<p>hey guys,
so as a perplexed and a clueluess '17er, i , like many other 2017ers, wanted to ask what answer did u fill-in for the Yale supplement?
even a rough idea would do just fine!
also, suggest/tip on how to approach such questions?</p>
<p>1) What in particular about Yale has influenced your decision to apply?</p>
<p>short answers:
2)What would you do with a free afternoon tomorrow?</p>
<p>3)If you could witness one moment in history, what would it be and why?</p>
<p>4)Recall a compliment you received that you especially value. What was it? From whom did it come?</p>
<p>5)What do you wish you were better at being or doing?</p>
<p>6)If you were choosing students to form a Yale class, what question would you ask here that we have not?</p>
<p>These are personal questions that only you can answer. We, who don’t know you, would be “perplexed and clueless” in telling you what to say. Be yourself, and be honest. Let your personality come through. These are not “trick” questions!</p>
<p>As a parent of a '15…I can tell you that you need to “know yourself” and be yourself.
Don’t try to fit “a mold”</p>
<p>Also–don’t assume the supplement questions from this years app will be the ones they use for next years app. Some may change…still these are good for considering over the summer before you do the app.</p>
<p>As others have said, these aren’t trick questions. If you sat down quietly, you could answer most of them, I suspect, rather easily. However, if you’re weighed down by the fear of “how will this answer make me look” rather than drilling down to be frank and honest, based on your life’s experiences and your system of beliefs – you’ll ironically fail in the most crucial way: the opportunity to share from yourself.</p>
<p>But I’ll give you a freebie: what not to put for question 1: P-R-E-S-T-I-G-E</p>
<p>As others have said, these are personal questions, which demand introspection on your part. The best approach is to be honest and truthful. </p>
<p>For example: Here’s what my son wrote two years ago to the free afternoon question. BTW: stealing his answer (or his approach) is plagiarism, so you need to come up with your own answer.</p>
<p>“I would go to the Guitar Center on 14th Street in Manhattan and try out guitars that I could only dream of purchasing.”</p>
<p>Ah, i get it that they are not trick questions, allright.
err, i can answer all but question 1, 4 and 6.
i am completely befuddled on how to answer question 4 and 6, specifically?!
just help me answer questions 4 and 6? its just that i didnt get what they exactly want me to answer?</p>
<p>thanks
(p.s no, theres no guidance counselor to help me out with such doubts!)</p>
<p>No. 6 is designed to see how familiar you are with what the Yale college community looks like and how creative you can be to further that vision of that student body.</p>
<p>I think you’re taking this too seriously, there aren’t any right or wrong answers (unless you’re inappropriate ;)). Just use your imagination to bring out the unique, one-and-only you.</p>
<p>Have fun…dig deep. The first question you should do some research before answering, number 4 I would suggest thinking back to a piece of advice someone gave you (sorry for the no duh answer, but it is really that simple), and question 6…use those creative juices! Personally I wanted to ask something about superheros but I thought of an even better, character revealing, question.</p>
<p>Generally I would say that your answer should be truthful and make them want to meet you. Thus if you copy another person’s answer, then you may have 100 people saying the same “interesting” thing which then makes you boring. If I was reviewing 50 apps per day, I would imagine blowing by most of the answers unless it was real and interesting enough to make me want to meet them. Consider keeping a theme among your answers.</p>
<p>I answered these questions quite candidly. They took me 5 minutes, max. Don’t contrive answers based on what you think will make you sound appealing. Be honest.</p>
<p>Based on my experience as a '16 reject, my advice would be to not try to be “funny”. For number six I put something along the lines of asking applicants what weapon they would use in a zombie apocalypse, and for the extra essay I wrote about my favorite types of pizza. I have no idea of knowing if my supplement is the main reason I got rejected, but I can now see why it would have come off as not being serious about applying. Oh well, a lesson for the future I guess. Good luck!</p>
<p>PCM18: It’s OK and almost certainly a positive thing to be funny (think how many mind- numbingly similar applications admissions officers read, and how grateful they might be for a laugh), but you have to know your audience. I think it’s improbable that middle- aged application readers found your zombie apocalypse response entertaining, whereas your high school classmates probably would. If you’re going with something risky, run it by an adult whose judgment you respect to make sure you’re not off the mark. Also, while a touch of humor is great, it’s probably a bad idea to overuse it.</p>
<p>^^ That’s great advice! Keep in mind that colleges are first, and foremost, academic institutions filled with scholarly folks. While they enjoy humor (wearing outrageous, silly hats on Class Day, for example), they are always seeking students with a love of learning who come across as genuine and mature.</p>
<p>Yeah, my major mistake was not running it through enough adults before submitting the app (had enough time too, I actually submitted my application to Yale well before the deadline). On another note, to the OP, please keep in mind that colleges often change at least part of their supplements. I’m not sure if such is the case with Yale, but my advice would be to not invest too much time on these specific questions NOW in case some or all are changed for your class’s application season. I know a kid in my year that spent part of last summer answering one of the “quirky” prompts of the U Chicago supplement of the Class of 2015 and was more than quite frustrated when the new ones came out…</p>
<p>You’re in some really good company. Personally as an adult I wouldn’t submit a high-stakes piece of writing without running it by a person or people I trust, but plenty of college applicants do. Some of them don’t get the acceptances they deserve, because their essays send messages that they didn’t intend. It can be really hard to tell how an outsider will interpret what you have written, especially after you have worked on it for a while.</p>
Personally I wanted to ask something about superheros but I thought of an even better, character revealing, question.</p>