<p>@goingfornobel: Personally I wouldn’t have written that what you wrote in your alternative.</p>
<p>For some reason I had the urge to peak at my supplemental application and I’m both mad at myself and happy with what I wrote LOL. I’m mad at myself because I’m never happy with my writing but I am pleased that I was honest and genuine. </p>
<p>What did you guys write in the question about one book that has strongly influenced you?Being an avid reader, this question was a struggle for me. I definitely wrote about Ender’s Game though.</p>
<p>I am currently in IIT Bombay and have applied for a change of major to Computer Science from my current major- Chemistry. For the alternatives to attend Harvard, I answered that if I don’t make it, then I would try to make the current education system more flexible by contesting for the Institute Secretary of Academic Affairs post.</p>
<p>Since you asked, I busted out the supplement–and had a good laugh! I knew which book I had chosen (it IS my all time favorite), but I had forgotten what else I wrote, and it was rather amusing. I wrote about “To Kill A Mockingbird,” an amazing story on so many levels, and perhaps it’s a cliche answer (being a popular and pretty mainstream book, after all), but it just happens to truly be made of gold in my mind. </p>
<p>But, as I wrote in the supplement, there may have been some mitigating factors to my coming to that conclusion; I learned to read at a very young age, and my parents had to work to keep up with my constant need for new books. So, they enrolled me in several monthly-delivery book programs for kids; since I was signed up for multiple programs, I ended up with a decent amount of new reading material each month, but they were almost all Caldecott or Newberry (and some others I can’t think of off the top of my head) award winners …I don’t know if you guys ever read these as kids, but these award-winning, supposed-to-be-the-best-for-stimulating-minds-of-children books were my main source of reading material, and ALL AWARD WINNING CHILDREN’S BOOKS ARE ABOUT ANIMALS DYING. LMAO. Usually dogs. Seriously. Stone Fox, Shiloh, Where the Red Fern Grows, Old Yeller, the list goes on. It was traumatic for me. Don’t laugh, I’m serious! LOL really, it was a nightmare, so then, despite the irony of the title, when I read To Kill a Mockingbird, I was just so relieved and uplifted that it had an incredibly profound impact on me. </p>
<p>And that impact stayed with me, so that was the most influential book on me. Think it made for a mildly amusing supplement answer, too. ;)</p>
<p>Right, thanks for the thoughts. I figured I’d be as honest as I could in my application. Transferring into Harvard this year would be a stepping stone to get into a graduate program they offer. For plans at Harvard, I gave them specific classes and professors that I would die to study under. </p>
<p>If the adcom believes it’s better for me to go elsewhere to achieve my goals I don’t think I’d be too bummed.</p>
<p>I think I’ll go ahead and send in the update, if it doesn’t help me, it’ll certainly help you guys. Right? ;)</p>
<p>@ Eyethink: I wrote about ‘The Divine Principle’. It’s a really interesting religious text from from a religious minority (unificationism).</p>
<p>Thank you! It means a lot to hear that from you. </p>
<p>Mind you, I saw a bit of your old post history and I think it would be a shame if Harvard doesn’t take you.</p>
<p>@goingforanobel LOL! Best of luck.</p>
<p>@eyethink That was a difficult question for me to answer. I had trouble narrowing it down between books as different as Cosmicomics and Flowers for Algernon. </p>
<p>I ended up writing about how Amy Chua’s Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother spoke to me. Kiss of death much?</p>
<p>I <em>strongly</em> considered writing about Flowers for Algernon! It made an enormous impression on me when I read it, and I think the plotline/concept/premise at its core is one of the most original to appear in fiction in the past fifty years or so. </p>
<p>But I was worried that lots of applicants might write about Flowers for Algernon, and that the AdCom would have “heard it all before” (have read many, many application essays about it), and that if I wrote about it, my application wouldn’t stand out, so I went with another, very different book that’s also one of my favorites.</p>
<p>@eyethink This is difficult to explain on a public forum. </p>
<p>Part of it was how the book questions A.A. cultural identity, and part of it was how her daughers’ experiences related to my own upbringing. I had a piano/violin/academics/Chinese school regime up to a point, and I resented every bit of the Harvard conveyor-belt. Chua brought me closer to understanding it from the parents’ point of view. </p>
<p>I also thought about using the Accidental Asian, but I cried a whole lot less during that one. :D</p>
<p>I also hope what I wrote tied into the parts where I talk about my major, Social Studies, and how I’m fascinated with my own ABC-ness.</p>
<p>I wrote, Douglas R. Hofstadter’s ‘I am a Strange Loop’. I don’t read much (prefer movies to books). So I guess I wont score much on the adm scale for this question.</p>
<p>I’m exhausted from the overnight Easter Bunny act (46 eggs for the kids to hunt in…yup, 8 am is in three hours, yikes–weird how long it takes to fill them, lol- but the baskets this year turned out quite beautifully, imo), but after a quick, pre-snooze glance at this thread, I just felt the need to say that my life is a Flowers for Algernon experience. I actually wrote a paper about that last year. So…that was funny to me.
:)</p>
<p>Oh, and BCP- thanks! No matter where we end up, we should keep a connection open- and use it to conquer the world! </p>
<p>Good night, CC…or morning to most, I suppose.</p>
<p>@eyethink: The book I wrote about is a really, really strange choice that I don’t think anyone else in the applicant pool this year will have written his or her essay question on, or perhaps even read. I mean, it’s a book that was probably read only by people in a certain very narrowly focused academic field, and these people probably read it around fifteen or twenty years ago. So I don’t really want to tell you what book I wrote about in this public forum-- it would almost definitely be “outing myself”. I’m not saying that I think that adcom members spend all of their time reading this thread and trying to match posts and posters to applications they’ve read, but trying to get into Harvard is so important to me that I’d rather be safe than sorry.</p>
<p>^You shouldn’t give away information that the admission officers will be able to tell who your are forsure, but is everyone here really expecting to have a shot? there taking around 12 kids out of about 2000… you cant actually expect to get in… at least im not… im guessing those 12 kids are going to have done something really wow… much more impressive and wow than a freshman admit… im thinking athletic recruits…olympic qualifiers… million dollar business owners… no?</p>
<p>I didn’t say I thought I had a real chance of getting in-- and that’s because I most certainly don’t! But I don’t want to do something dumb and out myself on this forum, which might make my already very, very slim chances slimmer. I hope you can understand that.</p>
<p>^ haha eyethink… if we both go to cornell… you cant make jokes like that… there to smart for me haha… my humor is family guy aka stupid humor… i hope everyone at good schools doesnt have random political debates and just random conversations about the hemisphere… its just not my type i guess… are most ivy league schools like that?-btw no insult intended… i just cant comprehend what u guys mean haha im pretty slow…</p>
<p>@transfer9858: Haha I’m just an ancient history of geek … err … actually a geek when it comes to so many things, including pop-culture or what some people would call lowbrow. PM me and I’ll add you as a facebook friend. You’ll see I’m a perfectly normal red-blooded American. :-)</p>
<p>^haha no thats awesome… i wish i was smart at something haha… some of us just have to work realllyyy hard!!!.. and im just waiting for those few kids to post that they got interviews…anyway this wait is getting unbearable… all schools decisions basically come out the week of the 10th-16th… time hurry up …</p>
LOL really, it was a nightmare, so then, despite the irony of the title, when I read To Kill a Mockingbird, I was just so relieved and uplifted that it had an incredibly profound impact on me. </p>
If I have sons I plan on naming them Atticus and Thurgood lol.</p>