<p>Out of curiosity, but what did everybody who applied write for the essays?</p>
<p>I wrote about a poem I had written in a soporific state which turned out to be quite deeper than I thought it was at first write (:)) - which stimulates my sense of intellectual vitality.
In the roommate question, I wrote about creative chaos, how I cry over books, how I get homesick, how I hate unhygienic conditions, how I write poetry, how I study more in quality than quantity. Pretty freaky essay. :(
And in why Stanford area, about how I like diversity of minds, and how intellectually stimulating it would be to be among America's best, etc. </p>
<p>I am so not going to get accepted.</p>
<p>cominghome, did you apply stanford? what essays did you write?</p>
<p>hmmm I really thought Stanford had some interesting topics, but I think my most outrageous essay was the roommate one where i talked about how I have really strange dreams.</p>
<p>For the intellectual topic I wrote about how I met a professor who holds a religious position outside of his teaching realm and how I learned the importance of balancing my religion with my scientific knowledge.</p>
<p>I'm not exactly sure I gave them what they were asking for. AHH the anticipation is going to kill me!!</p>
<p>I'm a transfer so I didn't get a choose your own topic essay. Which sucks because I had a -great- one all prepared, which I had used for Columbia. Anyway, the required topic was why I wanted to transfer. I talked about how my current college had been a great preparation for college life, but that it didn't fit all my interests, and that I was now looking for a less degree-oriented program (i'm at a business school) more interdisciplinary college that allows economics to be integrated with other stuff like creative writing, and social sciences. I couldn't include anything Stanford-specific since it was the common app essay but I think I laid a good foundation. At least I hope so. The unnamed environment I described was basically Stanford lol.</p>
<p>Roommate essay: I talked about the importance of laughter and my experience as a stand-up comic at a festival last summer, and promised my roommate that despite all the studies and growing pains I was sure we would share quite a few laughs together. (I don't know how it will be taken).</p>
<p>Why Stanford: Since all the "Why transfer" stuff was covered in the common app essay, I went into details about Stanford's offerings that interested me, named a few professors and advisers I had contacted, the coterminal degree option, professors whose work I'm familiar with (basically just Tobias Wolff), and extracurricular offerings that are only present at Stanford (like the Pre-Law Society and their improv club).</p>
<p>For the intellectual vitality I went with the psychological concept of "learned helplessness" and applied it on a larger social scale, extending it to social classes and ethnic groups. I don't know. Its all clear in my head but I'm afraid it may have been too convoluted on paper.</p>
<p>intellectual vitality: wrote about the first time i worked with computer code. i thought it was alright at the time but right now i feel a bit lukewarm about it.</p>
<p>roommate note: my friends liked it. i did it in a list format. paraphrased Darth Vader on one of the points.</p>
<p>why stanford: tried to be specific. spoke about a class i would like to do with Prof. Osheroff. talked about wanting to learn more first hand about "Junior" the robotic car.</p>
<p>Undisclosed, you and I pretty much sent in the same essays (laughing roommate, improv, pre-law). Hopefully great minds think alike.</p>
<p>I got in EA, so I guess they liked my essays, lol.</p>
<p>Intellectual Vitality: Talked about the trend AGAINST individualism in this country. I pretty much talked a ton of crap on Statistics. </p>
<p>Roomate: Pretty cliche. Written in the "Hi my name is <em>_. I like _</em> and __. format." Easy to read and sarcastic at times.</p>
<p>Why Stanford: Talked about Stanford's integrity and devotion to its students. Had a Gerhard Casper (anti-US NEWS/World Report) reference and a bunch of other points like that.</p>
<p>.....</p>
<p>Of course you realize, I sort of hate you right now, rszanto. :p What was your intellectual vitality on, may I ask?</p>
<p>I would worry about this revealing my identity, but since my username is the similar to my email, it doesn't matter at this point, lol.</p>
<p>Intellectual Vitality: Wrote about linguistics and the difficulty of communicating across cultural barriers, which ties into my whole obsession with Japanese.</p>
<p>Roommate: Hi, how are you? Let's decorate our room in an interesting way. I want to do as many things as I can in college, so if you have some kind of event no one wants to go to with you, I will since everything will probably be neat. Yay weird things. The end. (basically)</p>
<p>The writing on this one felt forced to me, it's my least favorite essay except for perhaps the "elaborate on your activity" commonapp essay.</p>
<p>Why Stanford: Wrote about the information video I saw where an unexpectedly diverse group of students was singing an african song, and how Stanford's emphasis on intellectual diversity and the opportunities to learn that comes with it are cool.</p>
<p>Ugh, I am so getting rejected. :P</p>
<p>I realize that I actually have a related question for everyone here. How did you answer the favorite book/author/musical artist question? I was just wondering, because it seems like everyone's answers would be pretty different there, and I don't really understand why Stanford asks that question of us. So, did you answer as a list, focus on one work, or maybe talk about a characteristic that ties your favorites together? :)</p>
<p>Intellectual Vitality: Research in astrophysics</p>
<p>Roommate: I hope you don't need sleep, I hope we are different, I hope you can deal with my quirks</p>
<p>Why Stanford: A bunch of reasons... all combined</p>
<p>Intellectual Vitality: Yu-Gi-Oh TCG and how it has changed me. I was little hesitant on this essay because it is a child's card game lol, but I learned more from this game than some of my classes at school!</p>
<p>Roommate: Mainly focused on the issue of trust and how I would love to have someone I can trust and have that person trust me.</p>
<p>Why Stanford: Took a creative stance here and wrote about a day in my life as a Stanford student. It was risky but I covered upon all the things I would love to do at Stanford.</p>
<p>haha, yu-gi-oh!!!
if they're looking for unique qualities, you might as well go out and buy your Stanford paraphernalia now!!!</p>
<p>I agree lol</p>
<p>metaldragon2004: Took some man-sized balls to go with that topic. It's definitely unique....not sure if its in a good way. Hope it pays off.</p>
<p>Intellectual Vitality " mob dynamics in politics, financial markets, and society
Common app essay : living and growing up in 3 different countries, how that has impacted me, given my a unique perspective etc</p>
<p>intellectual vitality: sabermetrics and baseball</p>
<p>roommate: tried to reveal dif. aspects of my personality/interests</p>
<p>Why stanford: stanford basketball!</p>
<p>what did they really want in intellectual vitality?
i hope my essay is ok
:(</p>
<p>Intellectual vitality: I went all out on my obsession with chaos theory. Almost spoke of it as if it were a shiny toy in the hands of a 5 year old ; )</p>
<p>Roommate: I didn't think it was one of my best but everyone who read it seemed to have loved it. I basically wrote about how my brother is my current roommate (a funny narrative of a routine morning when I'm trying to stay asleep but my brothers bouncing all over). Ended slightly sentimentally about how I'm going to miss him and that at Stanford, he (my roommate at stanford) would be the closest thing to a brother. Yes yes, extremely cheesy.</p>
<p>Why Stanford: Pretty factual and Stanford specific.</p>
<p>Intellectual vitality: I wrote about visiting nuclear power plants in Korea, and how it inspired me.</p>
<p>Roommate: I got two different responses to this--the first was that it was really "cute and unique" and the other was that it was "cold and impersonal". haha, but I basically wrote a how-to guide on caring for a me. :)</p>
<p>Why Stanford: This was the most whimsical of my essays. I basically stated why I would fit in well at Stanford and what Stanford could do for me.</p>
<p>Intellectual vitality: I wrote about my fascination with language as a reflection of culture and globalization.</p>
<p>Roommate: This one was about how I have a "soundtrack"; the music I listen to is a backdrop to everything I do. It was basically a warning to my future roomie that I listen to a lot of off-the-wall music :)</p>
<p>Why Stanford: This one was way cheesed out; I wrote about how I have a lot of "potential energy" and that I need a place that is full of kinetic energy. </p>
<p>I got an early approval, so I guess they thought I did something right!</p>