<p>I would like to think i have a fairly decent shot. I worked hard on my essays and i believe i represented myself well; if that’s what they’re looking for, then i think i’m in pretty good shape.</p>
<p>I thought my “conflict” essay was the worst. I really loved my “literary analysis” and “future plans” essays. My “topic of choice” essay was the longest, and i believe i had a unique perspective on the topic i chose. Only time will tell, we have 32+ long days to wait!</p>
<p>@ Vince011
It’s really interesting to see what other people have written in the past. What exactly did you not like about those essays?</p>
<p>I LOVE Elliot Smith! Ever since I heard “Needle in the Hay” in The Royal Tenenbaums. I don’t know if there are any Wes Anderson fans on here, but, he always manages to have THE grooviest soundtracks. </p>
<p>I guess I’ll write about what my essays were while I’m at it:
<p>My book list was pretty diversified, and had no required reading because I haven’t had any required reading in school beyond The Scarlet Letter and God knows I’m not a fan. I was pretty close to including web comics into ‘periodicals.’</p>
<p>I’ve been reading (lurking?) this thread for a while now, and a mention of Wes Anderson was the spark I needed to finally join, I guess. Yes! Big fan! Although it is kind of scary that you guys might be brilliant AND have good taste in pop culture. Terrifying. :)</p>
<p>PaleDot, you misspelled his name :(. That’s awful. </p>
<p>And I think UT Austin '09 definitely had damned good musical tastes, a tradition I hope that the future ‘10 UTers (the final fightin’ 2010ers 
) keep it up. I swear, I pulled 10 gigs of really great music from one girl’s hard drive, music that I am still discovering to this day, like five months after the experience.</p>
<p>There’s a lot of really cool TASP alumni from years past as well with amazing music tastes. Novels and the like as well, but definitely music too.</p>
<p>What’s the transation ID? Will we be able to know it?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>One of my biggest regrets from TASP is not doing this. Hopefully I can rectify this in the very near future :D!</p>
<p>Agh!! I actually spelled it correctly first…then went back and fixed it to the wrong spelling! >.< <em>gazillion pardons</em></p>
<p>It’s great when people can strike a balance between raw smarts and culture. Anyone Nick Drake/King Crimson fans? Those are rare but I figure the odds are good here :P</p>
<p>does anyone know of any summer programs similar to tasp (basically humanities) to apply to as a backup?</p>
<p>@Nadia: Last summer I did a program at Johns Hopkins, which was pretty good. They have shorter “Discover Hopkins” programs – [Summer</a> Programs at Johns Hopkins | Pre-College Discover Hopkins Programs](<a href=“http://www.jhu.edu/summer/precollege/discover/index.html]Summer”>http://www.jhu.edu/summer/precollege/discover/index.html), as well as longer “Summer University” courses – [Summer</a> Programs at Johns Hopkins | Pre-College Summer University](<a href=“http://www.jhu.edu/summer/precollege/summer/index.html]Summer”>http://www.jhu.edu/summer/precollege/summer/index.html). They have a variety of topics, some humanities, some more in the hard sciences, and some in the arts. I’ve done a few different academic-y summer things, and this was one of the better ones. (I did a class called “Human Rights and Terrorism” that was really interesting, but it’s not being offered this year.)</p>
<p>Brown also has a bunch of pre-college things – [Summer@Brown</a> - Pre-College Programs at Brown University | Brown University Office of Continuing Education](<a href=“http://www.brown.edu/ce/pre-college/]Summer@Brown”>Pre-College Program | Brown University) – that I haven’t done, but I know some kids who did it and enjoyed it, and I’m looking into doing something there this summer.</p>
<p>I think that these programs are probably not quite as rigorous as TASP, and the selection of kids will be different as well. Probably a bit less socioeconomically diverse, as they’re not free, and the application process isn’t as rigorous. But still, they’re good alternatives.</p>
<p>Nick Drake is fantastic. Sad he didn’t get the credit he was due when he was alive.</p>
<p>thanks yeoman, but i should have specified…know of any free or low cost programs? haha :)</p>
<p>Clark Scholars is also very selective, but includes a stipend. It’s a research program but you can do research in any number of areas. Look at Robert E. Cook Honors College Summer Honors Program for cheap, although it’s far more “summer campy” than TASP.</p>
<p>Everyone asks, every year, for backups to TASP… unfortunately, the only real alternatives cost a lot of $$$.</p>
<p>I hate my essays. There’s just one I can stomach and even then it pales in comparison to the hyperactive awesomeness that the posters in this thread have… (that sentence was terribly phrased but I’m a little fried at the moment so please bear with me).</p>
<p>Not depressed so much but I’m never satisfied with my writing and everyone else’s seem so spectacular it’s bumming me out a bit.</p>
<p>Whatever the case, TASS 09’ (IU :D) was quite awesome and though I’d like to let that continue into TASP I don’t quite see that happening. Ah well. Tis just a waiting game now.</p>
<p>To any former TASPers, how economically diverse are the TASPs, and how much of an effort does the program make to select people from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds? My family’s pretty well-off; we don’t live extravagantly, but both my parents have advanced degrees and comfortable, well-paying jobs. (My dad’s involved with higher education, and my mom’s in the public health field.)</p>
<p>^
Honestly, I don’t see how they can find people from different socioeconomic backgrounds unless they get to the interview and ask questions. The only thing pertaining to income that they asked was whether or not one qualified for the Federal Free Lunch Program. It didn’t ask for an income bracket, so even if one checked “no”, they could have a $30,000 yearly household income or they could have a $10,000,000 yearly household income. </p>
<p>Education of parents may or may not be an indicator, but again, you can’t use an (albeit well observed) correlation from a large population to describe a single sample.</p>
<p>I could be missing something, though.</p>
<p>
You will get a lot of very different answers to this question, as every TASP is different, and every TASPer perceives diversity within her TASP differently. I’d say UT 09 was solidly middle class, with a few people in lower/higher echelons of the socioeconomic ladder. I think most TASPs have a similar breakdown. TA seeks to compose TASPs with a variety of backgrounds, mindsets, and intellectual strengths. Socioeconomic status affects all of these, IMO, so I think the diversity of wealth is a result of a diversity of personality and opinion, rather than something the selection process is centered around.</p>
<p>Hmm, sounds reasonable. Thanks for the info, it’s interesting to know what the makeup is like, and I think you’re probably correct about economic diversity (as well as diversity of all other sorts) is an effect of selecting a diversity of viewpoints, rather than a goal in and of itself.</p>
<p>why do they ask for parents’ level of education anyway?</p>
<p>For diversity’s sake, most likely.</p>
<p>I mean, it all comes with building a complete group. Someone who has succeeded in spite of being first generation has much to contribute and learn from the TASP experience.</p>