Should I do what my teacher says?

paveyourpath
Sat, 03 Dec 2016 11:45:36 +0000

@gibby Is your statement based on actual statistics? I visited about 15 schools with my son and it seemed to be an equal gender divide. I also didn’t have the experience of interacting with admissions officers, during campus visits, that were as young as you describe. There were a few on the road shows but I suspect the older admissions officers have worked their way beyond the gruel of being on the road visiting city after city, week after week. Since the question is with regard to Harvard specifically, The AO that spoke during my son’s first visit was a middle aged, conservative, white man. The second visit was an older gentleman, ultra conservative, african american man who wore a three piece suit and a bow tie. (You mentioned “old white men” but the OP only stated his teacher said they were old.) It doesn’t mean they don’t have any young AO, we just never have met any after two visits to campus and attending two information sessions they held in our city.

@StupidAF Your teacher’s point is you need to keep your audience in mind. Write about a topic that you are passionate about and if your passion is truly electric guitar, it’s okay to write about it but you have to do so in a way that tells the reader about you and not the guitar. You can write about almost anything if it is incredibly well written and gives the reader a perspective of who you are. Which prompt did you select for this essay?