<p>Dartmouth</a> Admissions Uncommonly Asked Questions: Last Minute Application Tips Video</p>
<p>The dean of admissions and the assistant director says,
"don't me metaphorical, be direct, we read 8 hours a day. We don't want to spend time trying to figure your essays out."
Your opinions?</p>
<p>I think that there is a fine balance to be struck.</p>
<p>Personally, I find metaphors an essential part of any solid piece of writing - but you can be direct and be metaphorical at the same time. I think being obscure and unnecessarily… mysterious… with essays and metaphors is what Dartmouth is referencing here.</p>
<p>All in all, just realize that there is a good chance your essay will be read by tired eyes.</p>
<p>For most essays, it’s completely impractical to fit in metaphors. When an applicant is describing an intellectual experience, it looks ridiculous if he or she tries to implement metaphors.</p>
<p>It seems that a lot of high schoolers like to write with flowery pose. I wholly blame this on Henry David Thoreau.</p>
<p>That ■■■■■■■ ruined generations of writers.</p>
<p>Well I wish this came out when I EDed to Dartmouth.</p>
<p>How about Hemingway? That ■■■■■■■ did even worse.</p>
<p>"How about Hemingway? That ■■■■■■■ did even worse. "</p>
<pre><code> The falsest statement you could ever utter, my friend.
</code></pre>
<p>I have to agree with pentium. I don’t think Darthmouth is telling applicants to never use metaphors ever. It says, more broadly, don’t be metaphoricAL - the impression I immediately got from this was someone writing a whole essay about one subject and then at the very end revealing that it was really just a convoluted metaphor for something else.
Metaphors don’t have to be obfuscating. In fact, sometimes metaphors demonstrate points more clearly and more concisely than other methods are able to.</p>
<p>I’ve add this thread to the Dartmouth forum so as they complete their applications, students can benefit from the variety of tips in this video, which covers everything from essays to peer recommendations to information for international students.</p>
<p>Sounds like the guy is tired of reading essays metaphorically speaking.</p>
<p>Yay
I was a bit worried about the lack of figurative language in my essays. No longer.</p>
<p>my essay was an explication of the joke:</p>
<p>Q: “What’s a metaphor?”
A: “Sheep!”</p>
<p>"How about Hemingway? That ■■■■■■■ did even worse. "</p>
<p>Oh boy, someone hasn’t read much Hemingway.</p>
<p>IMO, the essay works best if it’s an extended metaphor (my Common App essay was about getting lost in my car, but more importantly about getting academically “lost”–by making bad class decisions–and finding my way out). But figurative language from high schoolers tends to be wretched.</p>
<p>Who would even use metaphors in an essay…
“I am a majestic gazelle” ← How much sense does that make?</p>
<p>dream school…</p>
<p>dream school</p>
<p>dream school</p>
<p>Considering my entire common app essay which I can no longer change, is an extended metaphor that uses prose writing and focuses on an emotional maturation instead of my academic success. I am beyond screwed… God I hope Uchicago doesn’t agree with this dean, or I’m doubly screwed. OTL</p>
<p>Same, Wendeli, same… I personally very much like metaphors and so I incorporated a big one throughout my essay. If this is the reason I don’t get in, I think I will just cry in a corner.</p>