<p>What is up with Amherst’s essay requirement. Why can’t they just have a “tell us something about youself sort of thing”, It seems like they are trying to posture themselves. But let me tell you it aint working.</p>
<p>I guess they're a little "wacky" to compensate for them not conducting interviews.</p>
<p>each essay corresponds to an essay on the common app. i think you can match them up pretty easily.</p>
<p>What are you talking about?! I don't see those connections at all....</p>
<p>I don't see the connections either. On top of that, you have to submit the Amherst essay IN ADDITION TO the Common App essay, not instead of.</p>
<p>UGH. What horrible topics. Writing a supplemental essay is a bit annoying, but what is annoying about Amherst's essays is that, in my opinion, they are bad topics. Bowdoin had a great supplemental essay topic: write about your favorite teacher. Now THAT was something I could write about easily.</p>
<p>haha, that's exactly the point, bjrwrh, to make it DIFFICULT. so that the average student will not be able to answer these questions, and also to ensure that the applicant truly wants to go to amherst, because anyone who just wants to apply somewhere as a joke wouldn't spend all that time writing an essay they can only use for one school. so in my opinion, i think the amherst essays are a good way of discovering an applicant's personality and uniqueness.</p>
<p>ha, dreamsicle, exactly.</p>
<p>i'm applying to amherst, but it's my #4 school. well, i haven't even started the supplemental question yet. but i'm not too fazed. eh, oh well. it's a good point you made, that the essay is to sort out the students that really want to go from the students that are just applying for the heck of it.</p>
<p>/\ haha you're cool I haven't started the essay either, and I thought I was the only one...I feel much better about procrastinating now :)</p>
<p>They can probably tell you don't care too much, if your essay isn't very clean. Of course, the essay isn't the chief factor in applying, i'm sure. I liked the topics, as they were very open-ended; however, to the "average student" they may have seemed overly broad and intimidating.</p>
<p>In that Amherst admissions video that aired on News Hour, an adcomm (I think it's Parker himself) mentions an applicant's strong supplemental essay as a reason to accept the student. A strong supp can certainly help you.</p>
<p>hmm, thanks.</p>
<p>my writing skills aren't bad, and i can pull it off. heh. procrastinators ROCK. (well, not really, it gets very painful at the last minute, but still.)</p>
<p>but i won't mind the rejection too much. there's always swarthmore! whose supplemental i dominated.</p>
<p>but amherst will be a different story, i gather.</p>
<p>After a lot of procrastinating, I just finished my essay (the diversity quote one). I think the main problem with Amherst's essays is that they walk a line between standard and strange. For example, there are "standard" essay topics, like "what was your greatest challenge and how did you face it?" and "who is your favorite teacher and why?" Then, there are really strange topics, like "how do you feel about Wednesday?" and "how could you create a playground that gave the feeling of the unknown?" Amhert's topics were neither straightforward nor bizarre, and for me, it was hard to personally identify with the topics... but I ended up liking my essay anyway.</p>
<p>^ "how do you feel about Wednesday?"
now THAT would have been a super cool topic, I can write an GREAT essay on that
I think I relate most closely to the first one so I actually don't think this essay's THAT bad...shame though since I won't be getting in anyways ha, I'd rather write about Wednesday</p>
<p>aww come on kids, optimism! haha i would personally love to write about wednesdays, but i know i couldn't write anything meaningful about tuesdays or thursdays. so maybe it's a good thing amherst's essay topics aren't COMPLETELY random. haha. but yeah, if you guys need help on your essays, just pm me! i'll be glad to help. :)</p>
<p>the supplemental essay topics aren't that "wacky." you just have to determine how one of those quotes applies to your own life and then write a response. i just hope that mine was well written enough to get in.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>is Amherst any poster-in-this-thread's first choice?</p>
<p>It's tied for my first choice, but you knew that.</p>
<p>fire, when i went to visit amherst, i didn't meet anyone for whom amherst was their first choice. okay, maybe one. or maybe that was just me. i'm not knocking amherst though.</p>
<p>actually, there was one person who turned down harvard for amherst, but i also met a bunch who were rejected from their top choice schools.</p>
<p>You didn't meet enough people, then - Amherst takes about 30% of its class from its binding early decision program. Amherst is all of those kids' first choice - also, take it for what you will, the ED agreement requires that the applicant acknowledge that whatever school they apply to ED is their first choice. One of the other Amherst 09ers who joined the Amherst 2009 group told me his reasons for making Amherst his first choice: Amherst has an open curriculum and encourages learning as intrinsically good. Unlike at the top universities, there are no TAs at Amherst, and students are able to pursue an education guided by close contact with professors at the top of their fields. All the students I've talked to said they favored Amherst over the top Univs because the top Univs have more of a pre-professional attitude to learning that the students didn't see at Amherst.</p>
<p>Of Amherst applicants I know, Amherst is either their #1 choice or somewhere in the top 3.</p>
<p>you're right, i was only there for 3 days and probably didn't meet enough people. but amherst was within their top choices, still; it wasn't as if amherst were their safety or the bottom-choice school for them. and good point about the open curriculum. i forgot about that. that would be a very appealing feature to have as part of an education.</p>