<p>So, I'm writing my "Write on a topic that interests you..." essay. It's about the effect of agricultural subsidies in the third world and the social and moral implications as a result. After the intro, the first two paragraphs go somewhat in depth establishing the problem, as it's not exactly a common topic. The entire thing is quite academic, and it's a while before I go delving into the issues of sovereignty and self-determination.</p>
<p>I'm not exactly sure what I'm asking, but is this is the right track? It coincides with the Cornell II program, but I didn't choose it because of that. It genuinely interests me, and I've done previous research on it. Do I need to preface the intro with "I chose this topic because..." or is it acceptable as an academic essay.</p>
<p>^ I don't profess to be an expert on the matter, but I think that the topic you chose is as good as any. Your methodology of explaining the problem before discussing its effects is, in my opinion, highly effective because few people are well versed in the topic you have chosen. All in all, I think that you'll give the admissions committee a very interesting read!</p>
<p>Now on to a question of my own: Did you guys get excruciatingly specific in the "main areas of academic interest" section? I'm one of those "jack of all trades, master of none" types and all my interests seem to be the proverbial horses running in opposite directions... and I'm the one in the middle.</p>
<p>I did act on a burst of courage and added "obscure European monarchs" to the list :D</p>
<p>I honestly can't wait for the moment when I drop this application off at the post office.</p>
<p>God, I swear, when I mail this thing, I'm going to burst into tears and laughter and probably hiccups. </p>
<p>Writing these essays makes my stomach feel like an egg in one of those awful middle school science experiments to see who can keep an egg from breaking best.</p>
<p>Still need to do my topic one, finish my critnal and edit all the other ones. God, this week is crazy.</p>
<p>for the conflict one, I'm STILL not sure what topic I'm doing, but I think that when I do it I'm going to make it memoir-style. hopefully that will make it more interesting.</p>
<p>I'm not quite sure how to approach the "main areas of academic interest one" ???
like. how do you format it? I don't get it. do they expect you to come to some kind of conclusion or something?
=/</p>
<p>Jesus, I started my essay two minutes ago. I -did not- realize people have already started preparing around september!!!</p>
<p>Alright, wink mentioned that the recommendation letter can be turned in LATE with the online application. I'm just making sure that this is true...</p>
<p>Can anyone confirm? And if it is true, should we email TASP first and let them know the rec letter is coming in late?</p>
<p>Also, in writing all of our essays, how much emphasis should we place on formulating arguments instead of just discussing topics of our interest?</p>
<p>I emailed Telluride about turning in the rec letter past the due date...</p>
<p>Just to let everyone know, they said that it's fine to turn in the rec letter and transcript late, as long as it's "a couple of days" of the application submission.</p>
<p>I'm sure that's a relief to a lot of people!</p>
<p>i think i just listed my academic interests... "social psychology, art therapy, neuroscience, blah blah." </p>
<p>good luck you guys! i did major last minute essaying/editing last year (right before the post office was closing, actually), when in retrospect the online application would've been much better. but i wanted to format the essays, so if you're not OCD about your fonts/sizes, go for the online application.</p>
<p>^ No. TASP doesn't require SAT or ACT scores.</p>
<p>I know this sounds a bit bizarre, but I'm having a lot of trouble with assembling the application package. Can a previous TASPer give some sort of step-by-step instructions? 'Twould be much appreciated.</p>
<p>Also, should we staple essay pages together? I don't think so, but I just want to make sure.</p>
<p>I'm applying online. I had no idea that the recommendations had a different deadline than everything else. I thought all mail in parts of the application were supposed to be postmarked the same day. (The 22nd) But it turns out since I'm applying online they were actually due the 15th! I know they said it's okay to send it in a few days late but is four days too many? I could try to mail in the whole thing by the 22nd but I doubt I'd be able to finish it by then. Is it really that bad to send it in four days late?</p>
<p>i don't really remember the assembling process very well, but there was a paragraph of instructions on the application. you use the actual application as a folder-like thing since it's folded down the middle and attach three copies of the essays. staple one set of essays but definitely do not staple your three sets together. they give them out to different people to read and having them stapled together would be a pain. if you printed the app from online, i think you just make three sets, forgetting about the folder-format. </p>
<p>shuffle: i think right now the best you can do is send in the rec immediately, so they'll get it a couple of days late, or send your entire thing by the 22nd if you can. if you can't, sending in your rec 4 days late probably won't be too big of a problem, but don't wait another couple of days to decide what you're going to do.</p>
<p>Wait, three copies of essays? I thought you were supposed to make two copies of application + essays, mail one copy along with the original set, and keep one set for yourself. </p>
<p>Confused :(</p>
<p>Actually, what I meant by stapling is how one normally staples the pages of an essay together to hand it in. Should we do that or place the pages in order but unstapled? What about for the application copies?</p>