Guyssss I just finished essay one and now I see the second half of the question and have to figure out how to incorporate it agh this is taking ages but I’m motivated lmao
Also, does anybody know whether it’s harder for internationals to be selected? I’m in India 
Hey guys! TASP has motivated me to finally sign up for a collegeconfidential account, so hopefully I’m not committing any major faux pas or snafus in this first-ever post. Best of luck to everyone in the application process! I was wondering if you guys think it would be okay to respond to the 3rd question in a very… unconventional manner, I guess I’d say? My essay (already written) isn’t on an internal conflict, but it is a bit of an unusual look at the prompt. I’m hoping they’ll get what I’m going for and (fingers crossed!) see me as outside-the-box in a good way, but I’m a little nervous they might not understand what I’m going for. I suppose what I’m asking is, does anyone know how the application reviewers view unique approaches to the questions? Do they appreciate them as indicative of the people who write them, or do they not really favor them, or perhaps dislike them? Thanks so much for any responses!
Is it okay if my essay is kind of in a novel form?? kind of like “it was the summer of 2014…”
I finally finished that application and submitted. Feels soooo good!
@abell73 and @5toryt3ll3r - I think that there is a fair amount of leeway in terms of structuring your answers. I’ve heard of people writing answers in the form of poems, narratives, etc. They primarily want to see how you think, how you express yourself, and generally what makes you tick.
@martianway - I think that it is equally difficult for everyone. What matters most are diverse perspectives and open minds.
For the 250-word questions, is it necessary to have some sort of defined conclusion?
@dreamsofbrown - What’s the prompt?
@WinnerWannabe congratulations!!! two essays to go lol, kms
I’m gonna start my essays now lol. I hope I get them nice before the deadline.
Hey guys, how are your essays going? Does anybody know whether you should follow the essay limits by words or characters? Because I have an essay that has more words than 1500, but less characters than 9000, so I’m not sure whether I should try and cut it down…
Also, for those of you that got the brochure for TASP because of the PSAT, what did you score, if you don’t mind me asking?
@steph_sky8278 I didn’t get a brochure for TASP but I did score in the top 1% for the PSAT, if you want my two cents.
Also for anyone who has finished writing or any TASP alumni, for the list of books/other media, do you think it would be alright to format them as a list of sentences (e.g. “[book name] by [book author] influenced [what it meant to me]” for each sentence)?
@Rookieh Lol yeah I did too, that’s why I was wondering why I didn’t get a brochure…
@steph_sky8278 maybe they changed it this year?
Also, for anyone who has completely finished (you amazing non-procrastinators), is there anything important on Page 5 of the application after the essays? I’ll be working on the essays for a while, so I’d like to know if what’s on the page that follows also requires a good deal of time. Thanks!
@Rookieh Hm. Also I haven’t finished but I took a look at the last page, and you just have to certify that you did the application properly or whatever. There’s nothing else on the last page, so you’ll be fine
Hi y’all,
Just a quick clarifying question. On essay 3, when it says “Tell us about a time you did something that upset or hurt someone in a community you were involved in. How did you respond to this situation?”—does it want us to describe our response to the situation after we hurt someone, or describe the way we actually hurt the person in the first place? This is super nit-picky but I just want to make sure I’m answering the prompt right D:
@pielovereternal - It’s a bit of both and is open ended with respect to how you approach it. You should, however, give some background (i.e., what the circumstances were), what the person’s reactions were, how you handled it and what you learned from the whole situation.
It can be about a difference of opinion or a disagreement you had, or you can discuss a situation that made someone uncomfortable or hurt someone’s feelings.
The important thing they want to see is what your thought processes are and how you deal with uncomfortable situations, conflict, etc.
one week until applications are due :)))) best of luck finishing up your essays everyone!!!
@LoveTheBard would you be able to look over one of my essays (#2) and offer any help/constructive criticism??? if not, that’s totally okay, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.