<p>Yanners, don't worry.</p>
<p>Also, I heard tasp is trying to double the number of people accepted this year (as evident by the increase in seminars)</p>
<p>@p45510n ~ I know. I was responding to Oreo too. That's why I had to edit and add another "^" (above) sign when I realized you'd already posted before I did. Haha. Now I realize I needed yet another "^" sign because crimson also got his/her post in before I did.</p>
<p>I think I'll just write the poster's name in front of my message next time...</p>
<p>Zachsta- But there were 5 seminars for TASP 2006 as well?...</p>
<p>yanners, did you check online? <a href="http://www.usps.com%5B/url%5D">www.usps.com</a>. i got a confirmation receipt number that i typed in and it turned out my app got there on friday morning. </p>
<p>and zachsta, wait, what? there were five seminars last year. i think the number's still 86... correct me if i'm wrong.</p>
<p>agh, i need to stop checking this thread! so unhealthy. and it just makes me want to go even more.</p>
<p>'til march, when the interview/rejection emails are sent! >_<</p>
<p>TASP isn't trying to double the number of people accepted; there were 5 seminars last year, and there are 5 seminars this year. Each seminar cannot hold more than 15-16 students because TASP is very discussion-oriented.</p>
<p>TASP is the best. I still might apply to the Harvard SSP, ONLY if I get a questbridge scholarship. I could never afford on my own. lol. Though TASP is definitely #1 without question.</p>
<p>A-san, it's probably the same for me. Harvard SSP = if I don't get into TASP (and RSI, if I apply), and if they pay for a heck of a lot of my tuition. TASP is the best! :D</p>
<p>taggart: OH. haha :]
yanners: yea check the usp thing, yay for priority/registered/tracked/whateveritwascalled mail!</p>
<p>haha i know i freaked out about that. i paid for the priority mail/mail tracking/signature confirmation and everything. and my app was hand-delivered to the post office to make sure that they put the right postmark on there for january 22nd. :) crazy fun times.</p>
<p>In the unfortunate event that I don't get into TASP, I would work 14-hour days at the local Obama campaign office. Yay, living in NH!</p>
<p>Oh, lucky.</p>
<p>I mean, in NJ, I could have had the prestigious opportunity of working for Jim McGreevey's campaign.</p>
<p>Ah, okay. Though I really ought to be doing my English research project right now (hehe), I simply can't resist the magnetic power of this thread. Anyway, here's what I wrote for my essays:</p>
<p>*Literary Analysis: * ~2 pages. I wrote an in-depth analysis of Plath's "Full Fathom Five," one of her pieces in which I've always been acutely fascinated. Commented on the use of tone, metaphor, maritime imagery, and various literary techniques that solidify the poet's views on death/mortality. Not my best critique ever, but it'll have to do!</p>
<p>*Topic in a Field of Interest: * 2 pages. Discussed the merits of Luddism and the negative aspects of technology, aka "technopathy" as I so fondly called it. Very colloquial, though waxing nostalgic at times. This was one of my longer essays and might be on the wordy side (ack!), but I did try my best to throw in some personal insights, so hopefully it won't be too dry. Ironically enough, I chose the UT Austin seminar as my second choice. :)</p>
<p>*Personal Conflict: * 2 pages. Wrote about my childhood disillusionment and a series of realizations that came to me during an exhausting summer spent in the countryside of my hometown (in Shaanxi, China). Discussed how my entire view of life changed thanks to an overripe melon and bag of tofu. I really poured my soul into this essay, though admittedly it was somewhat awkward to write, if only because of its intensely personal nature. After all when you are a kid you tend to do a lot of...shall we say, foolish things...Sigh. Brings back interesting memories.</p>
<p>*Future Objectives: * 1.75 pages. Hmm, not much to say on this one. I basically divided the sum of my existence in three segments, (1) my past inspirations, (2) my aspirations in college, and (3) the future in general. Talked about the irony of my love for writing and Humanities, considering my initial horror of books, history, and the like. </p>
<p>*Book List: * 1.5 pages. Divided and alphabetized by author into various categories: Fiction, Science Fiction, Poetry & Philosophy, Other Nonfiction, Misc, and Periodicals. Books ranging in seriousness from St Augustine's City of God to Dr. Seuss. (Well, what can I say? I love Dr. Seuss. There's something about children's books that are simply elegant.) </p>
<p>*Rankings: * 1.75 pages. Babbled for a while about my love of Cornell II. Titled and discussed briefly (and, as I just noticed, in decreasing verbosity) each of the other seminars. Perhaps the discerning reader call sense my mind wandering as I jump from one topic to the next...hehe.</p>
<p>daenerys - hey hey! cornell II was my first pick too! and UT Austin was number 2! :D</p>
<p>Taggart - yeah, NJ politics is pretty depressing. Though I really like Rush Holt.</p>
<p>Literary Analysis: 2.5 pages.</p>
<p>Analyzed Coppola's Apocalypse Now. My main thesis was that the film was about how knowledge of things we should not know ultimately destroys us. Placed my argument around the centrality of the three characters and the environment created by the film. References to Greek tragedy, the Bible, and All the King's Men </p>
<p>Topic in a Field of Interest: 1.5 page. </p>
<p>My worst essay. It was about human inattention and ignorance continues even through modern technology and globalization. I centered it around my thoughts on the film Babel. Aimed for stream of consciousness. After I saw the film, I was so moved, I wrote this in 30 minutes flat. It's all reflection.</p>
<p>Personal Conflict: 2 pages.</p>
<p>About how I met a dying cancer patient and decided to break some guidelines in my summer internship to try and heal him. Film, literature, and Jell-O.</p>
<p>Future Objectives: 1.25 pages.</p>
<p>I titled it Discovery. Centered my arguments that whatever I wanted to do, I just wanted to find something new. Referenced a lot of examples and Batman Begins</p>
<p>Book List: 1 page.</p>
<p>Just a list. Pure and simple. Around 35 books.</p>
<p>Rankings: 1.25 pages</p>
<p>I sort of wrote what I thought each seminar was about and how it connected to me. Definitely emphasized that Cornell I was my top choice.</p>
<p>@ Crimson ~ Yeah. Especially if you have conservative or republican sympathies.</p>
<p>Oh. Now I see how much I got owned on this TASP application.</p>
<p>Literary Analysis: ~1.5 pages. I wrote an analysis on F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise, after I couldn't figure out how to analyze Rand's We the Living. I stated the obvious and stressed that his melodic language set the mood and spoke of the period of disillusionment, using text examples. I also wrote a paragraph stating how I found it useless and stupid to analyze punctuation, symbolism, and various types of literary techniques. I then talked about the overall meaning of the text -- the only things important to me. All said, it was a critic's nightmare.</p>
<p>Topic in a Field of Interest: 1.5 pages. Talked about how the world was drowning in a sea of faux modesty and reminisced about my experiences in China and how much I hated the communist regime. Also talked about how badly some communities receive news of success and etc. I didn't think it was too bad an essay. I could've made it better.</p>
<p>Personal Conflict: 2 pages. I wrote about dispassion and waking up to recognize passion. I'm very proud of this essay, and I think it was an example of, not my fully developed literary skills, but something that's on the way.</p>
<p>Future Objectives: 3 paragraphs. I didn't think it was a real essay, so I put in some things from my NJ Gov school of the Arts essay.</p>
<p>Book List: I don't know. I listed about 20 works though -- the 20 works that mattered most to me that I could talk about for hours on end. They were also the only books I've read this year.</p>
<p>Rankings: Again, no idea. I wrote it directly in the box. It was list-format.</p>
<p>I swear, CC is the ultimate distractor. I can't resist.</p>
<p>I used arial narrow font on my application, which probably saved me a heck of a lot of space.</p>
<p>Literary analysis: A bit less than two pages</p>
<p>I analyzed "The Ambitious Guest", by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Specifically, I discussed the author's negative views on ambition, as evidenced in his portrayal of the grandmother, daughter and traveler. I cited my pages when I included textual evidence. Then, after I sent out my application, I realized that those page numbers wouldn't do any good. Oops. Hope that doesn't count against me.</p>
<p>Topic in a field of interest: Again, a bit less than 2 pages</p>
<p>I wrote about genetic modification, and its potential uses and long-standing negative consequences were it to be restricted in terms of human usage. It took me forever to think of a topic for this prompt, and I'm not sure if I'm quite satisfied with this essay.</p>
<p>Personal conflict: EXACTLY two pages</p>
<p>This was more personal than I had originally thought; it's about some of my run-ins with a teacher last year over a bad grade, and how I grew from that and began to appreciate the teacher's suggestions and lessons. It's not as fluffy as it might sound, and I think I'm relatively pleased with it.</p>
<p>Objectives for future education: ~1.25 pages</p>
<p>Stated that I wanted to pursue higher education, then either law or medicine (for different reasons than most). Somehow managed to ramble for a little bit about pancakes, tooth fairies and princesses.</p>
<p>Book List: Ha. Less than a page. </p>
<p>Probably the weakest point of my application. 31 books total, with 12 being read for school. I know I've probably missed a few books in the authoring of this list; it took me forever just to think of ANY that I've read lately.</p>
<p>Seminar preferences: A bit less than 2 pages</p>
<p>I wrote it all out in essay format, spending a hefty chunk of it emphasizing my preference for Cornell II, and then UT Austin. Then I did a little blurb about how I would benefit from the other three as well. I really am interested in all of them. Cornell II and UT Austin just really really jumped out at me. At the very end, I put them all into list format, for simplicity's sake.</p>
<p>daenerys: wow, we have similiar personal conflict essays. actually all my essays (besides the luddism one) seems to parallel yours. interesting. =) </p>
<p>and cornell II is my first choice, too. </p>
<p>reading everyone else's essay topics makes me feel slightly squeamish. ack! [pries self away from the thread]</p>
<p>My essays.</p>
<p>Critical Analysis: Raymond Smullyan's dialogue "Is God a Taoist?" 1.9 pages.</p>
<p>Topic in a field of interest: Stereotypes of environmentalists, what it means to be an environmentalist, and why it's important. 1.6 pages.</p>
<p>Personal Conflict: My offbeat sense of humor. This was my favorite essay. 1.8 pages.</p>
<p>Future Plans: Centered around the age-old question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" 2.5 pages.</p>
<p>Book List: 32 books.</p>
<p>Rankings: Wrote how I personally connected with them. 1.2 pages.</p>
<p>I'm fascinated by how all of us got such different essays from the same prompts. I've read a couple people's essays, and they're all so unique and awesome.</p>
<p>Literary Analysis - 1.5 pgs. I wrote about William Cullen Bryant's poem "Thanatopsis," and how its ultimate message was that mankind is not alone in life or death. Briefly covered its rhyme scheme, use of iambic pentameter, and its caesura. </p>
<p>Topic of Choice - 1.5 pgs. It started with a story about photographing bees on a hot summer's day, then related this to my baby brother playing in the living room. Basically I chose the problem of children losing their creativity as they grow up because of the pressures of formal education. I liked this one a lot, it was something I felt very strongly about.</p>
<p>Personal conflict - 1.5 pgs. I was a little hesitant about writing this one in the beginning. It's about how I was a hypocrite at first, saying I was tolerant but holding prejudices at the same time, especially towards Muslims. Then, I decided to go to a Muslim tournament-type thing and shed my prejudice. I thought it said a lot about how I grew.</p>
<p>Future education - 1.5 pgs. Started off with a song quote, then went on to detail my experiences with photography. Did three little vignettes about famous photos and how they told a story to the world. Essentially it said that I didn't know what I wanted out of life, but I did know that I wanted to keep pursuing photography. I don't think I can do my favorite essay justice in so few sentences, but I loved this one. </p>
<p>Book list - <1 pg. I hold no pretensions of being a high-brow literary critic. My booklist was plain and teenagerish, just like me. Lots of popular fiction, a couple non-fictions, and three magazines. I think it was 27 titles total?</p>
<p>Seminar preferences - 1 pg exactly. I just made a list of my choices in order, then wrote a paragraph on each, why I wanted to go. My first choice was Cornell I.</p>