<p>ELEXIS!!!!!!!! i love you :) </p>
<p>oh man uber.... that was totally you. i just found it particularly amusing. (i mean, it was horrible. i did not condone your behavior at all.) </p>
<p>of course jenny! did you suspect any less? ;) hehe more smilies for jenny.</p>
<p>Tasp Tasp Tasp Tasp Tasp =)</p>
<p>I've been waiting to apply forever and I've been reading a crapload of classics just getting ready for this. This is exciting!</p>
<p>Quick clarification:
"As for the essays...discussion of a political issue important to you"</p>
<p>That essay actually doesn't have to be of a political nature (though many do choose to go that route). It's simply asking for you to discuss an issue of importance to you. For example, I did mine on the misconceptions surrounding abstract art and it's perceived simplicity.</p>
<p>haha you guys....way to take over their thread. but it's not that early, it's only like a week earlier than our TASP thread started...oh my god, I can't believe a year ago I was just figuring out what TASP was.</p>
<p>anyway, to repeat what everyone else said, definitely apply if you're at all interested...I never in a million years expected to get in but I figured it was worth a shot. Plus even if you don't get in you'll have a bunch of essays which are really good for recycling into college essays :)</p>
<p>Aw, I was browsing some college threads and came back to check and lo and behold, the next TASP thread!</p>
<p>The only advice I can give is please please please not to stress about it. =)</p>
<p>About how many books should be on the book list :D</p>
<p>As many as you want.</p>
<p>Really, there's no number minimum or maximum. I probably had about 15 outside of school books, and 10 school books. But I saw others who had way more, and others who had way less.</p>
<p>were any of you nominated by teachers, by any chance?</p>
<p>I'm really excited to apply and maybe get the opportunity to go.</p>
<p>Quick question for former Taspers: What exactly are Pubspeaks? How do they work?</p>
<p>emma! awwww have fun with colin tomorrow! </p>
<p>book list.. don't stress about it. i freaked out the night before my interview and tried to refresh my memory on half of the books on my list. DON'T put a book you're currently in the middle of. rid yourself of last-minute stress before your interview. actually, just try to make this process as stress-free as possible for yourself. as inkspill said, telluride really knows what they're doing and it WILL all work out in the end, whether or not you end up going. </p>
<p>umm i don't know if i was nominated by a teacher. but i don't think i got the app in the mail from psat scores. either way, you can always download the application online when it comes out, or take an extra couple of days and just submit it online. </p>
<p>pubspeaks = public speaking. you talk about a topic of your choice for about 20 or so minutes and questions from your fellow TASPers/factota follow. sometimes the discussion gets really intense and controversial (umich kids, read: dennis), and other times they were just ridiculously good fun :) one guy did his on batman. i did mine on david keirsey's temperament survey in conjunction with myers-briggs. they served as a springboard for further debates and discussions around the house. </p>
<p>hope that helped! :)</p>
<p>Pubspeaks were absolutely AMAZING. </p>
<p>Honestly, just think about it: twenty minutes on WHATEVER YOU WANT. I was chosen to be one of the first two people to go...grr, those factota. But anyway, I did mine on the social psychology behind the origins of evil in "ordinary" people.</p>
<p>My favourite was probably a girl who did hers on international short-term volunteering. I thought it was going to become a preaching, but instead it was actually quite enlightening as she told us why we often shouldn't engage in such volunteer acts, and made me think about the possible ramifications of well-intentioned actions.</p>
<p>Another, like roam mentioned - Dennis, heehee! His was on ethnocentrism versus relativism. Fascinating, and certainly a springboard for discussion and debate for the rest of TASP.</p>
<p>There was also the anatomy of love (UMich: I love you all from the bottom of my brain!), Akhenaten and his implications on the religion of Christianity, theories of sexuality, Ugandian child soldiers, African-derived religions, information architecture, and many, many more.</p>
<p>And one of our factota did hers on...mitochondria...at her TASP. So the possibilities really are endless. Pubspeaks were definitely something that I looked forward to each week, because it was such an enlightening experience, and you got to learn alot both about and from your fellow TASPers. Many of our inside jokes also originated from pubspeaks...hehe. But seriously. Pure love. If we had such freedom in school, I would enjoy it 2348902769723095 times more :)</p>
<p>And I was not nominated by a teacher, nor did I get the app in the mail :( Devastating.</p>
<p>oh jenny you cutie. HAHA i forgot about the mitochondria! i absolutely loved pubspeaks but i admit i fell asleep during one of them because i had maybe two hours of sleep the night before, and i woke up to the sounds of people fervently arguing. dennis made sure i was caught up though :) which is probably a lesson in the value of sleep, although i think most of us were sleep-deprived the entire time. some showed it more than others (me) in extremely inconvenient moments (seminar). also, me and "the girl who did her pubspeak on international volunteerism" would sketch people during pubspeaks, which was fun too :)</p>
<p>Aw pubspeaks... Aw sleep deprivation (Remember that time I fell asleep during Lonestar and woke up to the noise of incestual copulation... and that time I fell asleep and woke up to the sound of the grandfather clock striking at twelve (sorry professor norich)... and that time I fell asleep 15? minutes before the first time I would have stayed up for 24 hours straight... and that time I fell asleep and woke up to Brian whacking my head with a pillow, only later to discover that Jenny had earlier spilt dirty anonymous water that had sat on the side table for half a week on my head... and, you get the idea) Oh TASP, <em>nostalgic sigh</em>, wish you were here =(.</p>
<p>haha....I may or may not have read the wikipedia of Guns, Germs, and Steel instead of finishing it before my interview. That was the only one he asked about, and wikipedia did not let me down =) But you probably should avoid that.</p>
<p>And Amir... the time you woke up to incestual copulation was because pens got thrown at you, and me because I was next to you, even though I was mostly awake. But your nails never got painted while you were asleep, unlike some people, and you were never blocked into your room by a mountain of toilet paper. Someone, I forget who, called TASP "the most glorious sleep deprivation of your life" or something like that...very true. Completely worth it.</p>
<p>^ Ah, TASP!</p>
<p>haha, I had to read Guns, Germs, and Steel this year for AP World, and it became the first non-fiction history book I've ever liked. Jared Diamond is a trip!</p>
<p>But seriously, I've had NO time this year to read. It's really sad. And the past two years in English we've only read crap books, and this year I'm finally in a good class (AP Lang), but we're only reading short stories and articles and excerpts. I'm going to have to speed read a bunch of classics (not just for TASP, I've been meaning to read more and TASP is a good excuse) between now and December! I picked up Candide, The Sun Also Rises, and the Trial 2 weeks ago at the library, and hopefully next week I'll return those and get more. </p>
<p>Any suggestions of GREAT books?</p>
<p>anything that interests you, basically. and i have a feeling questions about the booklist will be asked again, so i'll just say DON'T freak out about the booklist. obviously it's not going to hold as much weight as the essays. take their advice and write down books you read in the past year because anything's game in the interview and you want to actually remember the books. my interviewers didn't really touch the booklist during my interview but we only got to two essays before running out of time, and some of the TASPers were grilled on their opinions of one or more books on their list (i think one person's entire interview revolved around the booklist). with that being said, list the books that you read in the past year and are comfortable discussing. come interview time, you'll be less stressed out.</p>
<p>YAY! TASP 2008 thread.</p>
<p>Lol I was wondering how long it would take for this to pop up.</p>
<p>And I am so excited to see it being dominated by the U-Mich TASPERS past, haha you all totally rocked for the "experimental" group. Paula Abdul was right when she said opposites attract.</p>
<p>Oh and for you who dont know me, I am a TASS 2007 kid and I am super excited to apply to TASP!!! While I am super excited, I am going to CC in moderation this year, last year was ridiculous.</p>
<p>And in all honesty, all the questions people are asking are the same as last year (which is expected), and for the most part there is 1 answer to all these questions. Use your judgement, be yourself, and have fun.</p>
<p>You don't need the catalog of the Library of Congress on your book list. (I had 10 books on my list, not necessarily from the past year but books i was familiar and comfortable with and liked alot.)
You don't need to compare yourselves to other applicants
You shouldn't compare yourselves to other applicants
You don't need to get a 240 on your PSAT
You should try to refrain from reading others essays or asking for past participants essays until after the apps are due
You need to know that TASP is way cooler than RSI, cause those kids are lame</p>
<p>Oh and they got rid of WashU because there where conflicts with the university, and it was the most expensive program to run by far.
*
Oh and save your essays when you start them on a flash drive or something, last year my computer died on me, I had to open the thing up and take the hard-drive out then buy an external casing for the drive just to retrieve them.*</p>
<p>And Aida who will eventually make an appearance is a demi-god.</p>
<p>Look forward to getting to know you all!</p>
<p>Also, hsmomstef.</p>
<p>While TASP states a clear policy of no leaving early or extended absences. 2 years ago a TASPer from my school left a week early to perform at the Fringe festival in Scotland for drama, and in my TASS one girl left a day early, which would most likely be the case with your son.</p>
<p>In all honesty though, I would not want to miss the last days of TASP, definitely the most fun and last chance at bonding, so I would try to work out something with the school.</p>
<p>:)</p>