<p>…I am perplexed. hahaha xD
We’ve decided that it’s up to you to choose your voice for the essays; previous posters have already discussed this. I wrote my essays in a pretty formal way, but that’s just how I’m comfortable writing.
As for Silmarillion, do you have argument for it? I’m sure, judging by…your writing style, you’re familiar with Tolkien and the like, so it may be a good choice for you to analyze.</p>
<p>doublerbatw: I’m just listing my books ( 1. <em>Title</em>) How many books did you end up with on yours?</p>
<p>And how long are you guys’ essays turning out too be?</p>
<p>Book list: done
Critical analysis: Needs editing but done
Issue of choice: 50% done
Future: Started, but not thought through
Seminars: done
Conflict: No idea.</p>
<p>One questions, though</p>
<p>Is it acceptable to write the conflict essay as an autobiographical creative writing piece? Or do they want an actual essay?</p>
<p>@emmx15, I’m sure you can write the conflict essay as an autobiographical piece. There are no restrictions as to the format of the essays, so the more creative you are the better.</p>
<p>Who else will be writing essays next weekend, just before the deadline on Monday? haha.</p>
<p>I’m starting all of my essays tomorrow. I am SOOO not getting in XD</p>
<p>Cleaning up my rough drafts…
They’ll be in final form by Thursday night.</p>
<p>Did anyone else understand what Astaldo said? <em>raises hand</em> I found his syntax quite hilarious. xD Astaldo should write his TASP essays in such a manner. The readers would probably actually appreciate it, in all seriousness. Creativity is really valued here, right?</p>
<p>Creativity with a purpose*
And same with the drafts; I still have to write the seminar preferences though. Do they ask you about it in the interview?</p>
<p>former TASPers or anyone with knowledge: what kind of questions do they ask for the interview?</p>
<p>Also, does anyone know if they give you priority if you’re from an under-represented state (wyoming, idaho, alaska, etc.)?</p>
<ol>
<li>Again, I inquire: have any of those who deserted the host of the TASPers ANY negative lays to share with me, presenting what would in colloquial vernacular be referred to as “the catch”? Come, now, for I need but a few paltry reasons to persuade the elder Astaldoes not to cause me to enter such an accursed realm, stalked by uber-Astaldoes, who are just like me, only much, much better. Indeed, the situation which I find myself in is analogous to that of the Quendi: to stay as the greatest of beings in lesser Middle-Earth, or to traverse the Straight Road to Aman, to be accounted least amongst the kindreds of the West.</li>
</ol>
<p>To she that calls herself Leisha, the Thirteenth of that House, I say this: I fully intend to. 
If I can identify conflicts that I not only resolved but also led be to insights pertaining to a member of the race of Men, to be found within the circles of the world.</p>
<p>@sabor2 From what I have discerned, the questions can be “grilling” to “laid back” and “relaxing”. To quote the youngling scouts: Be prepared. As to your second query I am aware of neither, but I imagine that there may be a minuscule boost in that regard, for it is said that they value diversity, amongst rife droves of other educational buzzwords.</p>
<p>Lastly, within the date of December the entities of Telluride Association did request that we commenters utter this anew, hence I shall repost it for those who have yet to hearken to it.</p>
<p>Message from TASP Admissions committee
Dear TASP hopefuls,</p>
<p>Out of fairness to potential applicants, Telluride Association has a policy of only sharing online information about TASP on the official program website, <a href=“http://tasp.tellurideassociation.org”>http://tasp.tellurideassociation.org</a>. The admissions committee voted to make a one-time exception, however, because of the large number of students who turn to College Confidential each year to find out more about the program. There are a few things we would like everyone reading this site to know (and we would appreciate it if someone were to re-post these every so often as the length of the discussion thread grows):</p>
<p>First, nobody directly involved in TASP admissions posts to this site (with this one exception). That means that any advice you seek or receive on this site may be misleading, out-of-date, or inaccurate. Having monitored the annual TASP threads for half a decade now, I can say that there is likely to be a lot more misinformation than you might suppose. You should not expect that program alumni have a helpful view of how to be admitted, and you should remember that their views represent only a few of the many perspectives students have of TASP. In particular, modeling your essays or essay topics on those of past successful applicants is unlikely to be a good strategy for you.</p>
<p>The flip-side to that caveat is that the admissions committee has made a major effort to make accurate and up-to-date information available on our website. If you have a question, see if it is already answered on our FAQ page. If it is not answered there, we provide an email address on that page for sending your question directly to us—we usually answer within a day or two. If you want to hear from TASP alumni, check out our “Ask a TASPer” page—we make a special effort to find a representative variety of perspectives on each question.</p>
<p>Third, we encourage you to read our policy on online networking, at <a href=“http://www.tellurideassociation.org/programs/high_school_students/tasp/tasp_faq.html#networking”>http://www.tellurideassociation.org/programs/high_school_students/tasp/tasp_faq.html#networking</a>. In our experience, for a variety of reasons, students who come to the program without having spent time on sites like this tend to get more out of TASP. We can’t prohibit you from spending time here, and we love that you are curious and enthusiastic about TASP, but we also hope that you will learn from what we have observed.</p>
<p>Related to this, many people assume that this forum is anonymous. Our experience shows, however, that frequent posters are often easy for fellow TASPers (and sometimes even the admissions committee) to identify. You should keep this in mind if you decide to participate in discussions on this thread.</p>
<p>Thank you for taking the time to read this, and we sincerely hope that you decide to apply to our unique summer program!</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Michael Barany
Chair, TASP admissions committee</p>
<p>Hey, I was wondering…</p>
<p>For the critical analysis, the prompt says “a text”, but would it be in order if we analysed 2 texts? Poetry is the medium in question, and they’d be by the same author.</p>
<p>@nawtsocliche Thank you for the link, I’m sure Shoreline Community College has the answer to all my problems, and thanks to @Astaldo for the comic relief.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>1) The interviewers prepare their own questions.
2) Maybe.</p>
<p>@dubywhy I would deem that imprudent, as the site over which they hold dominance refers to but a sole text alone, sundered from it’s tribe.</p>
<p>^*its
otherwise, i love it</p>
<p>Traverse the path, Astaldo. My biggest fear before going to TASP was that I’d absolutely drown there. I’ve read stories about other students’ accomplishments (Clark Scholars, Davidson Fellows, etc.) and I was absolutely convinced that TASPers would be exactly those people.</p>
<p>I was wrong in the best way possible. Assuming the admissions committee does the same stellar job it did my year, you’ll meet other students who are invested in knowledge more than anything else. I’m on the lookout for some of my TASPers to become authors, economists, politicians, and awesome members of society. I don’t think we ever directly competed (there was an informal Quiz Bowl tourney run by some Bowlers and several heated games of Diplomacy) - we were far too busy enjoying being around each other. </p>
<p>Write the critical analysis on whatever you want. I haven’t read The Silmarillion, but I’ve put a dent in Children of Hurin - good luck to you. Cite examples from the text as if the reader hasn’t read it, but I think it’s a safe assumption to make that they’ll recognize Tolkien’s name and at least pass it on to somebody on the committee who’s more versed in his work.</p>
<p>My least favorite thing about TASP? Undoubtedly the food. I give huge props to the kitchen staff for feeding us every day, but I’ve eaten much better at the college camps I’ve been to before. I know this reeks of first world problems, but I do say that the meals could have been done better. Our TASP did have some friction with a factotum for the first two weeks, but we managed to work into a fairly good relationship with him/her by the midpoint. Our first few house meetings were really rough, until we managed to get our parliamentary procedures going. Looking back, none of these were really that significant compared to the overall experience. Six weeks of subpar supper was survivable.</p>
<p>I don’t think there’s priority. The Midwest was underrepresented at my TASP. We had larger populations from Texas, Florida, California, and New England. I don’t think that means there’s priority given to those areas, just that the applicants happened to be stronger there.</p>
<p>From what I hear, my interview was more straightforward than most. My interviewers started by asking me a bit about extracurriculars, and I flubbed there. It should’ve been an easy chance for me to pontificate, but I erred. I wrote the following essays:</p>
<p>Conflict - my conversion to atheism and subsequent struggle with being a Boy Scout</p>
<p>Critical Analysis - the image of the modern man and modern child in Arcade Fire’s Album “The Suburbs”</p>
<p>Intellectual Interest - an argument for morality as a relative concept formed by the individual.</p>
<p>Future Plans - a more wishy-washy essay than the above. I talked about my desire to discover things, fear of becoming a doctor or lawyer and permanently damaging someone’s life, and settling on the sciences.</p>
<p>I only wrote a few sentences on seminar topics - perhaps four on each.</p>
<p>Before the interview, I spent the most time preparing for questions on the morality essay, and we ironically spent no time on it whatsoever. Most of the discussion was focused on my conflict and critical analysis. My interviewer had a particular focus in architecture, which s/he tied in to the analysis. Our discussion of my conflict essay was focused on some more backstory, and what I’ve done since leaving the Boy Scouts.</p>
<p>My essays ended up ranging from 750 to 1,200 words. Don’t think that you have to fill up the word limit - just convey your thoughts completely and coherently. I made the snap decision to write them three days before the deadline, and was rewarded with the best summer of my life. Don’t feel like crunch-writing will disqualify you. I ended up having a lot more voice in my essays for the lack of editing. On the flip side, I know we had TASPers who put weeks into the essay, because that’s how they best put their ideas on paper. You’re going to be hearing this a lot, especially once college apps start, but the important thing is that you convey your personality and ability to think critically.</p>
<p>@nawtsocliche - though you can implicate the work’s success or failure, critical analysis should focus more on an argument, image, or message conveyed in the original text, and your original analysis as to its significance.</p>
<p>Would any past TASPers PM me your essays? I already submitted mine online but I like want a reality check on what other essays are like because mine (especially personal one) are really flowery… Just to mentally prepare myself for the decisions…</p>
<p>Wait how direct are everyone’s essays? Cuz mines all like 10 words short from the word limit…</p>