@QuestionCactus Same 
A while ago, I contacted a TASPlicant who didn’t make it to the interview round on reddit. He lamented his procrastination, his leaving several of his essays unfinished till the last day. His rejection hit him especially hard; he’d known that he’d blown a potentially life-changing opportunity and that his laziness was the likely culprit (though it’s difficult to say if he’d have gotten in if he didn’t procrastinate). There might be some confirmation bias mixed in there, but I think the general sentiment still stands.
Procrastinating too much on the essays is probably not a good idea. Not getting into TASP certainly isn’t the end of the world, but the knowledge that you could’ve done more and didn’t might sting for months after.
Although I have heard that a significant portion of TASPlicants get in writing last-minute essays, there’s probably a substantially larger number who might’ve gotten an interview but didn’t due to sheer indolence.
His parting word of advice was to refine the essays until you couldn’t any further, until you were satisfied with your efforts, so that if the rejection comes, you’ll at least know you tried your best.
Deadline’s in four days, guys. Let’s do this. 
@mullophone I’m not an AO for TASP, but I doubt a few typos would make or break an application
is mentioning my having depression harmful to my chances of being accepted?
@mullophone I wouldn’t worry about typos. From my experience they don’t seem to retract from your chance of getting an interview – I believe they are much more concerned with the quality and complexity of your ideas than if you accidentally typed the wrong word.
@5toryt3ll3r Sorry for the deluge of questions, but I’ve got another one:
Do you think it matters if the focus is on a narrow part of my education for the first part? I’ve mostly written about how I’ve developed my creative writing and the educational opportunities there, but didn’t really talk about anything else
Should I broaden the scope of the essay?
@kanagawa Hey! I was wondering if you emailed Telluride to ask if a work of art would be ok for the second prompt? I was also thinking about choosing a work of art. Thanks so much for your help!
@Kingtape I don‘t know if you want my opinion, but I thought I‘d just give my two cents.
As long as you enjoy and feel like whatever you‘ve written about is a central part of your life, then it‘s probably good. They just want to find out what kind of person you are and if those are your main things, then you should be fine. I think you should just put more time into phrasing and making the reader feel like they‘re with you—that kind of writing will pull them in.
how have people gone about the what-if scenario prompt with the kneeling? im so lost
@random72 hi! i ended up going with a miyazaki quote instead, sorry i can’t be of more help!
@geemssi i approached it by directly answering the prompt, and giving some insight on how i see issues from both sides coming from a liberal mother and a conservative father.
just my two cents, but maybe try talking through it with an older friend/family member/someone who knows you well and can give you insightful advice and see how that might get your ideas flowing
What are you guys doing with contractions? I feel like the essays are somewhat informal, so I’ve been using them, but I’m curious what you guys are doing.
@UesugiKenshin I’m using contractions for “I’m” and “I’ve” and “it’s” whenever it feels stilted to do it otherwise. I reckon it’s all right, but I’m no authority. Krystle’s essays use contractions, if I remember correctly.
Hi everyone,
I know this is a bit late, but I was wondering how everyone formatted their short answer questions. Should I make a list and have a little blurb of info for each entry or should I write an essay explaining each one?
@odyssey3102 I think that you just need to do a list. They don’t want long answers for those ones.
Well for the faves, you should do a list. For the third one, put a little bit of info. For the first one, do a list and explanation.
On my application website, there are two applications showing up. What should I do? Is this happening to anyone else?
@5toryt3ll3r Would it be alright if I sent you one or two of my essays for editing Sunday? Sorry, I know it’s super late so feel free to decline!
How many procrastinators do we have left? I am currently finishing essay 3, which means I only have half of essay 2 left to do tomorrow. ;
for the favorities short answer question, what categories are people covering? how many entries is about right?