<p>I just have a question about the Cornell Supplement essay for CAS.</p>
<p>What does it mean by describe your intellectual interests and their evolution?</p>
<p>And for the second part that asks how i will utilize the academic programs in the CAS, do i just talk about the major i want to major in or can i also talk about taking other related subjects??</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>O, and is it bad that i still haven't sent in any application?
I'm planning to send it this coming weekend.</p>
<p>Oh god, me too . . . I actually just started applying a few days ago. Right. I'm terrible. AHHHHHH! That essay is killing me. I wrote one that someone loved, and then someone else tore it down, so my paranoid self completely scrapped it. And now i'm completely uninspired.</p>
<p>I'd talk about the major you list and some other interests... it's a liberal arts degree, after all. And no, this weekend is definitely not too late.</p>
<p>I have a feeling most of the essays will be "I like x because of y" My feeling over x subject has changed because of ..." which is honestly how the first draft of my essay was. For the 2nd draft I'm taking a risk and using a metaphor to describe my intellectual interests.</p>
<p>do you think simple the best?
i am doing the way for ILR, i am really outlining what actually happened, in a really simple way</p>
<p>I think keeping it simple is probably the best. A metaphor is cute and MIGHT be helpful, but if it isn't absolutely necessary, don't do it. Your personal statement essay fulfills that in a lot of ways... I think you should be more straightfoward than artsy in your supplement essay, at least for CAS. Anyone disagree?</p>
<p>My English teacher read my essay and she liked the metaphor I used. Although areas of the essay need to be improved, she thought the way I presented my metaphor was unique and grabbed the reader's attention.</p>
<p>personal essay - creative, interesting
intellectual essay - straightforward, just explain</p>
<p>I disagree with the purely "straightfoward" thing. Now, I am biased since I went for a combo of the straightfoward and creative route and am nervous about it since it did leave slightly less room for talking about my specific major. However, how many boring "straightfoward" essays do they really want to read. I bet that although each essay will have different topics, majors, interests, etc., they will all be pretty much structured in such a way that there will probably be the following:</p>
<p>I love <strong><em>. I've been interested in </em></strong> since I was a kid. Here is a creative anecdote to show (not tell) why. I want to go to Cornell to study __ with the greatest professors in the field, and I also like the diversity/large campus/beautiful campus/friendly people/great facilities. Cornell will help me on my path to greatness.</p>
<p>I think (well, more like hope) that even though the prompt is more specific than the Common App essay, you still have a lot of room to do what you want with the essays, and the fact that the largest group of people entering is "undecided" is proof enough, since their interests will tend to be more vague. Although I like biophysics, I wasn't going to spend valuable words in my essay BSing crap about how I've always loved science since it's interesting, challenging, and the Magic School Bus and Bill Nye changed my world. </p>
<p>I tried to explictly show my personality and how it relates to my broad interests both in the liberal arts and the hard sciences. Of course, creative is relative. I was creative in my point of view, but I was creative in the sense that I had a clear focus on exactly what I was talking about. If you're going to be creative, make sure you have a clear focal point, and make sure that the reader actually knows what you're talking about, especially if you use a metaphor. There is a fine line between creative and crazy (I'll admit that I almost crossed it, but changing the wording made it all work out for the creative device I used). </p>
<p>And I know this is a little late since ED passed already, but I'm nervous, so I like writing my thoughts out to validate my opinions, slightly easing my stress :P</p>