<p>Hey, I know you guys don't want to answer questions about stuff like this but, since you apparently did better on the interview than me, please advise.</p>
<p>My interviewers didn't talk about my essays. When they did, I was fine. They started asking me stuff about pedagogy and amelioration of deficient school systems. One of them was a Harvard Grad working for Teach for America (ie, expert at this stuff); I go to a middle-of-the-road school and have never expressed any interest in that stuff.</p>
<p>How do you, in thirty seconds, formulate a complete and supported opinion on something you have never considered? I need (from experience) three minutes to come up with something that will withstand an argument.</p>
<p>Inkling if you seriously research the subject and have a passion for it coming up with a response is instantaneious, I don't even remember thinking for mine, that's why I called mine a debate, one shoots back while the other goes on. I also noticed the fact you weren't too passionate about the education system in pursuing knowledge about it. You said your mom told you what little you knew about it. If you looked it up yourself you wouldn't have a need to think about it.</p>
<p>On preparing for interviews--if they ask about an issue you haven't thought about before:</p>
<p>(a) feel free to ask your interviewer questions--i.e. "Could you explain the background of this controversy a bit? I'm not familiar with it." </p>
<p>(b) don't be afraid to take some time to think about it--definitely in TASP interviews, and I'd say in college interviews, too, it's fine, even better, to take thirty seconds or a minute just to process. After that, you can hazard an answer, or think aloud a bit, or articulate why you are having difficulty answering the question. </p>
<p>What's most important is that you seem intelligent and thoughtful, not that you "win a debate" or have a quick, snappy answer.</p>
<p>zetsui if you read his post you would know that he had no time to "research the topic" because there was no way for him to know that it would even come up.</p>
<p>inkling, it sucks that you didn't have a good interview; in fact, i personally do not think the interview process was fair at all and i was accepted. i would agree with davie's suggestions though. ask your interviewer to clarify the topic and if was totally out of the blue, even venture a "i'm sorry, but i'm not familiar with... but..." and then try to steer it towards something mildly related that you are familiar with. :)</p>
<p>UT Austin - Amanda (Celestine Frost), June (yeggypeggy)</p>
<p>Washington- no one yet? </p>
<p>Sorry if I missed anybody. I went through the posts twice, but still mighta missed something.</p>
<p>The previous TASPers seemed to have a bit of goodnatured competition between groups... Points to June for getting ours started with her list ^_^</p>
<p>Collegedude01, I don't think it was totally unfair. Fact is, y'all had the same situation as I did (antagonistic interviewers trained to figure out where knowledge boundaries stopped), I just didn't handle it as well as you did. It was my first interview and really my first conversation that was geared to bring out my weaknesses, so I was unprepared.</p>
<p>Let's hope my scholarship interviews won't go so badly!</p>
<p>My friend is going to the Michigan program. You Michigan people are gonna love her. She's super nice, smart, funny, and intelligent. I'll give her your AIM s/n's. </p>
<p>"A TASP is a six-week educational experience for high school juniors that offers challenges and rewards rarely encountered in secondary school or even college. Each program is designed to bring together young people from around the world who share a passion for learning. Telluride students, or TASPers, attend a seminar led by college and university faculty members and participate in many other educational and social activities outside the classroom.
Students attend TASPs because they want to challenge and change themselves. Telluride Association seeks students from all kinds of educational backgrounds who demonstrate intellectual curiosity and motivation, rather than prior knowledge of the seminar's subject matter. TASPers participate solely for the pleasure and rewards of learning with other intelligent, highly motivated students. The TASP offers no grades or college credit. "</p>
<p>I just saw a TASPer (or whatever you call them) today at the bookstore! I didn't see his face, just really long wavy blonde hair, and he was wearing a black T-shirt with Telluride '05 written on the back. It was weird, because I had been thinking of applying, but then changed my mind.</p>
<p>I don't know, maybe the kid was already accepted, and got the shirt already? Or maybe it was for TASS. But it definitely said Telluride '05, I mean, it happened a couple hours ago, so I don't think my memory's failing me yet :P</p>
<p>well Telluride is also the name of a resort town in Colorado... it has a famous film festival, etc. the guy probably attended some event in Telluride, CO. Generally TASPers call it TASP, not Telluride.</p>
<p>"I just saw a TASPer (or whatever you call them) today at the bookstore! I didn't see his face, just really long wavy blonde hair, and he was wearing a black T-shirt with Telluride '05 written on the back."</p>
<p>There is a lot more to the Telluride Association than just TASS or TASP. There are undergraduate programs as well. Some Telluride associates live in the Telluride House at Cornell or the U or Michigan. You should have just asked the person in the bookstore about his involvement with Telluride.</p>