<p>how creative can the “topic in a field that interests you” essay be? in other words, do they expect a straight opinion essay?</p>
<p>Is Essay #5 purely listing (Title-Author) or does it have to include my ‘reasons’ for choosing these books?</p>
<p>How many are you guys listing for #6? I’m running on 20 books, and I still have plenty more…</p>
<p>Their website says to just list the books/periodicals and authors.
I have 12-13 books and periodicals right now. I never actually recorded this information though, so I keep remembering things that I forgot before. Probs 15 max on my list though.</p>
<p>Will it hurt that more than half are school books? I never have time to read books at home during the school year.</p>
<p>Also, I read alot of scientific journals, but never from one specific source. So I don’t know if I should list that or not.</p>
<p>For the problem essay, can I write about something that may arouse the anger of the judges? I am quite anti-democracy because I don’t believe what the society is cherishing is the real democracy. but since there is one seminar topic specifically talking discussing democracy then…</p>
<p>What about those I-want-to-take-over-the-world topics?</p>
<p>I have about 10 books, I can’t venture to find any more since a) personal circumstances b) truthfully, laziness that I haven’t read too much before. </p>
<p>I think the essays are pretty flexible and could be controversial IMO. I wouldn’t worry too much; I’m not and I have 0 honors/awards to list on my application…</p>
<p>Absolutely go ahead and do that, happysunshine. This is pretty much as liberal an institution as it gets, so they’d love to read random totalitarian/authoritarian thoughts.</p>
<p>Mine is about the Geneva Convention, so should I cite sources? Or is it supposed to be strictly your own intake on it?</p>
<p>Invoyable, an honor is “anything you hold to great esteem.” So go ahead and move some of your extracurriculars into honors. Like I put Singles Varsity Tennis as an “honor,” even though it’s clearly an extracurricular. And don’t read too much into those because they don’t even look at that junk.</p>
<p>Do you think the indecisive option for #4 would hurt my chances? I wrote an excellent essay for it, but I’m afraid they might think I’m not dedicated to it…</p>
<p>Won’t think you’re committed to your indecision…haha. But all kidding aside that essay can work as long as you take it seriously: present actual reasons as to why you are indecisive. Make sure it’s clear you put thought into it (I’m sure you have). I would not be abstract about this–don’t write something like “How can anyone truly decide?” </p>
<p>Just as a general advice I would stop worrying about the seminar topics in relation to your essay topics. Just write your ideas and put that out of your mind, your essays will be better for it. In my personal opinion this is good general advice for application essays of all kinds.</p>
<p>My essay for topic II is pretty humorous. Is that OK? I’m a pretty decent writer, and I know I’m actually quite funny, so it’s not like my jokes are stupid or immature. I feel, however, as though the second essay is the best place to demonstrate one’s intellectual vitality; am I squandering that opportunity with a more lighthearted (but still meaty, I should say) piece?</p>
<p>That’s fine as long as the essay itself is not a joke. It can be as funny (or serious) as you want it to be.</p>
<p>Thanks Wombat…</p>
<p>And since you’re actually responding to questions, I wanted to see if you have an answer to my other question(s)…</p>
<p>I’m writing about detention and violation of civil rights for my second essay. Would it be good/bad/neutral for my seminar, saying as my seminar is about human rights and democracy (Cornell I)? I didn’t force the issue; I just thought it’s an easy political essay to write.</p>
<p>And my uncle is telling me to include the thoughts of famous philosophers such as Locke, Rousseau, etc. in my essay. Would that be too much? Would using citations from famous philosophers be looked at negatively?</p>
<p>Wombatsoup:</p>
<p>Should I try to tie together my different essays? I’m conflicted because I want to show that I have various intellectual interests, but at the same time, I don’t want my essays to sound like different people wrote them. What would you suggest?</p>
<p>I’m not wombat, but I can answer these, so I will. Ahem!</p>
<p>
Attention all TASPlicants! This keeps getting asked, so listen up! (With your eyes…?) ** Don’t worry about your interests/essay topics in relation to the seminars! ** The obvious exception is the ranking essay, where you discuss what your thoughts on each seminar topic are. </p>
<p>Write about things that interest, anger, or puzzle you. Write to show your personality and how you can contribute to diversity at TASP. If your essay topic happens to align nicely with a seminar, great, go for it. But if your essays reflect interests that don’t necessarily coincide with the seminars, don’t worry! Differing interests and strengths contribute to diversity, which is a huge component of TASP. Write about what makes you tick, and forget about tailoring your essays to anything other than yourself.</p>
<p>
First, don’t write anything because someone tells you to if that’s not your style. Second, I’d use them if you think they enhance your argument/point. If you’re just quoting famous philosophers to sound intelligent, don’t. They’ll see right through that. In general, the actual quoting won’t be looked upon negatively or positively; it just really depends how you use it.</p>
<p>
I personally didn’t do this. My essays varied in style and content, simply because there are a lot of things I wanted to share with them about myself, and writing similarly for each would have been ineffective. But if you think that would help a reader understand your application more, by all means go for it. Don’t write anything because you feel like you’re supposed to, but also don’t refrain from discussing something that is a part of who you are. Just write! Analyze ideas, not the process. Yaddimean?</p>
<p>Good luck and happy holidays everyone! This break would be a good time to get all of these done, and a good time for us to answer any questions you may have, so keep 'em coming! : )</p>
<p>Thanks for all your help, embeezy!</p>
<p>I’m wondering if it’d be okay to analyze a less literary topic for the first essay. I plan to write about John Hodgeman’s “The Areas of My Expertise” as part of an essay about how facts are increasingly ignored/discarded in American society. Is this too divergent from the prompt?</p>
<p>thanks embeezy!</p>
<p>ksmith, my book for the essay is totally not literary in nature, too.</p>
<p>question: my essays are each like 500-700 words, but i’ve said everything i want to say. in light of the 1,500 word limit, are my essays too short?</p>
<p>For the problem essay, can I write about something that may arouse the anger of the judges? I am quite anti-democracy because I don’t believe what the society is cherishing is the real democracy. but since there is one seminar topic specifically talking discussing democracy then…</p>
<p>What about those I-want-to-take-over-the-world topics?</p>
<p>I want to write about how our society doesn’t look beyond numbers in my second essay. I have a lot of arguments that I want to use and I’m pretty passionate, but I feel like it’s a really overdone issue. What do you guys think?
And also, I know someone previously asked this, but I couldn’t find an answer. How long should the discussion about each seminar be? I currently have a little paragraph, but that’s it</p>
<p>You guys have been really helpful! Thanks a ton!</p>
<p>@Vaeliant: If you are passionate about something then just go for it! Personally I will feel really accomplished writing something that I care about. Besides, if you are passionate about your topic, I am sure you can come up with something that shows your own personalities and uniqueness.</p>