I’m referring to the Option A short answer response (the quote response). Anyways, the one I would like to respond to is the first prompt:
*“Rigorous reasoning is crucial in mathematics, and insight plays an important secondary role these days. In the natural sciences, I would say that the order of these two virtues is reversed. Rigor is, of course, very important. But the most important value is insight—insight into the workings of the world. It may be because there is another guarantor of correctness in the sciences, namely, the empirical evidence from observation and experiments.” *
- Kannan Jagannathan, Professor of Physics, Amherst College
There is a lot I can say about this quote, but I just don’t see how I can add “personal” touches to it. Can I just write a more “academic” response? I would actually prefer to make an academic response. Option B is a graded paper, so I don’t see why my response can’t just be an academic one. I’m not sure if this prompt just wants to see how you write.
This is an intellectual question, so your “academic” response may be appropriate… but just remember that ANY response reveals something personal about you. After you write your first draft and read it back to yourself, it may become obvious to you which personal quality you can demonstrate in your response.
This quality can be indicated in HOW you respond, not necessarily in a ‘moving personal story,’ which is what you seem to feel is required. It is not.
But the admissions officers are looking not only for good writers— because there are many more of those than they can admit— but also for people who will contribute to the classroom and out-of-class environment at Amherst. Crafted well, your essay can reveal how you would be an asset.
Write a draft. Put it aside. Reread it. Think what it reveals about you. Revise it. Run it past someone whose judgment you trust. Revise it again if needed.
Well, I am specifically told not to write an argumentative paper and that it had to be personal in nature. Does this mean I can’t just simply “respond” to or show how I think about the quote?