Is a one sentence response bad for the Intellectual Vitality essay?

Colleges & Universities Stanford University
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<p>I’m really having trouble with this one, so I was thinking, what if I write a one sentence question (that I’ve pondered about?) It’s humorous and slightly philosophical, so it’s a valid response. I’m thinking they might interpret this as a joke or think I’m “trying to be clever”, which can be good or bad. In any case, I still answered their prompt…lol</p>

<p>Would this look bad since they give me about 200 words to work with? Or should I go with a more traditional paragraph essay?</p>

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<p>go for it if you think its truly good/funny/effective</p>

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<p>I think they will see it as you not trying. I’m also applying to Stanford, and I would not take that risk. It would stand out, but I see it as too risky. </p>

<p>It’s your call though.</p>

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<p>That’ll be really hard considering it is a 250 word minimum essay.</p>

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<p>^ Good catch; I definitely did not see that one. Thanks :)</p>

<p>I guess I’ll be writing away then…</p>

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<p>Well, you could theoretically pull of a 250-word sentence. Faulkner probably did it.</p>

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<p>I think pulling off a 250-word sentence for the roommate essay might create an excellent, humorous essay, if done properly. Mine’s already written so I’m not bound to try it.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the replies, everyone - I just sent the app off tonight. :)</p>

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<p>did you get into stanford? I was thinking of putting a quote by shakepeare. and thats it.</p>

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<p>Isn’t it a 250 word maximum?</p>

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<p>^^ Yup!
“Please respond to the following essay topics with up to 250 words.”</p>

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<p>Maybe last year’s was the opposite lol…</p>

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<p>wait there’s a 250 min? uh oh. i thought there was just a 1800 char. max</p>

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<p>No it’s a 250 word max. This got me all excited I wouldn’t have to cut my really, really fat and long essay. Boo hoo, I still do!</p>

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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064500722-post68.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064500722-post68.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>looked it up…it can be more than 250 words. you just have to make it fit “in the space provided” which is 1800 characters, so nobody panic!</p>

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<p>Faulkner definitely did a 250-word sentence, most likely more, in “The Jail” and “The Bear.”</p>

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<p>Did the applicant go with the one-sentence response? I’m a bit surprised she didn’t get into any of HYPS; and I’m also surprised she considers her AP scores of mostly 5s weak.</p>

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<p>^ It shouldn’t have anything to do with AP scores; they’re among the least important components of the application. Likely essays or just bad luck :/</p>

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50% of his/her scores are 5s. Obviously that’s better than the average, but if you’re talking HYPS applicants, a large number of them probably have 6+ scores of all 5s. And his/her results at HYPS shouldn’t be too much of a surprise, just look at the Yale or Stanford SCEA threads and you’ll see how high caliber the rejected applicants are.</p>