Telluride Association Summer Program (TASP) 2013

<p>I can guarantee that TASP is better than CTY. Any program that is free is better than a program that costs money (amiright, welfare recipients?? lol) Thankfully, tax dollars don’t go to either of the programs, as far as I am aware. But the Telluride Association does have a considerable amount of money in stocks, which I like because it supports good ol’ capitalism! Also, the seminars this year look kinda fruity. Where is the hunting seminar? or the seminar on the evils of liberalism?</p>

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<p>In which way? seriously I want to know. I’ve been to CTY several times. TASP looks very interesting. (not this year for me.)</p>

<p>Does anyone know if there is a cutoff for PSAT scores to be accepted by this program? </p>

<p>Also any answer to the question about comparing TASP to CTY would be informative.</p>

<p>There is no PSAT cutoff. There’s some sort of cutoff for you to be formally invited–I think you have to get within the 99th or 98th percentile of your state, probably–but that doesn’t reflect on whether or not you’ll get accepted.</p>

<p>Wait… Do you have to be invited to sign up? Or can you just submit your application even without scoring that high on the PSATs? I haven’t taken them yet [/slacker freshman] and I’m afraid that I will not do that great.</p>

<p>Also, does anyone have any sample TASP [accepted] essays I could look at? I just want to know what quality they expect.</p>

<p>^no you don’t have to be invited</p>

<p>Awesome. Now, does anyone have sample essays? :X</p>

<p>^Nope. Don’t.</p>

<p>3/4 essays are about China, me being Chinese, and all. Hooray for ORM lol. I’m despairing over this glaring continuity between prompts T<em>T But as long as Mitt Romney doesn’t read my essays I should be good…
X</em>x the app process is longer than i thought D; kill me now
[/endrant]</p>

<p>By the way, are most people edging really close to the 1500wc mark for every prompt or do you have essay lengths scattered all over the place?</p>

<p>I read somewhere on the site that about half? the essays generally near the 1.5k mark, while others don’t even come close. The last one’s supposed to be in list format. I’m not sure though: I skimmed through most of the specific reqs, since I’m not applying this year.</p>

<p>Could someone tell me about the difficulty level of getting into TASP? I recognize that it’s prestigious and what-not, and I’m very interested in going, but I’d like to know if I have a realistic chance of being accepted. Could any previous TASPers list their merits or what-not, just something so I (and others) can get a feel for the difficulty level?</p>

<p>@shinexalive: Oh gosh, <em>high five</em> An amazingly large amount of my essays are about China (re:cultural revolution era) :stuck_out_tongue: Any chance you are from Hong Kong? :D</p>

<p>By the way guys, how’s the book list coming? I have so many books I want to put down on the list, and it’s really hard to choose D: Do we have to write a short summary for each book about why we have decided to put them onto the list?</p>

<p>You do not have to describe or explain the books </p>

<p>TASP obviously is very selective–last year, the year I went, it sat at a ludicrous 4.7% acceptance rate or something apparently–but getting into TASP isn’t exactly the same as getting into Harvard or whatever. Anyone who thinks in interesting ways and seems willing to, you know, Learn in that sorta cliche-sounding(-but-true!) college brochure type way has a good shot, because that is what they are looking for. “Chancing”–posting any sort of merits–for TASP does not work. Your application is basically your essays and if you get far enough your interview. They make you send your test scores and grades, but I’m pretty sure that’s only to check for HUGE aberrations. My TASP and others had a wide range of those types of things, although it logically sorta works out that most of us have what are considered very good test scores and grades</p>

<p>^Do you think it’s worth spending the effort to try to apply to TASP at all? I don’t really have much time, so I don’t want to write five essays if the experience isn’t beneficial.</p>

<p>Yeah for me it was easily worth it</p>

<p>@Dracolis: Nope, no Cultural Revolution for me (I wonder how they’d react if my thesis is “Mao Zedong was actually not pure evil”?), one’s Ming/Qing dynasty and others are modern day XD And nope, not from HK. Although I heard the food there is tasty.</p>

<p>And you? From whence are you?</p>

<p>@shinexalive: Mm, hy history is horrible, so I’m not going to even touch the Ming/Qing Dynasty. The Cultural Revolution may be a slightly boring, overused topic, but it’s just so… interesting :smiley: Say, I’ve always wondered about this… Have you heard about the uh, 陆港矛盾?The one where that Kong guy called Hong Kong people dogs and it started a huge fuss about everything? And yea, I’m currently living in Hong Kong now. I would try and guess where you are from, but China’s too big for me to list out every uh, county?</p>

<p>To the general populace (:D): I guess it could be said that there is a minor discrepancy in my grades. I have extremely good marks for English and Biology, but above average grades when it comes to other subjects. Is that in any way going to affect my chances of getting in?</p>

<p>@Dracolis: I’ve not heard of it o.0 And haha, I don’t live in China currently, but hometown in Shenyang!</p>

<p>And you’re right, it IS interesting and fun (in retrospect lol)</p>

<p>@renoverchat > I’ve heard that the interview for TASP alone [i.e., even if you don’t get in] is amazing preparation for your university interviews. </p>

<p>@Erryone > Do extracurriculars matter? Because I haven’t focused on ECs all that much, and I mean, I have two years & a half to remediate this. I’m in MUN and the youth orchestra right now, but that’s about it. I was going to join mock trial & SciO & some other things in soph year [I go to a jr. high], but I was wondering which ECs would help.</p>

<p>so Lerizse, you’re only a freshman? Why do you worry so much so early then? It’s not until you finish your junior year! </p>

<p>But it’s a good question - I’m sure ECs matter. You can’t just have good test scores and grades. you have to show your ECs so they know where your passion is. It’s hard to get really involved when you’re a freshman. But pay attention to morning announcement. Mock trials, debate teams, model UNs, Science bowls, are what we have in our school. I’m sure there are others that I don’t know.</p>