<p>I hope you could realize what a crock that is! </p>
<p>First of all, the schools that are looking for essays that make judicious use of the space given are schools that should reward verbal competency in English. After all, when one applies to HYPS, he or she better not hope for much lenience for a lacking command of the written word. And those words do NOT have to be super complex. Actually, they should not be. A couple of dives into a thesaurus are acceptable, but the overall text should be based on rather simple words and ⊠powerful imagery. </p>
<p>As far as the culture goes, one of the essays I vividly remember was about a girl listening to her grandpa playing the sithar in a remote village in India. One could close his eyes and âlistenâ to the exotic sounds of the instrument, the rustling of the branches, or the monkeysâ play. It was simple yet powerful. And it showed a very different angle to an aspiring doctor with all the STEM qualifications! </p>
<p>All of that was an alternative to say: âI come from an impoverished state and I had to overcome obstacles in adjusting to our life in Manhattan as the daughter of two oncologists!â </p>
<p>The reality is that all of us have âlittle slicesâ of life, and being a foreigner surely does not make them more difficult to express. And, perhaps, even easier than would be the case to a plain normal, middle-class, all-white BWRK who really has not encountered much special in his or her life. </p>
<p>Overthinking and overcomplicating matters is the real enemy of applicants! . </p>
<p>My Sâs essay was about a household object that is less commonly found these days. (These werenât the objects, but think about a reel-to-reel tape recorder compared to an iPod, or a rotary phone compared to a cell phone). He used his approach to this object as a jumping off point to communicate qualities about how he approached life and by extension, why those qualities would make him a good addition to the college campus. It was absolutely his voice. You could have gone to any kid at his high school, read them the essay and they would have said â âOh, thatâs PGSon, thatâs how he thinks and acts.â It wasnât âquirky,â though, in the sense of juggling unicorns. It was real, honest observation. </p>
<p>Then Yukio Mishimaâs fatherâs brutalization of his son as a result of his literary interests was mere fiction and not documented historical fact? </p>
<p>While Mishima overcame his fatherâs strong opposition thanks to support from his mother and his own sheer stubbornness, most other budding literary writers would have likely crumbled under fathers like the one he had. Especially considering those brutalization included physical beatings from late childhood/early adolescence. </p>
<p>Then again, it also explains how he became a crazed militaristic right-wing fanatic later in life which he was famous for alongside the renown literary critics gave his literary works. </p>
<p>So, this isolated example of one person, who died 44 years ago, was raised in the far east and whose father didnât support his early writings because it was too âfeminineâ because his grandmother had him play with girl cousins and didnât let him play sports, this is related to the CURRENT discussion of writing essays for US college admission, um⊠HOW?? It isnt. </p>
<p>I was using him as another example alongside the American working-class family in a film with similar sentiments about literary writing âbeing too frivolousâ. </p>
<p>Some families are much more supportive of literary writing, or any other academic activity/hobby than others as with anything else. Sometimes, the active lack of parental/family support for some of those academic activities/hobbies may negatively affect them educationally and/or for college admissions/jobs if the adcoms/hiring manager view those activities/hobbies as critical factors. </p>
<p>The discussion is about writing essays for college admissions. It isnt about supporting literary writing. Decades ago or now. There are many, MANY first generation applicants or applicants whose parents are non-English speaking or clueless about the college admissions process or stay very far removed from it (sometimes by the applicants choice). It has nothing to do with âgrowing up in homes where symbolic/metaphorical writing was considered negativelyâ, which is an extreme overreach of one example from generations ago.</p>
<p>Come on. We are now talking college admissions and, so far, to schools with significant competition. You want to make another special category alongside USAMO kids- those whose families discouraged their literary writing? What is this, open season?</p>
<p>I dispute that this is all about symbolic or metaphoric writing - but we have to face the fact that a kid who canât communicate to adcoms is behind the 8 ball. Regardless of whether itâs his fatherâs fault. </p>
<p>I understand your question, but note that is was not a fully developed essay. I used it as an example how a simple âpopcorn and movieâ imagery can be used for multiple proposals. The idea here is to make something about the candidate memorable. The âingredientsâ are mere props to accomplish the objective of âshowingâ something about the candidate. Something about how she connects to people, how she interprets life around her, how she probably sat with her aging grandpa to make HIM happy but learned from the interactions with foreign objects. The main objective was to show the person without coming out and âtellingâ it. </p>
<p>Fwiw, it was a quick ad hoc effort to suggest that simple ideas or images can do the job, and a response to the popcorn discussed above. Obviously, the fully developed essay would be A LOT more than its opening âsalvoâ and should benefit from multiple edits, as well as personalizations to appropriate type of schools. Sending this to the USC or Chapman as an aspiring film maker might not be the smartest idea, but it could work for plenty of schools as a ⊠generic main essay under the âchoose your prompt.â</p>
<p>PS As far as the specific supplemental questions, I think that those are a goldmine of opportunities as opposed to a PITA. But I digress. As usual! </p>
<p>I actually (thought I) understood the original reference to movies and popcorn- it was just a representative phrase.</p>
<p>Also, there are many first gen or foreign kids or whose parents discourage, over-encourage or donât have a clue, who, nonetheless can write an app essay quite effectively. And STEM kids, actors, shy people, low SES kids- even kids like QMC. They just need to understand the point of the self presentation and be willing to go for it. We can help them. Many are getting this advice from their schools or additional pre-college resources or programs- or are just plain in tune. Not to make a sweeping statement, but the best of them donât assume they can just pour out any old thing. </p>
<p>Laughing at the idea of a recent CC poster trying to follow that nebulous line! TPG ought to start sharing more insidersâ gems. Not to mention a glossary for his abbreviations, </p>
<p>I wasnât talking about high school debate, I was talking about debate at Penn. Apparently some people seem to do it only to put on their resume for law school what not.</p>
<p>Of course premeds need to worry about getting into med school, but Iâm talking about premeds who are into it for the wrong reasons and/or care more about grades than learning. I personally donât understand what a lot of premeds are thinking when I hear them talk about being a doctor. Itâs a very stressful job and really can take a toll on oneâs mental health. The most common cause of death for a physician under 35 is taking oneâs life. If someone just wants to be a doctor for the glory or they just donât know what else to do, residency is going to be really tough for them.</p>
<p>âSome families are much more supportive of literary writing, or any other academic activity/hobby than others as with anything else. Sometimes, the active lack of parental/family support for some of those academic activities/hobbies may negatively affect them educationally and/or for college admissions/jobs if the adcoms/hiring manager view those activities/hobbies as critical factors.â</p>
<p>SO WHAT? What are adcoms supposed to DO, precisely, about the fact that so-and-soâs parents think creative writing is nonsense, or have pressured him culturally into certain activities and away from others, or have pressured her culturally towards a certain career? Everyone blames them for not being mind-readers; now theyâre supposed to magically intuit that that THIS particular aspiring engineer really wants to be one, and that one merely says she does because her parents have guilted her into this? Unless the kid comes out and says in the essay, âIâm applying to your engineering school but truth be told Iâd rather major in art history but donât tell my parentz,â what do you propose an adcom do?</p>
<p>âSome families are much more supportive of literary writing, or any other academic activity/hobby than others as with anything else.â</p>
<p>And??? Some parents are more supportive of sports than others. Some parents are more supportive of the sciences than others. Some parents arenât supportive at all. Some parents are more educated than others. Thatâs how the cookie crumbles.</p>