<p>^^The spirtual experience would be much better. Admissions officers consistently state they want to know you, so let them know you. I mean the hospital intern stuff is probably on another part of you app so they would already know about it.</p>
<p>st. aegis… wow you’re cool. just list whatever it is that you do to fill your time during the summer.</p>
<p>Every response you provide on your application is an opportunity for you to distinguish yourself. Admission’s officers often consider that students are less coached on these types of supplementary questions than on their primary essays, and thus these questions can sometimes provide the readers with unfiltered insights into how a student thinks and writes. Therefore, a cogent, creative, and compelling mini-essay is superior to a laundry list of activities.
Case in point. When my son went to April hosting several years ago, he met an admission’s officer who told him, “I remember your application. You wrote about how in the summer you …” As one respondent noted, you can certainly just list your activities and still be accepted to Princeton so long as the totality of your application meets Princeton’s standards. But what do you lose by making an effort to present the information to the reader in a way that is more interesting than a list?</p>
<p>I still say list. That’s what I did.</p>
<p>I’m writing this response from my dorm room at Princeton…</p>
<p>It’s definitely a list. They definitely don’t want you focusing on one specific thing. They want to know about all the interesting things you did! This could include research, practical work experience, pasttimes, vacations, etc.</p>
<p>Were you planning on writing an essay for the “Favorite movie” question, too? lol, they just want to know that you’re not some boring, test-acing robot that has no life.</p>
<p>^Yeah, I agree. I think they’d be kind of annoyed when they ask “what did you do over your summers” and you hit them with a 600 word essay.</p>
<p>I don’t really think it matters either way…just don’t slam them with a 1000 word essay or a one bullet list. (I just wrote two paragraphs…five or so sentences for the summer of 2007 and about ten-twelve sentences for the summer of 2008–something interesting happened then :))</p>
<ol>
<li> The form in which you provide the information should be determined by the content.</li>
<li> No one wants to read an essay whose content could more easily be conveyed in a list. If you have nothing interesting to say about what you did, a list is fine.</li>
<li> On the other hand, no admissions officer is going to be annoyed with reading a compelling 300 word account of a summer activity. The space provided in the on-line supplement, if fully used, allows for an essay of approximately 300 words. Lincoln needed 278 words to write the Gettysburg Address. 300 words is enough space to tell a story or convey an impression. </li>
<li> For the vast majority of applicants, nothing that you list or write will make a difference in the determination made about your admittance. Im sure it is correct that many, if not most, students admitted simply listed their summer activities.</li>
<li> For a very small group of students, what you did and/or how you describe what you did will influence the decision made about your application.</li>
<li> If an essay would provide a more interesting, insightful way to describe how you spent your summers than a mere list of activities, you should consider taking the time to write the essay.</li>
</ol>
<p>thank you! good points</p>