<p>Hi,
As a current junior planning on applying to Yale next year, I'd be interested in seeing what some of you put for your short takes during this last admission cycle now that it is over and everyone's apps have been submitted. I'm not trying to steal anyone's answers - I'm won't be doing an app for about six months - I'm just curious.
Cheers,
Fortinbras</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1466-posting-essays-other-sensitive-information.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-admissions/1466-posting-essays-other-sensitive-information.html</a></p>
<p>SCEA’er here, but I’d be interested in seeing what others put as well.
For me:
Free Afternoon:
</p>
<p>Complement:
</p>
<p>Witnessing a moment in history:
</p>
<p>Wish you were better at doing:
</p>
<p>Additional Question:
</p>
<p>Edit - @Entomom: If this goes against CC’s rules, I can delete it; I thought it would be acceptable since the current cycle is over, and threads like this one exist from previous years as well.</p>
<p>^It doesn’t go against CC rules, I just wanted everyone to know that if they choose to post, later requests for deletions will NOT be honored. You all don’t see it, but MANY requests come in even though CCs policy is clearly stated in the TOS.</p>
<p>I was accepted SCEA and these are my short takes: </p>
<p>free afternoon: </p>
<p>I would visit my favorite childhood place, Rock Harbor, to be reminded by the ocean and a particular engraving that “It’s ok to dream”.</p>
<p>complement: </p>
<p>my most inspiring teacher, shared that after six years of coaching my future problem solving teams, she had enjoyed learning from me.</p>
<p>moment in history: </p>
<p>I would witness the March on Washington because it is awe-inspiring when that many Americans stand up, together, for something of consequence.</p>
<p>wish you were better at being or doing: </p>
<p>I wish I was better at standing up for myself, not just what I believe in.</p>
<p>additional question: </p>
<p>If one bumper sticker represented your personality, what would it say? </p>
<p>I, too, am interested in reading what others wrote on their apps. (:</p>
<p>Here goes mine.</p>
<p>Free afternoon:
“I would enjoy it at home with a good book, forbidding myself to work after the long and exhausting application proces.”</p>
<p>Compliment:
“I was surprised when after an English lesson I taught in a kindergarten school one boy came to me and said: ‘You were great today.’”</p>
<p>Moment in history:
“It would be very emotional and beautiful for me to witness the premiere of Beethoven’s Symphony No.7 which always brings tears to my eyes.”</p>
<p>Better at doing or being:
“No matter how hard I try, I cannot draw. Sometimes, I feel like expressing my thoughts visually but my hand simply would not co-operate.”</p>
<p>Additional question:
“What are you afraid of?”</p>
<hr>
<p>Can you please honestly tell me what you think of it? Does it seem dull?</p>
<p>@MisaMysa…I like them! They’re original but not in a cheesy, trying-too-hard way.</p>
<p>I like all of your questions, especially the thoreau one
god job you guysssssssssssssssssssssssssssss</p>
<p>@qcassidy: Thanks! I was trying to go for something original but in the end there were all together so many essays and questions that I had to come up with “original” ideas too often so I wasn’t sure if they ended up as I ment to. =)</p>
<p>Don’t know if they’re good or not, but here they are! </p>
<p>1)What would you do with a free afternoon?</p>
<p>Go bunjee jumping!</p>
<p>2)Recall a compliment you received that you value? What was it and who was it from?</p>
<p>When I got straight As in my O level, the achievement was all over the
province’s newspapers. One of them called me the best blessing bestowed by God to Kashmir.</p>
<p>3)If you could witness one event in history, what would it be and why?</p>
<p>Martin Luther Kings’ famous “I have a dream” speech. As I admire him
greatly for his determined fight for racial equality, more importantly his fight for what he believed in! </p>
<p>4)What do you wish you were better at being or doing?</p>
<p>Sports. That’s one domain that I’ve neglected. The closest I get to sports
stadiums is to see matches. Even though I’m a huge soccer/cricket fan,
watching them is all I do!</p>
<p>5)If you were to chose students to form a Yale class, what would you ask them?</p>
<p>State your favorite quote and describe its significance to you.</p>
<p>Here’s mine:</p>
<p>Free afternoon:
“I would spend the afternoon either playing scrabble with my dad; meet up with a friend or give my mum a call”</p>
<p>Compliment:
“Old soul. I called you old soul, because you don’t behave like your age-you’re mature’”</p>
<p>-IB CAS Coordinator</p>
<p>Moment in history:
“The invention of writing by the Sumerians around 3200 BC, because it started a whole new era in history where ideas and thoughts could be
documented and shared.”</p>
<p>Better at doing or being:
“That, I would be more patient when dealing with exciting situations.”</p>
<p>Additional question:
“Describe a creative solution you developed for a challenging situation or problem.”</p>
<p>Do you guys think it’s any good?</p>
<p>Waiting for the end of March…</p>
<p>Free Afternoon:
Read poem after short story after poem until a pen grips me by the fingers; grab a cup of tea, a movie, and a good friend; or waltz with my piano.</p>
<p>Compliment:
“You are already really freaking good. Let the Ferris Wheel off the hinges good lookin!” – Derrick Brown, as handwritten in my copy of “Scandalabra.”</p>
<p>A Moment in History:
Hiroshima. I want to understand what “fear” means the morning after the detonation of Little Boy and to know how I’d challenge that fear. (in any country)</p>
<p>Better Being or Doing:
Taking a step back to breathe. I sweat over each word and punctuation mark in my writing, but I want to freewrite and find beauty in the first ideas that come to mind.</p>
<p>Additional Question:
What items currently sit on your desk?</p>
<p>…welp, I never specified that Derrick Brown is a renowned slam poet ><</p>
<p>^I really like yours, littlepenguin!</p>
<p>Honestly, as human being and as a third generation Japanese American, I have difficulty with lp’s moment in history.</p>
<p>It does seem a bit fake now that you mention it. I don’t believe any wants to be in such a situation. Mine was a similar historical event, but my reasoning was different and I ended the sentence with “(only if provided with immunity to its obviously lethal effects, of course)”</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What is so “fake” about that? Littlepenguin isn’t saying that she literally wants to be in Hiroshima at the moment of detonation, but that she wants to know what it was like for the world at-large to confront fear like that, ostensibly to strengthen her own ability to face fear, no?</p>
<p>Anyway, here’s mine:</p>
<p>1.What would you do with a free afternoon tomorrow?
Catch a movie with friends, window-shop at Barnes & Nobles (so I can buy the books at half-price on Amazon later)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Recall a compliment you received that you especially value. What was it? From whom did it come?
My little sister told me I was her role model.</p></li>
<li><p>If you could witness one moment in history, what would it be and why?
The accidental “invention” of vulcanized rubber. There’s something priceless about that spontaneous moment of discovery.</p></li>
<li><p>What do you wish you were better at being or doing?
Asking others for help.</p></li>
<li><p>If you were choosing students to form a Yale class, what question would you ask here that we have not?
What animal is your personal mascot and why?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I wasn’t thinking fake so much as insensitive. The vicarious viewing of such a horrendous incident is disturbing to me and I have a hard time understanding why anyone would want to observe the extreme anguish of so many.</p>
<p>x-posted w/corona</p>
<p>I apologize for the poor wording, but what entomom said is exactly what went through my mind.<br>
I don’t think admissions officers take these short-takes too seriously, though, so no need to worry, littlepenguin.</p>
<p>Corona understood me correctly. I don’t want to observe the extreme anguish of many but rather live through that time period and understand how the world felt in a new era of possible nuclear warfare. We could study everything there is to know about Hiroshima as a pivotal moment in history but still not understand the resulting acute sense of fear and how it shaped international relations for much of the later 20th century. Though my response begins with “Hiroshima,” it focuses my emotional response as a part of a larger international response and raises the question of how we can begin to move past that initial reaction and recover.</p>
<p>I hope the officer reading my application will understand this response as corona did. That said, Yale is a long shot for me anyway. :P</p>
<p>Don’t worry littlepenguin, I think you’re perfectly fine with your response. I didn’t interpret your short as offensive or insensitive - I was able to read in between the lines and I’m sure the Yale admissions officers will too =)</p>