<p>"I agree w/ ^^</p>
<p>Read a Modest Proposal. Hilarious stuff</p>
<p>That is well placed humor."</p>
<p>HAHA. I was just thinking that. Probably because it's one of the few funny classics I've ever read ._.</p>
<p>Huck Finn stuff is good too.</p>
<p>As long as it can't possibly offend anyone (and good humor never does), then you'll be fine. If I were an admissions officer, I'd welcome any frivolity in an essay. Remember: "All great minds think alike." Imagine how banal it gets, being a Harvard admissions officer... reading the same things over and over again...</p>
<p>thanks all, good advice!</p>
<p>I think some of the best humor in a college essay is dry and self-deprecating. It requires that you show elsewhere that you are confident and capable of handling the school's workload, but that kind of humor shows a maturity and ability to self-evaluate while being funny. </p>
<p>Hyperbole and understatement are great, but avoid using anything that be construed as serious, rather than funny.</p>
<p>A modest proposal is funny... I think it is tough to find the line for good and not good degrees of humor. For Tufts, I just talked with a high-up admissions officer who reads all of the MD apps about essays, idk about NY, but he was very intelligent and had a great sense of humor. He said the goal was to show what you are about. I think if you really like what you have you should keep it. I trust a school like tufts to be cool about it.</p>
<p>If you decide to go with Swift-style humor, make sure you don't get too sarcastic in your language. Things could ultimately backfire if overdone.</p>
<p>humorous is something flooding in one's blood since one was born... i don't actually know how to write in a funny tone, nor do i dare to try >"<</p>
<p>Reading just the first post and that stuff about the piano...you're not funny.</p>
<p>I was thinking of writing my essay in the newly minted Sarah Palin style. So far i have "Maverick Maverick Maverick Maverick, Maverick Maverick Maverick Maverick, Maverick Maverick MAVERICK Maverick, Maverick, Maverick, Maverick!" What do you guys think?</p>
<p>
[quote]
As long as it can't possibly offend anyone (and good humor never does), then you'll be fine. If I were an admissions officer, I'd welcome any frivolity in an essay.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is such preposterously inaccurate information. Good humor can never possibly offend anyone? Have you heard a joke in the past 50 years? Have you seen a stand up comic?</p>
<p>And no, "any frivolity" is not welcome. Hack, forced, cheesy frivolity is just as painful to read if not worse than faux intellectual whateverness.</p>
<p>My lord...</p>
<p>
[quote]
As long as it can't possibly offend anyone (and good humor never does), then you'll be fine. If I were an admissions officer, I'd welcome any frivolity in an essay.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is such preposterously inaccurate information. Good humor can never possibly offend anyone? Have you heard a joke in the past 50 years? Have you seen a stand up comic?</p>
<p>And no, "any frivolity" is not welcome. Hack, forced, cheesy frivolity is just as painful to read if not worse than faux intellectual whateverness.</p>
<p>My lord...</p>
<p>I think that humor is one of the only things that can set you apart when admissions people sit and read hundreds of essays of countless applicants. Obviously, you want to stand out, have them pull your essay aside, and share it with everyone else. Surely, this is something that every applicant should strive for but very few can attain. You cannot try to be funny, you simply need to be funny in a subtle, clever and intelligent way. For me, it was writing a witty, rhyming poem outlining skills and attributes that would carry over into college. I'd love to read what you have! Good Luck!</p>
<p>It's strange that when someone's trying to be funny, it's obvious to anyone who's reading, and it makes it less funny. I think the funniest things happen in writing when someone is just trying to be serious, and they point out something in real life that doesn't make sense, or uncover some weird realization that makes you stop and think, "whoa, I never noticed that." That's the kind of funny that earns you points, in my opinion :)</p>
<p>camarolover - maybe you should have read a couple of my followup posts also, I noted that a lot of the information is modified poorly to conceal personal, identifying info. so the real example is...I can't explain very well. but it's complicated</p>
<p>I would stick to humor that is universally understood. I understand that you distorted your actual examples, but most people don't know stuff like jrock, so they wouldn't get it. </p>
<p>Gackt is great by the way =]</p>
<p>To be honest, I didn't really find any of what you wrote funny. You basically just lost my attention -- meaning if I had more application essays to read, yours would probably end up in the special bucket to the right of my desk, sometimes referred to as a "trashcan." That's not going to be a plus on your P.S.! A bit of humor can be good IF you can cater it to your audience but if you don't cater it well to them, it will be either lost or potentially even offensive.</p>
<p>yupyup, man I didn't realize this would get featured lol, I'm used to a couple answers here and there, so my original post was pretty bad. lol.</p>
<p>THANKS EVERYONE, WILL PLAY VERY SAFE AND CONSERVATIVE.
got. it! haha</p>
<p>@ an0maly: word :]</p>
<p>well, one of my friends wrote about pokemon, and connected it to life experiences, i found the humor subtle because we always laugh about pokemon.</p>
<p>Playing it safe and conservative is what The Family Circus and Dennis the Menace do. If you are funny and try to play it safe at the same time, you will end up writing something that is absolutely terrible, because humor in itself is always unexpected. Either play it safe and write about your time counceling at a camp for autistic and eppileptic children, or add some funny comments without giving too much thought about who it may or may not offend. Colleges want to see you, and if you try to hide who you are by intentionally being funny/not funny than your not only jilting the college but yourself.</p>
<p>Hm. So would very obvious over-exaggeration of details combined with deadpanning and melodrama work? The essay's meant to be a parody of overly formal writing, and I feel proud enough of it as is...</p>
<p>Something like that.</p>