<p>finally finished my #2 essay!!! I rewrote it several times for different topics and finally chose the best one! Hopefully no procrastination today…</p>
<p>Good Luck everyone!</p>
<p>Hi, </p>
<p>I have a quick question: </p>
<p>I am considering filling out an application and churning out those five essays, however, from what I have heard, an acceptance letter from TASP is basically the equivalent to scoring admission from a top twenty university. As someone with a B average fitting within the top 25%,(a far cry from your average CCer or Tasper,I am sure) of my class, is it even worth my time to apply? Clearly, I am pretty mediocre in terms of academics by hyper competitive program standards. Is admission truly based primarily upon one’s essays, or, does class rank play a perhaps larger roll in the admissions process than advertised? Thanks in advance for your insight.</p>
<p>@gesundheit: well, twilight was just an example, but any book has certain inherent qualities. it might be more of a negative critical analysis, but it could probably be done, no?</p>
<p>@juniormints: they don’t even ask for a transcript until the interview stage, so it wouldn’t even be looked at.</p>
<p>@juniormints, I think you should still apply even if your academics might not be the strongest. They do place a lot of emphasis on the essays because this year they only want the transcript/teacher recommendation AFTER they have selected people for interviews.</p>
<p>If anyone is even considering applying, DO IT. You really never know what they could see in you or what they might be looking for that you can offer, and I promise that applying can only help you. What do you have to lose?</p>
<p>Keep going! You can do eet! <insert other=“” cheesy=“” motivational=“” phrase=“” here=“”>! (:</insert></p>
<p>“@juniormints: they don’t even ask for a transcript until the interview stage, so it wouldn’t even be looked at.”</p>
<p>Ahh…but they ask for it:) I even have a C on my transcript. Granted, I have plenty of APs and many of my Bs are B+s, but I am wondering if they might feel another candidate is more deserving. However, if the essays are as important as everyone seems to believe, I just might have found my program. If only college admissions worked that way. We could all just write our way in! </p>
<p>“Where are you going next year?” </p>
<p>“Stanford”</p>
<p>“Wow (jaw drops) You must be brilliant.”</p>
<p>“Ah, yes, indeed. I did graduate with a 3.4. No small feat, my friend.”</p>
<p>juniormints:</p>
<p>1) TASP acceptance is NOT equivalent to admission from a T20 university, or to anything college-related. Does that mean it has no impact on one’s application–NO. The truth is somewhere between those two extremes, and where exactly on that spectrum depends mostly on who reads your application. Most people, including many admissions officers, have never heard of TASP or Telluride Association.</p>
<p>2) TASP doesn’t really care about your academic record, as long as you’re capable of succeeding in seminar. As others have said, this year they aren’t even asking for a transcript until interview stage. IIRC, even in previous years people with “poor” academic records have been admitted.</p>
<p>But remember, a TASPer with a 3.4 isn’t much different to Stanford or Yale than a non-TASPer with the same 3.4. Obviously the resume boost will be in the back of most people’s minds (save for those few innocents, yaddimean?) but you should apply primarily because you’re attracted to the intellectual experience.</p>
<p>Sigh… I thought I could do this without going to CC for help, but I’ve been stalking this thread long enough. First post ever too…</p>
<p>I’m starting my essays today (procrastination at its finest), hopefully. But I’m still grasping for topic ideas on a few essays.</p>
<p>Question:</p>
<p>For essay 2, is too much of me to ask what people are writing about? I’m coming into this with a total blank slate and I don’t know if people are leaning towards political issues, social issues, or going totally off the wall and writing about how unicorns are the best.</p>
<p>Keilexandra, I only meant in terms of selectivity (I mean, what is Yale’s acceptance rate? 10%? What is Tasp’s? 5 or 6%?) They are both quite competitive) </p>
<p>By “write our way in”, I merely mean it would be fantastic (in my case, at least) to have an acceptance or rejection dependent on a few essays, not my transcript. I guess this is sort of a relief, frankly. I absolutely love to read, to discuss, to debate, to write, and am glad the opportunity isn’t dependent on being #2 in one’s class. There is hope! I am not considering the program for a resume booster, either. It’s too much work (5 essays, an interview, a recommendation, a book list) for that :)</p>
<p>I finally finished 1-4! I think my #2 is the weakest though; it was difficult to organize and convey my thoughts in a coherent manner, but @abcd456, mine was arguing why literature holds just as much merit as the math and sciences. Now I just have to do 5 and 6, both of which shouldn’t be too bad.</p>
<p>TASP’s acceptance rate was ~7% last year and will be ~5% this year if the number of applicants holds steady. They usually interview about twice as many finalists as eventual acceptances.</p>
<p>Thanks @mny. Another question:</p>
<p>One of my topic ideas was to write about illegal immigration and how i was an illegal immigrant until recently and all the challenges and the woe-is-me crap that went along with it. What I’m unsure about is which essay I should apply this topic to. Should I a. Talk about illegal immigration as a whole and maybe include my personal experience for essay 2? b. Make this my conflict for essay 3? or c. describe how my experience has affected my plans for the future for essay 4?</p>
<p>Sorry about that.
I was just throwing those numbers (5 and 6%) out there. 7% isn’t too much better, though. Definitely some stiff competition.</p>
<p>Oh, wait. You said 5% this year. I got lucky with that, then.</p>
<p>^Not a correction, just a statement of approximations–the admissions rate seems like another good question for Ask-A-TASPer.</p>
<p>I too have less than stellar grades (in comparison to CC’ers, that is, meaning 3 B’s or so total), and probably worse (since they ask you for this before the interview stage), zero awards. 0. I’m still applying. Just do the best you can in your essays.</p>
<p>Progress: surprisingly considering my unparalleled procrastination skills (do my hw the morning before it’s due, scribbling 5 minutes before class starts, etc), I have 3 1/2 of them done. 1 of them is the seminar one, though, so it was really quick. And finished half of one of them. I didn’t spent too much time on them yet and just wrote them fast without much revision yet, so it’s probably lacking in quality.</p>
<p>For the critical analysis, how much are people writing about the text itself and its ideas versus injecting their own opinions or ideas about the text? I essentially started by summarizing the ideas presented in the text, then went point by point and examined how valid each idea presented was, so I stuck mostly to the text itself and my direct responses to it. Any thoughts on that?</p>
<p>^ That’s what I did as well. I’m not used to using my own opinions and “I” in my lit analysis.</p>
<p>Still haven’t started any…</p>
<p>I’m planning to do them the day its due.</p>
<p>Happy MLK Jr. Day!</p>
<p>@juniormints: Seriously, don’t worry about your GPA. It really doesn’t matter. A previous TASPer had a GPA somewhere in the 2.5-ish range, believe it or not. Yeah, his test scores were pretty impressive, but either way, they really care about your essays and whatnot. </p>
<p>@abc: You won’t know until you write them, right? Just think of what else you can do for each, and see where it fits in. And don’t feel afraid to expound on your experience. That’s what separates you from the pack, you know?</p>