@lkg4answers As far as I know, invites/nominations don’t play any role in selection and are just to attract prospective applicants.
Here’s a quote from Telluride: “Nominations help us identify promising candidates, but they play no role in our process once program brochures have been sent to nominees.”
When are we supposed to receive invites?
Or are the invites only sent to National Merit Semifinalists?
I had a PSAT of 1480. While not terrible, it’s certainly not impressive… would I qualify for an invite/brochure?
@Kingtape @memeqween101 @everyone, As promised, here is the video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcLM_Be2Aj8&feature=youtu.be. I hope it’s helpful to you all 
There were some difficult things that happened at my TASP, not gonna lie! There were some people who I really struggled to get along with, and because the topic of my seminar was so visceral and personal for just about all of us (trauma and memory in creative writing), there were a few momentary breakdowns. However, we did manage to regroup, move forward, and grow stronger as a community. I think the last day of TASP is illustrative of the dichotomy - we were all crying and hugging as people got shuttled off to the airport in their taxis because we were going to miss one another so much, but there were a couple of people who I was hoping I wouldn’t have to stick around much longer with.
Everyone’s personality at TASP is extremely strong, and that can lead to some clashing. At the same time, it’s those clashes that helped us all to grow. When I think of what I learned at TASP, I think of the arguments with other students or times when my own notions were shown to be completely wrong. Those times were hard and sometimes painful in the moment, but I am endlessly grateful for them. And there were also plenty of happy, fluffy times with bubble tea and walks in the rain to balance those moments out!
@Kingtape - You don’t need an invitation to apply and having an invitation does not put you in a favorable position with respect to acceptance. Also, not having an invitation doesn’t negatively affect your application. Your having gotten or not having gotten an invitation is immaterial to getting accepted. Having a high PSAT can help, but it’s really all about your essays.
@5toryt3ll3r thanks so much!
@Kingtape my pleasure! and to echo what the others have said, you don’t need anything but to apply. I wasn’t nominated or invited, and I still got in. There are people who go to TASP with low GPAs and SAT scores, and those who have those top grades don’t tend to lord it over those who don’t or anything like that. So long as they can envision a place for you in such a way that they think you’ll contribute to an interesting mix of personalities, they’ll accept you.
Is TASP appropriate for science students?
Hi everyone, I’m new to this thread but I recently found out about TASP through the email that was sent out based on PSAT scores. I had a couple of questions about it, and I don’t know who else to ask, so I guess I’ll pose my questions here.
TASP seems like a really cool experience, but I’d like opinions on whether it is worth it for me to attend (or even apply). I read the course descriptions on the website, but they all sound pretty humanities-based. I would definitely enjoy discussing the topics and learn a lot, but is it worth my time as a student wishing to study engineering?
My current plans for summer '19 are to continue the research that I am doing in a local university’s lab and to take Calc 3 (MVC) at the local university. If I attended TASP, I wouldn’t be able to do either of these things, much less anything else STEM-related. I have heard that, since TASP is a very selective program, college admissions looks very highly upon it. I don’t have any other “hooks”, so I am looking for anything that would make me stand out to an adcom.
If you have any advice on my course of action for next summer, I would greatly appreciate it!
If you are applying to University as a science major, you probably should not do TASP, but it would certainly be a kind of “hook” into the humanities path.
Many of my friends have gone into engineering and they found doing summer science internships to be very beneficial for applications and otherwise.
@sciencegirl2024 @Tsitobia, while my TASP had several students who were incredibly advanced in science, if you’re looking at TASP as a ‘hook’ for college, I would advise that you don’t apply unless it seems to you like TASP is place where you’d be learning for the love of it. If humanities isn’t your thing, it won’t be fun for you, and it won’t help you create a consistent narrative for your college applications, thereby backfiring in the first place.
Instead, maybe you could look into some similarly prestigious STEM programs? RSI, MITES, and MOSTEC, all at MIT, are all great places to start - Google any of the acronyms along with MIT and you’ll find a plethora of information. However, if you do feel like TASP would be an enriching experience that you would want regardless of college, totally go ahead and apply! Good luck with whatever you both end up doing next summer! ^.^
@5toryt3ll3r Thank you for the information! I’ll look into those programs.
Were there a lot of TASSers at your TASP? Like if I went to TASS last summer, and was lucky enough to get into TASP, was there a good chance that I’d see someone I know, or was there only like 1 or 2 TASSers per location?
Thanks for letting us know about your experiences!
@CreativeWalrus You’re so welcome, and yes there were definitely a few! I immediately thought of 6 TASSers just now out of 27 of us, so that’s 2/9ths of the community already, and I’m probably forgetting some. They were from a couple of different TASS sessions, but there were definitely people who knew each other and were really close.
I’m finding it super hard to pick a text for the 2nd long answer essay. I really want to do Jekyll and Hyde but I don’t feel like it’s advanced or unique enough. What texts are y’all doing?
Jekyll and Hyde sounds pretty unique. From what I’ve read on the forums, people have gotten in with Justin Bieber lyric analysis… think you’ll be fine
Is it just me or did they just add a live word count to the responses?
Are the essays supposed to be written in a formal prose or a more informal, casual form of writing?
I know this is kinda random, but in the general information section, it asks if you have a job. I have a job at Ben and Jerry’s (heavily populated in the summer haha) and do you think to mention it will hurt my chances?
Also having trouble with the 2nd long essay topic… I want to write about something speculative that’s not really related to current social issues, but I’m worried that might hurt my application… any thoughts?
Is TASP only for juniors or can sophomores apply?
(not TASS)