<p>They’re out:</p>
<p>
</p></li>
</ol>
<p>I just have to say that the dream one seems really weird to me. No one wants to hear about that dream I had where my coffee exploded in my face.</p>
<p>Maybe they threw in the dream essay because they wanted to see how many people make references to “Inception”</p>
<p>where did you get this from?</p>
<p>The blog. You only have to do 2 (One 500-word, another 250-word)</p>
<p>They kept a lot of them from last year. 1, 6,7 are all new though.</p>
<p>The dream one is there to allow you to express your creativity, analytical skills and the like. If you don’t want to do it, don’t. I don’t think I would have, but I think it is an interesting topic.</p>
<p>Number one is a repeat. I picked that one last year.</p>
<p>I’m not shooting down the idea of the dream one. It’d probably be really fun to read the essays. I think it would show daring for a student to answer that question instead of one of the others. I like it better than the “what would be on your tombstone one”, to which a kid I know sent in (and I quote him), “All of that carpe diem quote because they’ll think, ‘Wow. He knows Latin. He must be really smart.’”</p>
<p>Yes, he got in.</p>
<p>Remember, those reading the essays want something new to read as well…40,000 plus essays can get awfully stale if they read the same ones every year. :)</p>
<p>I did the tomb stone one last year and the advice one. The advice one was generic and on the tomb stone one I took a bit of a risk and wrote it in letter format to my future relatives.</p>
<p>I think I got in on my optional essay.</p>
<h1>1 and #2 are the same as last year, I remember I picked #2 :)</h1>
<p>Oooh I have a killer idea for #3 :)</p>
<p>The prompt about dreams seems very interesting. I might try it as a 250+ word essay. Would it be a risk to talk about lucid dreaming? I did a research paper about lucid dreams last year.The simplest way to describe it is the awareness that one is dreaming.</p>
<p>DS picked #2 for longer essay. He had already written a fabulous essay (for home school) about an obscure musician. It was absolutely perfect for #2 – even the right length. It remains one of his best essays. We’ve recycled it for several schools. Have even used it as “extra credit” in a couple of cases.</p>
<p>@mollie – doesn’t sound risky at all. They seem to be looking for something a little adventurous, don’t you think? And, if you’ve already done research on lucid dreaming, all the better.</p>