<p>RENT IN 3 hours!!!!?!??!?!!</p>
<p>i really don't care....</p>
<p>I know that grades have been mentioned before, but I'm still discouraged. Although my grades aren't awful, my gpa hovers at 3.5. Will this hinder me in anyway from attending TASP? By the way, I'm a sophmore.</p>
<p>sr, you ass.</p>
<p>I wasn't going to apply to TASP, but when I saw the topic for Cornell I, I'm suddenly motivated to do so.</p>
<p>Your GPA won't matter. I have a fairly high gpa now, but when I applied I had a pretty low one (sophomore year... don't ask.) If you have passion, I doubt they'd care.</p>
<p>"sr, you ass."</p>
<p>I prefer donkey, but ok....</p>
<p>
As a TASP alumni, I don't understand why you would be so hasty in your judgments without first understanding the circumstances. Yes, I know the TASP acceptee who rescinded asmission in Michigan, and the only reason he rejected TASP was because he was a national debater who taught his time would be better spent in a top-notch debate camp that would sharpen his skills for the upcoming debate season.</p>
<p>I know this may amaze and astound some of you <em>geniuses</em>, but there are other great ways to spend a summer besides going to camps like TASP and RSI.</p>
<p>Sorry if that came out rather harsh.:)</p>
<p>evil<em>asian</em>dictator... I'm certain globber was being facetious. :)</p>
<p>Actually, it's really cool that you know the kid who would have been there. My point wasn't that the summer would be wasted if he didn't go to TASP or RSI specifically, but rather that it would be a waste if he were to turn it down so he could vegetate at home. Then again, TA probably doesn't accept people like that, so it's a moot point anyway.</p>
<p>Wow, I was just wandering the web and stumbled onto this monster thread.</p>
<p>I am TASP '05 St. Louis. I thought I would add in my $.02 on top of what all the Michiganders have already said, heh heh.</p>
<p>I can honestly say the experience was life-changing. If I had not gone to TASP, I would be a very different person today. I would not have the network of friends I now have, I would not be a part of the overarching intellectual community that is the Telluride Association (which includes Paul Wolfowitz BTW), and I would not have the sense of direction about aiming higher and doing what I want to do.</p>
<p>TASP isn't so much about the academics as it is about the environment and the community. At least it was this way in St. Louis. We were a tight-knit bunch, and I don't know if there's any other way to describe it. Some of us listed St. Louis as our top choice for the program, while some of us didn't. (I listed it my 3rd choice, but during the interview I told them that my top three were very close together) In the end, it didn't matter. They taught us things that none of us knew already, so as far as prior knowledge was concerned we were on even ground. </p>
<p>Academically, they drove us hard. Although it wasn't comparable to taking a full college schedule, it was rigorous with lots of reading every day. You won't be complaining about a measly 30 pages of reading per night after this, that's for sure. Our seminars were the same way, basically--3 hour marathons.</p>
<p>However, the one thing we had in common--intellectual curiosity--pulled us through. It sounds cliche, but you really don't understand what "intellectual curiosity" means until you meet the people you find at TASP. In all the college viewbooks, you'll hear about wondorous 2AM philosophical discussions and all that jazz, and I can't speak for college but I know that we had those at TASP. Pubspeaks, although they were supposed to be around 10-20 minutes long, were usually extended into the 1-2hour range because the questioning and discussion would go for long after the initial presentation. It was great. </p>
<p>We ran a wide range of SAT scores and class load, but you could feel that these people were different than the kids who sat in the back of the class sleeping through history. Curiosity. I don't know how to describe it. They WANT to know. They will sit around until 3AM to know. They will go to great lengths to know. They will get into heated debates to know. It doesn't matter. Everybody here wants to KNOW. What it is doesn't matter.</p>
<p>But that doesn't mean that people here are your bookwormish, all-study-no-play types. We have fun. In my opinion, the fun is an integral part of the program's design. We once had a campus-wide water balloon fight (the 20 of us) at 2AM, and we also had a campus-wide CTF game at around the same time. We watched movies that the film people were showing, went to go see the Arch, went to a Cardinals game, took frequent outings to Forest Park, organized a committee for fitness-related stuff (FitCom), frequented the Gym, went for early morning/late night runs, ambled around "The Loop" (Delmar Loop--"trendy" place), volunteered for Habitat for Humanity (volunteerism is a major part of TASP), and countless other things. I can't possibly name them all.</p>
<p>What separates TASPers from students at a top college is not the academics--at a top college, the academics could very well exceed those of TASP--but the chemistry that is formed and the community that comes out of it. I don't think I will find another group of people like this again. Being isolated in your little cabal of 20 people for 6 weeks is a great opportunity for people to get to know each other, and that's what happens. I've gone over this probably 4 times in the body of this message now, but I honestly don't know how to stress/express this enough/correctly. TASP is unique and the people you meet there will leave an impression that won't leave you.</p>
<p>Now... the St. Louis TASP location was ideal. Even though I despise St. Louis (I'm from Seattle), Washington University was awesome. They treat you well. They housed us in their newest, best dorms (Danforth House--we now call ourselves "Danforthians") and the campus is very, very nice. Their food, although it got boring after a while, is pretty good. (It was rated well by Princeton Review for campus food) The weather, although I was not used to it, was very comfortable, especially at night when we would go right outside the door to sit together near the hammocks and just hang until early morning. It was crazy good times.</p>
<p>I think I've said waaaay too much already. I don't have anything negative to say about it. And I could go on for eternity about how great it was. The memories will last a lifetime.</p>
<p>The only advice I can give to those applicants is to just be natural, and show your true personality. Don't try to be "the leader" or be the "child piano prodigy" or anything like that. Just write your essays on something that genuinely interests you, act like yourself during the interview, and hopefully the committee will see that spark in you and you will have the best time of your high school career.</p>
<p>ROFL. I love talking about TASP. If you have any more questions, or live in the Seattle vicinity, feel free to contact me: <a href="mailto:gogurt@gmail.com">gogurt@gmail.com</a></p>
<p>Best,
Jimmy</p>
<p>Is Danforth the scholarship hall at WashU? Do they even have one?</p>
<p>No... Danforth is just their newest dorm building. There are two dorms right next to it (like, RIGHT next to it) that look similar but are slightly different.</p>
<p>When I was taking the taxi from the airport to WashU I rode with this WashU medical student, and she told me that mostly upperclassmen get the dorm. I can't remember if she said the selection was random or not... or sommat .:P</p>
<p>Attention attention, the 2006 TASP brochure and application are out on the web: <a href="http://www.tellurideassociation.org/TASPApply.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.tellurideassociation.org/TASPApply.html</a> The deadline for postmark is Jan. 23, so keep that date in mind! On personal note, I'm actually in the brochure on the last page in the flower pattern of heads. I'm the asian guy in the lower left and pianoking is directly to my right. Woohoo, though we didn't exactly take over the brochure as we had hoped. Anyway, if you guys have any application questions, just ask one of us. Get to it!</p>
<p>PS: I have no idea what the online application means. Just print it out and mail it.</p>
<p>Hey Globber!!! We made it!. Even though u mich is the only group shot missing. We had so many good ones. We must tell the world!
Fellow CCers, we spelled out U Mich with our bodies on the front lawn. Tell our story!</p>
<p>AHHHH!!! JIMMY!!!!!!!!!! YESS!!!! sorry for my freakout. i'm another st louis tasper, and we actually rule the entire brochure. in fact, with the exception of three pictures, all of the photos are from our tasp. my face shows up a lot, most notably in a pretty terrible half-crazed shot onthe cover with a gigantic stack of books. tasp was by far the greatest experience i've ever partaken in. please apply.</p>
<p>and id be happy to take any questions too</p>
<p>sooo uncool, did you guys hire a photographer?</p>
<p>nope, we had jimmy (gogurt) take all teh pictures. he's not a professional, but he might as well be, because he's AWESOME!! yeahhh! JIMMY!!!</p>
<p>(i'm usually not this incoherent)</p>
<p>that's it....I'm applying. Even if it means that if I get in, I won't go to France. I hope I could get my money back though....w/e.</p>
<p>We had a tight cadre of photographers who rocked. And we sent photo CDs to everybody.</p>
<p>We dominated the brochure. Therefore, we are the best TASP. My logic is obviously infallible.</p>
<p>-Jimmy</p>