsy" type, so it was always hard to get a good ensemble together Good luck with your applications!

[cracklebrite]

Good luck to you too!

[cracklebrite]

Sorry I just have one more question...when you combined all of your competitions into one item on the sketch, what did you put under geographic location? Because mine personally occurred in different cities and sometimes countries (i.e., Canada and the US).

[m1428]

Sorry I just have one more question...when you combined all of your competitions into one item on the sketch, what did you put under geographic location? Because mine personally occurred in different cities and sometimes countries (i.e., Canada and the US).

 

I never mentioned competitions in my application- no room in the combined entry for band activities, and seemed bad to put it as a separate entry (I would be saying the same things as the band activities entry, and they were in high school). If you want to put it in, I guess you could do something like "various locations in US, Canada", "US/Canada", etc, and maybe try to elaborate in the description.

[cracklebrite]

Oh I see, good point. I can always elaborate in the description. Okay, thanks again for your advice and help