<p>There were multiple “science-y” TASPers in my program, including wombat. In comparison, you really shouldn’t worry about art.</p>
<p>I am a science person, though my topic essay was a humanities topic. I did my literary analysis on a sci-fi book, my future plans essay was about science research, and most of my awards and my only real “academic” EC were science related. I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s about how you think/write rather than what you write/think about.</p>
<p>^Oooh, what SF book? (Mine was THE LIONS OF AL-RASSAN by Guy Gavriel Kay, semi-obscure historical fantasy.)</p>
<p>Add me to the “freaking out” group.</p>
<p>For the last response, we’re supposed to name some books that interest us. In light of the fact that TASP is a humanity-based program, would it hurt me if my books were related to Science or Economy? I do have a couple novels, but some of the books I “consider most significant” involve books on economy and science.
For example, some books I consider play significant roles in my life and thoughts are Rich Dad Poor Dad and A Brief History of Time. BHoT got me thinking not only about how the world works but also about philosophy and religion and God whereas RDPD made me interested in the economy.
Thanks</p>
<p>achald, though I’m a TASP applicant so I don’t have experience here, it seems like the TASP people want a variety of people with a variety of backgrounds and interests, so I think you should be fine. Also, economics, though pretty grounded in math and science, is still a social science, so I don’t think they’ll care about that.</p>
<ol>
<li>For summarizing work and volunteer experince & listing main areas of intellectual interest parts, should we write in paragraphs or point forms? </li>
<li>Recent honors and awards: what classifies as recent? Is one year reasonable? </li>
<li>What classifies as “intellectual interest”? Do singing and dancing and sports count? I doubt they do but I am not sure.</li>
<li>List your school and community activities below in order of their importance to you: does reading (not for school) count? I do spend a lot of time reading. Can I place reading as one intellectual interest? Also, what happens if a competition is really important for me? Should I write down “competitor” as the position held?</li>
</ol>
<p>Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut was the book. Lots of messed up time scale stuff. And don’t worry about your books being un-humanities, your books can about anything.</p>
<p>To the applicants:
I hate to sound like a complete witch but if you can’t write these essays without the stupid, dense questions, then honestly you probably shouldn’t apply. How are you suppose to understand the concept of the seminar when you can’t even get the essay prompts? Honestly, write what you think is right, Telluride won’t dissect ever single sentence you write. </p>
<p>And seriously, read the thread. We’re not about to answer the same questions a billion times.</p>
<p>Love,
A former TASPer.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Duly agreed. Don’t vivisect your essay to fit into the prompt; stretch the limits of the prompt in your mind to fit the essay you want to write. I’ll blog about TASP when I don’t have to deal with APUSH and hopefully it’ll be done soon enough that it helps some people.</p>
<p>To former TASPers: how long was your shortest essay (excluding seminar preference/book list).</p>
<p>
Word to this…listen to him; stop worrying about topicz.</p>
<p>Oh btw, I’m somewhat of a “science” person as well I guess. I don’t really have a clear direction, probably because I was too lazy to study for anything until now so I haven’t passionately delved into a single area. I’m incorporating science in some of my essays as well.</p>
<p>wombat - Pssh, Vonnegut is a Fancy Literary Author. It’s SF the same way Atwood’s HANDMAID’S TALE and two sequels are SF.</p>
<p>Handmaiden’s Tale IS sci-fi though, it’s just also good (and on my to-read list). And he is NOT fancy! He once described a noise as being “like god unzipping his fly.” There are countless other examples of his non-fanciness that I could bring up.</p>
<p>holy crap man, i’ve made no progress since the last time i posted here. still only written one draft of one essay. even Invoyable has written more than one. just realized its coming up. D: rawr i’ll get it done ok bai lulz</p>
<p>I just realized that there’s only fifteen more days.</p>
<p>To be honest, I’m more freaked out about my SAT than this application (SAT’s on the 23rd, app’s due on the 25th). I think I’ve finally gotten into the whole essay-writing thing 
but people at my school are so competitive about SAT stuff and it seems like I should be prepping way more…ugh.</p>
<p>I’m basically screwed: I haven’t written a single essay and I have midterms all next week.</p>
<p>Kameronsmith, several people at my TASP literally wrote their essays the night before they needed to be submitted. Just write them whenever you have any spare time–you still have two weeks!</p>
<p>Also, industrial, my shortest essay was my critical analysis, which ended up being a single page, single-spaced. Don’t stress about length–just write a quality essay that you feel confident about. Telluride won’t be counting your words and saying, “Oh, he/she/non-gender-specific-pronoun could have written a longer essay.” Just stay within the limit (a few words or so over is fine if it’s absolutely unavoidable) and focus on the ideas contained within your writing. Really, guys, just write solid essays on topics and ideas you are comfortable with and passionate about, and you’ll be fine. The best advice I was given when applying to TASP was to just be myself when writing the essays, and not to try too hard to sound “intellectual” or philosophical or anything. That all comes on it’s own, or it doesn’t, but you’ll just sound fake if you try to force anything.</p>
<p>Good luck all!</p>
<p>Handmaid’s Tale is absolutely amazing, but Atwood refuses to acknowledge that it’s SF, preferring “speculative fiction.” I agree that it and Slaughterhouse are probably SF by conventional definition, but writing a critical analysis on them isn’t pushing the envelope much because they’re also recognized as “literary” fiction.</p>
<p>I feel you kameronsmith the essays are actually kind of enjoyable though +.+</p>
<p>Thanks czechit, I’m not really concerned about length I’m just genuine interested to know.</p>