This has got to be the hardest supplement in all my applications. I have lots of experiences of working with other people, but there has been absolutely nothing meaningful I’ve learned. All I’ve got is a bunch of negative lessons. For example, you cannot change other group members’ mindset or work ethic no matter how hard you try and give them advice. I have never found that “teamwork makes the dream work”; all I’ve learned is that if you assign someone to a part of the project, even if it is in their area of expertise, as long as they are a lazy person then their portion will always come out terrible, no matter what you do to help them. And I’m pretty sure all of you have found this to be true, right? So what examples did you guys use?
You had not one positive experience, ever, working with others?
I guess you could use negative psychology and say you hate everyone else in the world and think they’re stupid. But “please allow me to join the community of your world-famous institution, even though none of you deserves my presence.”
–That would give your essay some inner tension and drama, though my impression is that even Einstein somehow found it possible to work among colleagues.
Perhaps you’d feel better if you’d started earlier?
Well, I haven’t seen the prompt.
But I imagine that some people probably write an essay that gets them into Johns Hopkins. So I would venture to say that, no, not everyone has shared your experience.
If you’ve learned “absolutely nothing meaningful” with all your varied experiences of working with other people, then I’m not sure you’re the person I would want on my team, or in my department.
I agree with @Ivygrad09 – I can only hope that we can attest your issues to the fact that it’s December 31st.
I was thinking about this thread in the shower, and just wanted to add: this topic has never come up with any of my school’s alumni who have gone to JH, so I may be totally wrong.
But the fact that they seem to have given you an essay to write on the value of cooperative learning may very well tell you that it’s a teaching style they value as a school. If you do get accepted, it may be something you want to consider; it doesn’t sound like it would be a very good fit for you.
I went to JHU for HOME this year and everyone was talking about how they put the prompt there because they’re trying to transform JH into a collaborative environment. You saying you don’t like teamwork isn’t a good idea. Don’t interpret the question as being about actual academic group experiences. Instead, maybe think about a time when you were with a group having some profound discussion. The point of this prompt is to show that you are willing to accept diversity in thought etc., definitely not about you realizing all high schoolers are lazy and don’t do their part of the project if you don’t remind them.