Amherst Essay Topic 5

Colleges & Universities Amherst College
1

<p>Hi!</p>

<p>What do you think about this topic?</p>

<p>“I’m not a machine. I feel and believe. I have opinions. Some of them are interesting. I could, if you’d let me, talk and talk….”
From Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, Amherst Class of 1985, Roy Edward Disney Professor in Creative Writing,
Pomona College</p>

<p>Do they expect to see an interesting oppinion on any question? Or do they want to read something written by the type of person the quotation describes?</p>

<p>If someone admitted ED has chosen topic 5 and is now in, please please tell me what type of essay you wrote. Anyone?</p>

<p>Thanks!
N.</p>

2

<p>they want you to write something interesting and creative, not a formulaic essay. And definately don’t do research or find out about the author (I think it even says this on the application). If you feel like you can’t write something interesting with essay 5, choose a different one.</p>

3

<p>Hey - I was admitted ED and I wrote on topic 5. My essay was pretty short (a little under 350 words) and was about my interest in philsophy, how I personally learn, how I like to write in order to examine an idea, and how my interest in learning shows that I am a person, not a machine. While starjonzz is correct, his advice might be vague for you; yes, write an interesting essay, but also recognize that topic 5 (and most of the others) is open-ended and could be interpreted in different but still effective ways. Be careful to sound original and not cliche - i’ll bet that essay topic 5 provides the adcomms with the most cliche essays that they’ll read this year; it’s probably the easiest to write rambling cliches on.</p>

<p>In reply to your “Do they expect to see an interesting opinion on any question? Or do they want to read something written by the type of person the quotation describes?”, i think an interesting opinion could work, but that’s not the only way you could interpret the essay prompt. As for your 2nd question, I’m sure they’d want to think the essay writer was not a machine, and was a feeling and believing person - but you don’t need to focus the essay on conveying a justification of yourself as a person.</p>

4

<p>I know all these things, but creative or not the essay HAS to be related to the topic; and I think I don’t get the topic…</p>

<p>Which one did you use, starjonzz?</p>

5

<p>Thanks, fire!
That’s what I needed to hear :)</p>

<p>Congratulations to both of you!!!</p>

6

<p>thanks - i edited my post above and answered a couple of your questions, so you may want to check back.</p>

7

<p>i kinda figured that each of those essays correspond to an essay on the common app and i think that one is:</p>

<p>" A range of academic interests, personal perspectives, and life experiences adds much to the educational mix. Given your personal background, describe an experience that illustrates what you would bring to the diversity in a college community, or an encounter that demonstrated the importance of diversity to you."</p>

<p>Or maybe:</p>

<p>“Discuss some issue of personal, local, national, or international concern and its importance to you.”</p>

<p>Sorry,I have to see all of the Amherst essays to remember which one corresponded to which. sooooorryyy :confused: but I hope this helped anyway…</p>

8

<p>in case you still care lorddrag, i did the science one</p>

9

<p>what did you write it about?</p>

10

<p>haha, dude you do not want to emulate the style of david foster wallace while writing your essay. have you ever read that book infinite jest? it’s insane.</p>