<p>Just check the website and the program descriptions are OUT!!
OMG. I can’t do nothing but take epigramimpelled’s advice for granted and freak out!!
Sorry.</p>
<p>any suggestions on what makes an applicant more appealing for tasp? Somebody once said they like kids who attending the congressional page program.</p>
<p>I got into TASP with a PSAT score of 203 and I did not have the lowest score. TASP goes beyond standardized tests and there is no formula for getting in. I did not attend the congressional page program and no one mentioned they had been a part of it. I cannot say what is appealing but i can say that there is something special about TASPers. Best of luck.</p>
<p>Took the PSAT yesterday and was stressing out if I was going score well enough to get an application. Thanks.</p>
<p>I do not believe that applications are accepted from only high-PSAT scorers; the PSAT just provides a mailing list that they use to solicit applicants. My understanding of how the rules were this past year is that you can just apply.</p>
<p>The only reason TASP uses the PSAT is that it’s a convenient way of generating a sizable list of kids who are likely to be academically high-achieving. Telluride requests only the top 2000 or 3000 scorers because it doesn’t want to get so many applications that the readers (who are almost all full-time college students themselves) get overwhelmed. Each application needs to have two or three readings, and the evaluation is careful, if a bit subjective and unpredictable. Kids who aren’t invited are perfectly welcome to apply and their PSAT scores really, really don’t matter. </p>
<p>There’s no formula for getting in, but the essays must suggest that you are an interesting and independently thoughtful person, not just the stereotypical “good student.” There are no grades or credit for TASP so the kids that do well there find intellectual work rewarding for its own sake, and aren’t doing it for the external accolades. I would recommend avoiding writing your book essay on stuff routinely assigned in high school, e.g. The Scarlet Letter, Romeo and Juliet, A Separate Peace (unless you have something extremely clever to say about them), or on teen favorites such as Dune, Atlas Shrugged, Lord of the Rings, and so on. I’d also recommend choosing a distinctive topic for your “free choice” essay. Don’t be afraid to seem quirky.</p>
<p>To former TASPers, should I take the faculties into consideration when choosing the programs? As I searched a couple of the instructors, some of them are assistant professors who have just earned their PhDs and some are professors with plenty of teaching experience. Does it really matter?</p>
<p>It is not easy to become a professor for TASP. Telluride only chooses the best available so you will be fine either way. Just pick a seminar that interests you.</p>
<p>i’m going to fail miserably, but what the hay, why not.
so when do applications come out? ^__^</p>
<p>Can someone give me an idea what books they used in their critical essay?</p>
<p>Now that I’ve hijacked this account from my cousin a few months ago, and as opposed to many other taspers 10’, I’m not as busy and I’m rather bored these days (I mean I’m on a college forum), I’d like to put in my five minute…*opinions<a href=“emphasis%20mine”>/I</a> about this. Feel free to send a PM if you have any questions.</p>
<p>The underlying message I want to say is: don’t worry too much about specifics, focus on your individuality and the big picture.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t worry about grades, credentials, test scores and whatnot; I can assure you I was in the absolute bottom tier in these categories (except test scores, my PSAT was high…but that’s useless in admissions). Ironically, while most applicants were stressed about their essays (I wasn’t), I was worried because I had a relatively low GPA (meaning: far from straight A’s) and not many significant activities/awards, but it turns out they don’t really focus on that too much. So drop the resum</p>
<p>hahaha
Its so easy to tell who you are
I knew you could do it man. You can do anything!
:)</p>
<p>I had to read that post like 3 times to figure out who you are, haha. I was trying to become non-obvious as possible by highlighting my individual traits as much as possible, Lol. oh well. My message stands.</p>
<p>Please listen to “Invoyable” (awkward internet is awkward). He is right about everything 100%, and 100% pretty awesome even though he emailed me an eternity ago and I forgot to email him back and am terribly sorry and am going to go do that right now.</p>
<p>Distinctive personalities are distinct, whoa. At risk of having '10 TASPers outnumber potential TASPers 4:0, I’d also like to agree with “Invoyable.”</p>
<p>If you feel passionately about a topic, it is the right topic. Also, established professors are not necessarily better.</p>
<p>Let me make this clear so you understand.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I did not get into TASP based on my SATs or my ACTs or my PSATs.</p></li>
<li><p>I had no experience with humanities prior to TASP.</p></li>
<li><p>I wrote my critical analysis on a fantasy novel for 10 year olds.</p></li>
<li><p>For my “what do you want to be when you grow up” essay, I wrote that I want to collect bubbles.</p></li>
<li><p>I wrote about the two most over-used topics for my conflict essay and my topic of choice essay.</p></li>
<li><p>I found out what TASP was in December.</p></li>
<li><p>I finished my TASPlication four hours before it was due.</p></li>
<li><p>I am not a genius, nor had I done anything exceptional to mention on the application. </p></li>
<li><p>I didn’t know who my professors were, who my interviewer was, who LL Nunn was (don’t look him up), or pretty much anything about Telluride when I applied.</p></li>
<li><p>I had typos and a few errors in my essays. As surprising as it may sound right now, we’re not pedantic morons. We will forgive you if you accidentally forgot an umlaut.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>So in summary:
A) Don’t waste your time worrying about your standardised test scores. Nobody cares about them in the Telluride Association or outside of it.
B) You can write about anything. I wrote about bubbles, someone I know wrote about the “confectionary industrial complex,” and someone else wrote about how a video game changed his life.
C) There is very little that you could put on your extracurriculars or activities or awards sections that will make you any more or less appealing to us. It’s all about the essays.</p>
<h2>D) You are not going to give yourself a headstart by doing your application now. In fact, it might be worse than if you put it off for two more months because you’re going to change, and your writing is going to change. So don’t spend countless hours editing your essays. Write from your heart and say what you mean. </h2>
<p>If you want me to look over your essays, I’d be glad to. Give me a private message and I’ll share my email address. I might love the essays if you write to share who you are. I will hate the essays if you write to share who you want TASP to think you are.</p>
<p>^I wonder what the “the two most over-used topics” are. lol</p>
<p>I did TASS last year and loved it. the mentors were amazing and really helped me understand what really matters in life. i even ended up sending my transcript the before I got the acceptance letter. School hasn’t nearly been as nourishing as the experience I had at TASS, and after reading the programs for TASP 2011 I’m really looking forward to this summer. What do u think my chances are of getting into TASP after going to TASS 2010.</p>
<p>So, is TASS for people entering their sophomore years or having completed sophomore year??</p>
<p>As loathe as I am to add to the plethora of questions from aspiring TASPERS already accumulating dust on this thread, I must know- is it frowned upon to write one’s literary critique over a movie?</p>