Using a Grateful Dead quote in essay

Question

So as I've been thinking about my "why MBA" essay a line from the Grateful Dead song  Truckin'  keeps popping into my head, "Lately it occurs to me: What a long strange trip it's been". I've considered incorporating it into my essay, but have received mixed reviews from others that I've talked to about it. Any thoughts?

riverripper · Answer

No...if someone recognizes or you actually say something like "as the grateful dead put it" it they will picture you as a pothead hippie. Sorry but thats the stereotype you will then battle through the rest of your essay.

zakk · Answer

I wouldn't use it. The trip Jerry is talking about is decidedly different from the context you'd use it in.

aviroop · Answer

There's one in a million chance that the ad-com officer reviewing your essay will be smoking something else other than cigarettes - so stick with Lao Tse and aristotle quotes.

Band quotes dont gell with app essays.

my 2 cents

johnnyx9 · Answer

I think quotes in general are frowned upon by ad-coms (basing this on some document posted here a while back by an ad-com at some top school who made a list of things not to do). 

If you have a really compelling reason to use a quote then go for it, but my gut reaction to the Grateful Dead quote is that the ad-coms would throw your application in the "Acid-head" pile as soon as they read that.

mNeo · Answer

An adcom giving a list of things not to do? Where can I find that doc?

helpslip · Answer

Hmm, I think Hunter and Bobby, not Jerry, when this one plays in my mind but that's just me. However, I agree that the meaning embedded in any fragment of pop culture is difficult to harness to one's own end. The clear danger is that the point you actually make is likely more influenced by the audiences preconceptions than your writing. I once read a letter that began, "Please allow me to introduce myself, my name is..." Two years after the fact the fellow told me that he still gets, "how's St. Petersberg," jokes etc. https://arts.ucsc.edu/Gdead/AGDL/ is useful if you are interested in what others have written about GD lyrics.

johnnyx9 · Answer

It's a sticky I think, a posting with an attachment, I think rhyme posted it a long time ago, I'll have a look and see if i can find it here.

ishcabibble · Answer

Thanks everyone for your advice! My thinking was that after reading my essay, the adcom would be able to understand the context in which I was using the quote. Plus, I thought that it might make my essay stand out to them. Apparently, you all agree with that, but for the wrong reasons!

So, I guess that I should also leave pot-smoking and acid-tripping off of my list of extra-curricular activities? :wink:

Using a Grateful Dead quote in essay

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