<p>hey guys.
i want to write the optional essay but i've never been on a roller coaster. they've always terrified me for some reason (not because of the height but the nausea i get when i look at them). can i write it abut something else? perhaps favorite airplane (i really like airplanes) or should i just not write it at all</p>
<p>I thought it said amusement park ride of which their are many types (as in other than rollercoasters). Many have water rapid rides for example (I for one can think of some ways to describe an academic journey in context of a water rapids ride). Perhaps you could claim that there is a ride that simulates airplanes, who knows? The point of the essay is to attempt to gauge the creativity of applicants and I’m honestly surprised and somewhat annoyed by them making it optional (I think all applicants to a top tier institution, especially one that supposedly has a liberal arts approach. Students applying here should be able to show some ability to be creative and then be able to display this ability via writing).</p>
<p>I suspect that the logic is that whether or not a student chooses to complete the “optional” essay says a lot about their personality as well. I don’t doubt that students will be admitted who choose not to complete it, but I have a suspicion that the rest of their application would have to be phenomenal to even be considered. This is speculation, but I believe the new essay to be a litmus test for either work-ethic or interest.</p>
<p>i haven’t been to an amusement park since i was 8 so this is going to be a little tough. hopefully they’ll appreciate that</p>
<p>Just choose a random ride that is commonly found at an amusement that may have qualities representing an academic journey.</p>
<p>I don’t think I would over think this one. If you are really interested in going to Emory, you should write the optional essay. I wrote one on the roller coaster. May sound a little on the boring side, but developed into a creative essay with insight on my view of life, not just academics. You can write about a merry go round…anything.</p>
<p>I agree that it is a test of your interest. There are other colleges that have an optional essay and many of the applicants have noted they got deferred and did not write the optional essay. Emory likes demonstrated interest, this is another way you can demonstrate your interest and creativity. And if you do get deferred, you will know it is not because you opted not to write the essay!</p>
<p>Good luck and make it a fun exercise. From a relieved and very happy EDI accepted student!</p>
<p>Congratulations collegeismygoal!</p>
<p>I stand corrected on my post, I was thinking about what the previous post about a roller coaster. I wrote my essay on the ferris wheel. Like I said, sounds boring, but I wrote about what is important to me in life and related them to a ride on the roller coaster. I was surprised how reflective and deep riding on the roller coaster can be! </p>
<p>Also I would note, when I started writing my supplemental essays I did not notice the word limit and my essays were too long. I was pretty committed to what I had written at that point and did not want to shorten the essays. I asked my school counselor. She said it is usually not a good idea to exceed the word limit, but if it will upload, it is okay to go beyond the limit. Fortunately, it worked out for me.</p>
<p>Thanks bernie12 for the “congratulations.” I have been wearing Emory clothes every day to school since I sent my application in as my good luck charm. I am glad I will can continue to wear all of my Emory clothes and just got another new shipment for Christmas! Go Eagles!</p>
<p>^ don’t spend too much on Emory clothes. They toss them out for free every Wednesday, every sporting event, and every concert, and every other big event. That’s an exaggeration, but not a really big one. Congrats, though!</p>
<p>Casablanca, I read your stats on the other thread. I don’t think it will hurt you if you don’t write one, but if you do write one and it sucks, then it will be hurtful to your application. There’s other ways to show interest if you can’t think of a good essay. At least that’s my opinion.</p>
<p>And I wish I had a chance to write an essay like this when I applied. I only got 250 words of generic-ness to show off my awesomeness.</p>
<p>The essay does say ‘optional’ but I was told that it was another chance to talk about myself and to take advantage of the opportunity. Have some fun with it. That is what I did and I am a very happy EDI admit!!</p>
<p>Better question: why won’t you write this essay? </p>
<p>Don’t you just loooove to write?</p>
<p>If someone can’t write a good optional essay, I hate to be blunt, they should not be applying to Emory. If the essay sucks, they need to rethink their college applications.</p>
<p>Have some guts, confidence and fun…write the optional essay!</p>
<p>Congrats LKathrynK! Glad to be one of your peers next fall!</p>
<p>thanks guys. quick question. does emory admit by major?
for example, is it more difficult to get in as an econ major or sociology major. i’m interested in both</p>
<p>Hell no. It’s a liberal arts university that is currently looking for more academic diversity and talent diversity. It cares much less about your major (which shouldn’t be pre-decided by now anyway) as much as it cares about your passions. They aren’t going to care about something that doesn’t have to be declared until sophomore year (for a reason, Emory wants people to explore if they can, and then figure it out). Honestly, you need not state any type of “major” in your application. Simply sticking to those two as “interests” is more than good enough. Even if you said: “I’m not sure of my specific academic interests and hopefully Emory’s liberal arts based curriculum/offerings will lead me somewhere”, you would be fine. In fact, such a response may be respected more than pre-declaring majors (which doesn’t hurt, but doesn’t help either unless you show legit passion about them). Basically, if you’re going to say anything about having specific academic endeavors, it’s about the way you present that interest ( You know, how you arrived at such a decision or how you demonstrated it before coming) not what they are. Emory cares less about the latter (And to be clear, this is an overstatement, they don’t care at all. If they really cared, do you think we would have a school over-run with students of every major and minor you could think of. Why bother offering 70 or so majors/concentrations? Seriously?). I can’t picture the adcoms saying: “These people that have interest and passion in multiple things at once like a economics and sociology combo, serious liberal arts oriented majors, have no place in our college, however we do like those who just like economics because they will be able to perfect one subject and will grow up and become successful businessmen/women and potentially donate a lot back to this institution. And that’s what a liberal arts education is all about!” lol</p>
<p>Sorry, I just had to rant and have some fun with this because I find your inquiry funny and wonder if others have the same concern. It’s just strange that students applying to a place like Emory (which is liberal arts) would worry about this. As soon as Emory starts rejecting many of the people pre-declaring themselves as pre-prof., then the adcoms are on to something lol. Then this question may be legit, but until then (never), nothing to worry about</p>
<p>Thank you Bernie. That rant was pretty awesome. I think I’ll apply undeclared</p>
<p>whoaaa emory is asking about a rollercoaster in its essays? when did we get like Uchicago/tufts?</p>
<p>You can always invent an amusement park ride. That would show creativeness.</p>
<p>Remember, it is you they are interested in - not some amusement park ride!</p>
<p>“The point of the essay is to attempt to gauge the creativity of applicants and I’m honestly surprised and somewhat annoyed by them making it optional (I think all applicants to a top tier institution, especially one that supposedly has a liberal arts approach. Students applying here should be able to show some ability to be creative and then be able to display this ability via writing).” - bernie12</p>
<p>I wholeheartedly DISAGREE with this. Yes, the optional essay is another opportunity for you to showcase the imaginative and charismatic aspects of your character to the admission officers. You should keep in mind, however, that the optional essay is truly OPTIONAL. To be honest, I stumbled upon this thread looking for an excuse not to write the optional essay, but reading some of the comments made me realize something. There is more than one way of showing interest or creativity. Just because a university shows emphasis on liberal arts does not mean that the student must “show some ability to be creative … via writing”. If writing the essay will hurt your application, either because the essay will sound forced, or sloppy, then DO NOT do it.</p>
<p>I wrote mine about the “drop-zone” type ride at Six Flags over Georgia in Atlanta. Thought that might be more unique than roller coasters. Though omg my essay was so cheesy hahaha, now that I re-read it. All about how I take risks and plunge head-first into life because I have no fear metaphorical heights (the ride’s name is Acrophobia - fear of heights). I seriously used the phrase “I’m headed towards the stars.” Hopefully that won’t hurt me lol. </p>
<p>In my why Emory essay, I wrote about how their offering of a Neuroscience major was a factor in why I wanted to go there… also hoping that wont hurt me</p>
<p>I didn’t say “must”. I said, you “should” be able to show this through writing (just as you should be able to explain the value of the favorite EC that you did in HS, whether it be one that involves the arts, writing or any area traditionally indicating a spirit of creativity or innovation, or even not). Why would you not be able to show this? You are a top student. Surely you probably know how to write decently. And more than likely, you have at least an ounce of creativity. It’s really not that hard. The fact is, it often does not show in people’s resumes/list of activities in the application. I feel this is a good way to do it. If the ability to write effectively at liberal arts oriented universities (or entities of a university is supposedly important (As indicated by most having at least a first year writing requirement and Emory making you do several more after this along. Can’t say it achieves its goal, but such requirements are nonetheless an attempt) with the ability to think critically, and analytically (a key step in coming up with/“creating” your own ideas) why wouldn’t doing this essay prompt be a way to show that you can do both? And again, why shouldn’t we be able to do this? We should. It is certainly not the “only” way to gauge creativity, but it is nonetheless an interesting way of approaching this issue along with several other qualities that fit well with the liberal arts oriented goals of an Emory CAS education. Think about it like this. It feels kind of cool when you can address a prompt that you haven’t heavily researched or prepared for with finesse. I felt like this in cell biology last semester where the exams would contain research article abstracts that we were not exposed to in class and then we had to explain the phenomenon in them, often coming up with our own ideas to propose a model of how the system might be working and then being told to design an experiment to prove or disprove our model. The way that class and its exams were conducted was the liberal arts method of education at its best; and in the sciences too, an area that most students think is about regurgitation and is a field where there isn’t room for creativity (basically, many view the sciences as separate from the liberal arts and immune to such an approach. This idea is VERY wrong). Anyway, creativity need not always be displayed through the visual or performing arts or even say “inventing facebook”. It can be displayed through a “life of the mind approach” (and liberal arts colleges and universities attempt to encourage students to develop this “life of the mind” along with their other abilities and hobbies). Writing is one such way that this type of creativity can be gauged. And it is certainly an easy way to do it on an application. Anyway, that is the purpose of that essay, like it or not. And it is indeed optional. I just don’t think it should be. I feel that everyone should be able to do it. We are supposedly awesome students with awesome minds. Prove it. However, I believe Emory is honestly using it to “identify”(as opposed to weeding out based upon whether or not you do it) the students that are more inclined to pursue this “life of the mind” attitude toward education instead of continuing to only attract Emory stereotypes if you know what I mean. Such an essay can give the unconventional student an additional opportunity to distinguish themselves that they would not have had in years prior to the implementation of the prompt.</p>