<p>prompt: Stanford students are widely known to possess a sense of intellectual vitality. Tell us about an experience or an idea that you have had that you find intellectually engaging.</p>
<p>1)a bad grade?
how i earned straight A’s until my first AP course [C+] and how I got over it and learned to strive for excellence rather than perfection [i don’t know where else to explain this or if not to explain it at all because they will see improvement in my schedule and my final GPA of 4.53]</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>2) how photography challenges me [i am in my high school’s advanced photography class and program]</p>
<p>thank you</p>
<p>The second is probably more typical. I’m not sure how relevant to the topic the first is.</p>
<p>In my (humble) opinion, I don’t think I would like the first one about your grades. I interpret “intellectual vitality” as asking you for an idea you found fascinating, such as a book you read or a concept you learned at school. Your grades don’t really demonstrate that, unless you started thinking about what the grades meant and what you thought about them in a provocative manner.</p>
<p>The photography one is difficult–it could either be interesting and great, or it could come out dull and cliched. It just depends on how you spin it!</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I did write a little about my grades in my common app essay, but not for this prompt =)</p>
<p>I think #1 is more unique, but #2 is better overall.</p>
<p>Thank you very much!
I ended up incorporating the two, in a relevant and smooth manner, I am proud of myself!
Thanks again :)</p>