<p>The title says it all: How much Influence does TASP have in College Admissions?</p>
<p>I’ve heard conflicting reports. Perhaps this thread can answer the question definitely.</p>
<p>whats TASP</p>
<p>I was wondering this too. 6 weeks is alot to give up of my last summer with the friends that I love.</p>
<p>
from <a href=“http://www.tellurideassociation.org/tasp1.html[/url]”>http://www.tellurideassociation.org/tasp1.html</a></p>
<p>TASP looks really good.</p>
<p>To answer the original question, participating TASP probably has no significant influence on college admissions. It is not TASP itself, but the type of quality student that participates in that program, who will do extremely well with the college admissions process.</p>
<p>It’s said to be the RSI of humanities, so judge on that.</p>
<p>See. I have two differing opinions–one saying that TASP looks “really good” and the other saying that the correlation isn’t causal. Which is it?</p>
<p>"It is not TASP itself, but the type of quality student that participates in that program, who will do extremely well with the college admissions process.:</p>
<p>I agree. It’s very difficult to get to TASP. The admissions process is even more selective than admissions for Harvard. To get accepted into TASP, one needs extraordinary scores (top 1%, I believe, of one’s zip code), lots of thoughtful, insightful, essays, and an interview. TASP clearly is seeking very bright people who have such a passion for learning that spending the summer diving into a narrow academic field thrills them.</p>
<p>Someone who spends a summer at TASP therefore has the intellectual passion and smarts that top colleges seek. It’s not TASP that gets them into top colleges: It’s their passion and intelligence – the same things that got them into TASP.</p>
<p>A reminder; As is the case even with the Olympics, going to TASP still isn’t a 100% guarantee that one will gain acceptance to the ultra select college of one’s choice. Still, odds are more in a TASPers favor than the odds favor most applicants.</p>
<p>HS students looking at the Telluride website may think that TASP sounds cool, but adcoms just look at it as another summer enrichment experience. College applicants don’t score any extra points for participation, unless possibly by writing about their experience in a personal essay. </p>
<p>But writing about any experience (summer school, summer job or internship, community service, etc.) could possibly score well with adcoms.</p>
<p>Don’t do TASP because you think that it “sounds” prestigious and will give you some kind of an edge with college admissions.</p>
<p>I’ve seen the TASP application, which requires about 6 very thoughtful essays that would be next to impossible to do well if one wasn’t really passionate about the academic aspects of TASP. I highly doubt that anyone could do an excellent job with those essays and with the interviews if the person only wanted to go there to look good to the ultra select colleges.</p>
<p>Everything that I saw indicated that TASP has a more rigorous screening process in terms of looking for intellectual passion than do the ultra select colleges.</p>
<p>The TASP selection process is quite rigorous, and the students that are selected are extremely passionate about learning, and yes, the thought of spending the summer with equally passionate peers is thrilling. Someone who doesn’t want to “waste” 6 weeks of their last summer at home is likely to be weeded out very quickly:)
DD’s TASP friends all were very “successful” with their college applications, but they were all likely to be with or without TASP. They were incredibly interesting and accomplished and articulate–but very different in many ways, and they didn’t all want to go Ivy!
Plain and simple–apply to TASP if it sounds like something you’d enjoy. You can learn a lot about yourself in the process, and even more if you get accepted, but don’t do it just to collect a “trophy”.</p>
<p>Please don’t misinterpret me. I do not want to apply to TASP for a “trophy” or for a “hook”. I was simply curious about whether or not the whole “prestigious summer program” ideas floated by many other CCers was much ado about nothing.</p>
<p>Well, your question was about the influence TASP may have on admissions. Quite honestly, unless an admissions officer comes on and tells us how much weight it carries, we can’t really know! What I do know is that D’s fellow TASP’ers got into great schools, and she’s met others who got into great schools. I’m sure there have been some who have been disappointed by colleges. She has also met some interesting people who were TASP’ers before her, both at her school and through interviewing TASP applicants. As far as prestige goes, I think it’s safe to assume that any program which is completely free for all participants must be pretty selective, due to the sheer number of people who will apply. That’s why TASP and RSI and Gov. Schools usually make the tops of these lists. Does that make them prestigious? Who knows?</p>