<p>Hello!
I'm an international student doing the IB diplomme.</p>
<p>I have to send a graded writing sample to colleges and I'm having doubts.</p>
<p>Should I send them an English (A2 higher level) essay (1100 words) on topic:
Referring to at least two literary works you've studied, explain what is meant by the phrase a strong character - here they would see my writing and analytic skills</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>the first phase of internal assessment in psychology (higher level) (1700 words) which is obligatory in ib - we are testing a theory of gender schema (replicating two experiments done by famous psychologists) and here u can see my introduction, description of my experiment (research questions, hypothesis, null hypothesis, design- methods, participants then procedure, instruction, consent form, debriefing letter, questionnaire). this would show my organisational, analytical skills, how precise i am but also my writing.
my teacher recommends me to send it to show that the ib is different and in a way harder than the rest of "regular" school.</p>
<p>please help me out, i have a few days to decide and have to send it all by 1.1. and it takes 2 weeks from europe to america by snail mail plus holidays r coming up.</p>
<p>Send the first one. If both papers are well-written, you want to show that you can synthesize information and contribute new insights to a discussion. A technical lab report won’t get you anywhere.</p>
<p>its not a technical report. its a project that we have been doing for 3 months bcoz u have to plan everythibg by urself and once when done, it will be send to ib examiners</p>
<p>Maybe your original description is a bit off, but it does sound like a technical report to me: research questions, hypothesis, null hypothesis, design- methods, participants, procedure, instruction, consent form, debriefing letter, questionnaire… You may or may not agree with the phrase “lab report”. Here at my American college, psychology experiments and surveys are referred to as “labs”, just like physics experiments.</p>
<p>What are you trying to show with your writing sample? That you know how to conduct a survey? If you think this is the better paper, or you want your application to say “>>> future social scientist here <<<” over and over again, it might be the right paper to submit. But think about it from a different point of view. It is not hard to learn how to conduct an experiment. It is much harder to learn to synthesize information and add your own insights. Knowing how to conduct an experiment might be useful, but your American peers will catch up on you after their first experimental psychology class. If you can demonstrate in your writing sample that you have original ideas and that you can convey them, you make yourself a much more valuable applicant. A student making clever connections is the star of any small seminar!</p>
<p>That being said, you know better than any one of us which paper is a better reflection of your abilities and potential. If the psychology is more polished than the English paper, it might be the right choice.</p>
<p>thank you. well nownim really nit sure i have to send it by wednesday. somehow i believe psy would catch their attention.
bdw my applicatiin is not screaming <<future scientist=“”>> especially since my planned majors r linked to politics, languages, economics and then as a minor might be math.
friend of mine told me almost every1 sends their english papers so with psy i might stand out.</future></p>