<p>I've seen the TASP application, which requires about 6 very thoughtful essays that would be next to impossible to do well if one wasn't really passionate about the academic aspects of TASP. I highly doubt that anyone could do an excellent job with those essays and with the interviews if the person only wanted to go there to look good to the ultra select colleges.</p>
<p>Everything that I saw indicated that TASP has a more rigorous screening process in terms of looking for intellectual passion than do the ultra select colleges.</p>