<p>I have recently begun applying to my short list of schools, at the top of which is Tufts. Out of their three short response questions, the last prompt slightly confused me. It reads:</p>
<p>For the second short response, we asked you to consider the world around you. Now, consider the world within. Taste in music, food, and clothing can make a statement while politics, sports, religion, and ethnicity are often defining attributes. Are you a vegetarian? A poet? Do you prefer YouTube or test tubes, Mac or PC? Are you the drummer in an all-girl rock band? Do you tinker? Use the richness of your identity to frame your personal outlook. (200-250 words)</p>
<p>This seems like a fairly open-ended question, but I was just wondering what some good ideas might be as a subject? Are they just looking for applicants to expound upon a hobby? A principle of theirs? A particular aspect of their identity?</p>
<p>Any advice will be useful, thanks. I really want to write a good essay.</p>
<p>I think you can really attack this any way you choose. Any subject can be fine - it’s how you write about it that makes it a good essay. My son had already written about a hobby for his main essay, and had showed himself acting like a historian in his EC essay, and had written a creative optional essay, so he used this essay to highlight a different aspect of his personality. He talked about his sense of personal style (long hair, hat collection, silly t-shirts) and said he would call his style “determined whimsy”. (Or something like that.) I didn’t think it was his strongest essay, but I think he came across as sounding like fun to be around, if a little quirky.</p>
<p>Look back through the Dean of Admissions blog entries. They sometimes quote the opening lines of some of these essays. They tend to run along the lines of “I am a square-dancing pacifist who has won riflery contests…”</p>
<p>Mostly, the question is worded as it is to invite you to have fun with the prompt and with yourself. Given the banality of the common application prompts, and the stress level of the admissions process generally, it’s hard as an applicant to feel like it’s ok to be yourself and to relax and use freedom of expression. </p>
<p>My hope is that this prompt signals to you that we are, as a university and as an admissions office, ok with you doing something unexpected, or offbeat, or unconventional with your application. You don’t have to, and “offbeat” is absolutely not a requirement to get admitted, but I remember how stifling so many admissions prompts can be, and we want to encourage you to let your ideas wander a little.</p>
<p>We really want to admit folks with personality, and if we’re not willing to demonstrate some personality ourselves in our application, how can we ask you to do the same?</p>