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proseandcon · 5 years

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Do you ever find out that someone that’s indirectly been apart of your life. Someone that you daydreamed about having a happy life with. Had something really good happen to them. And they’ve just been hiding it for a long time to avoid backlash. And you’re happy that they have it in their life but, at the same point you feel your chest ripped in two. You are happy for them genuinely. But everything you’ve dreamt about having with them is suddenly ripped from you. The fantasies you had for years are up in smoke. Because it feels wrong. It feels wrong because fantasy can’t exist anymore now that reality has changed. You can’t even make a fake character in your head to substitute what you had. So you cry. You ask your pet for comfort and they run away. So you cry again. Any comforting people or pets or thoughts are gone. So you cry again. You wonder what you’ll do without it. Because it’ll never be the same and it’ll never be right. So you drink. You scavenge the house for any decent high volume drink. You find mini cinnamon whiskey, mini rum horchata, mini grey goose , some white zin, a little bit of Chardonnay from New Years, and a scotch based ale. Your desperate to feel drunk or numb which ever comes first. Then you cry. Thinking about how you’ve never been good for anything. You realize you have no value. No worth. Then you text your friend to try and talk you out of suicide. She didn’t respond and you’ll realize that it was stupid to try and talk to her abou this. That you were being an idiot like always. Finally as you lay down in your dark room you start feeling numb again. Knowing you won’t be sleeping or enjoying your favorite things for a long while. You’re happy he’s with her but all your fantasies are no longer even close to reality and to even think about them again while their together feels like a stain on your soul. Here’s to hoping I don’t do anything reckless.

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proseandcon · 5 years

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Conquering the Why School? Essay

From a student who got into MIT & the Ivy League

I’ve read many Why School? essays. These often come across as generic, with no real indication of interest. I’m here to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes in your essays.

-Look up their course catalog. Don’t simply write, “I’m interested in your stellar economics program.” Great, so are hundreds of other applicants. Name-drop a couple of classes and explain why those specific courses appeal to you. It’ll show you’ve done your homework.

-Discuss a few clubs. Colleges want students who will contribute to their campus outside of the classroom. Are you interested in journalism? Talk about joining the school newspaper. Are you a violin virtuoso? Indicate your interest in the orchestra. Or are you into something that isn’t yet available? Say you’ll start a new group!

-Latch onto research opportunities. Schools love students who can contribute to their published papers. Look up ongoing research projects in whatever department you’re interested in (and no, research isn’t only for STEM fields!) and talk about how you’ll get involved.

-Talk about what makes a school unique. Columbia has a Core Curriculum; Princeton has a yearlong bridge program in Bolivia. Why do you want to attend this specific school?

-Touch upon your long-term goals. How will this university help you achieve your goals of becoming a lawyer? How do you want to make the world a better place? Colleges are looking for people who will contribute meaningfully to society.

-Don’t mention rankings or prestige. Harvard already knows it’s world-renowned, it doesn’t need you to stroke its ego. You should be choosing the best school for you, not the best school according to US World & News Report.

Good luck! I’ll also be happy to read your college app essays, feel free to message me :)

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proseandcon · 5 years

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On Applying to 20+ Colleges

I completed 24 college applications, submitted 17 (to Princeton, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Rice, Amherst, Georgetown, Emory, UCLA, UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, UNC-Chapel Hill, UVA, University of Pittsburgh, Williams, Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard and Yale) and received admission to all except the last four.

N.B. Some of this info may be dated/inaccurate and 100% of it is tinged w/ my own bias.

Things To Think About

Why do you want to apply to so many colleges?

If it’s hubris (i.e. “I want to collect admissions offers like trophies”) or fear (i.e. “If I submit more applications, I’m less likely to be shut out from every school I apply to"), stop and reevaluate. I applied to Vanderbilt even though I knew I’d never want to head south. The reason? It traditionally takes a lot of kids from my HS. Yeah, don’t be like me.

Do you really want to spend all that money?

I ended up wasting $2500 (and that’s a conservative estimate) on 17 schools. I’ll only be attending one college in the fall.

That said…it can be done.

General Tips

The “Why Us” essay isn’t asking “why would you choose our college?” so much as “why should our college choose you?” Emphasize how you’ll contribute to the college—inside the classroom and out—by referencing specific programs, classes, and extracurriculars.

Creating a template is a major time-saver. Once you have an effective “skeleton,” all you have to do is insert school-specific details.

Stay organized.

Create a spreadsheet. These were my columns: College Name, Application Type, Application & Aid Deadline, Standardized Test Report, Transcript & SS Form, Recommendation Letter Deadline, Creative Writing Supplement (Y/N), Interview (Y/N), Merit Scholarship (Y/N), CSS Profile, FAFSA, Sticker Price, Response Date.

If you use Google Drive, create a folder for each college.

Consider making a CV/resume. Keep it short (~1 page). Possible uses: upload as a part of your application; hand it to alumni interviewer.

Miscellaneous

Don’t apply to Georgetown unless you really really like it. There’s a separate application (not Common App) that’s cumbersome to fill out, and you can’t access it until you pay the application fee (which also happens to be p expensive)

Optional essays are NEVER optional. Hopefully, this is obvious.

The more selective publics (UC Berkeley, UCLA, UVA, UNC, UMich) are more holistic than you think. They reject high stats kids on the reg (anecdote: a dude from my school who got into Caltech didn’t get into Berkeley; another who got into Cornell didn’t get into UMich) so PAY ATTENTION to the essays.

Alumni interviews don’t matter AT ALL unless you make a terrible impression—or possibly if you’re a borderline applicant.

N.B. Applying to colleges based on the perceived difficulty of the application isn’t the greatest idea. That said, for your reference:

Easy College Applications

Vanderbilt University

Very easy. Only a 100-word extracurricular essay, I believe. Unless you want to fill out a scholarship application.

Washington University in St. Louis

Also very easy. No supplement unless you fill out scholarship app.

Amherst College

Zero work if you have a graded school essay you’re proud of (can upload in lieu of a college supplement)

Harvard University

I think there’s just one supplement and you can write about whatever you want.

Cornell University

Just one “Why Us” essay

University of Pennsylvania

One “Why Us” Essay, unless you’re applying to Engineering or a special program like Wharton, M&T, etc.

Moderate College Applications

Duke University

Three supplements, I think. All fairly straightforward. There’s a diversity essay that’s optional (refer to the Miscellaneous section)

Princeton University

A lot of short, lighthearted questions (favorite keepsake, favorite movie, etc.) and an essay (they give you three prompts to choose between)

Stanford University

Three fairly straightforward, 150-word essays. There’s a letter to your roommate, an intellectual interest essay, and something else.

Emory University

Easy, short supplements, but there are three of them.

All the UCs

There’s one UC application for all the UC schools (Berkeley, LA, Irvine, etc.) so same essays and everything, but you have to pay an application fee for each school you apply to. There are a lot of questions (called Personal Insight Questions) so it’s not quick, but once you’re done you’ve covered multiple schools. Also, if you are applying, ask your counselor about the UC GPA.

UMich

Three short essays, one of which is “Why Major.” Another is an extracurricular essay. Don’t remember the third.

UNC

I don’t really remember the supplements, but they weren’t that bad.

Difficult/Thought-Provoking College Applications

Yale University

This is hard because there are a ton of questions with 35, 100, and 150- word limits. “Why Yale” essay. Hard to come up with insightful answers/make an impression with so little space.

UChicago

I personally wasn’t a fan of the cutesy/philosophical prompts, and the essays that I wrote (but ultimately never submitted) reflected my utter lack of interest. If you enjoy them, UChicago may just be the school for you :P

Dartmouth College

Only three short i.e. 150 word essays, but one of them referenced Sesame Street. Something along the lines of ‘It’s not easy being green. Discuss.” There was another one on describing a time when you said YES to something. Anyway, I disliked them and never completed my application.

UVA

I think there are three short essays, but they require a decent amount of thought. Although UVA is a public school, craft your essays well. The admission officers care a lot about them.

Williams College

There’s only one short supplement, but it’s a real pain. Hard not to veer into cliche territory.

Tedious College Applications

Columbia University

So many (five?) supplements. Some are generic though. “Why Columbia,” a list of books you’ve read/media you’ve consumed.

Rice University

Also a lot of supplements. “Why Rice,” “Why Major,” Diversity essay, the famous box (where you can upload any image you want).

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proseandcon · 5 years

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THE BEST ESSAY ADVICE YOU WILL EVER GET

Yo peeps, so as you can probably tell, I’m about to blow your mind. You might want to sit down, grab some water, you know, keep yourself hydrated. Maybe do a few stretches.

Now that you’re all ready, let’s begin! A girl who wrote about hotdogs and Costco got into Stanford and most Ivy League Schools, a student who wrote about his love for food got into Stanford, while Cornell’s admissions officer’s favorite essays were about lint and failing the driver’s test four times. Observing a pattern here? All these people chose kind of silly topics to write about. You might be wondering, “Yo,why would I want to sound stupid in front of the admissions officer, this doesn’t make sense!” . Well, that’s a valid argument. Now read this excerpt from one of the essays I mentioned above.

“While enjoying an obligatory hot dog, I did not find myself thinking about the ‘all beef’ goodness that Costco boasted. I instead considered finitudes and infinitudes, unimagined uses for tubs of sour cream, the projectile motion of said tub when launched from an eighty foot shelf or maybe when pushed from a speedy cart by a scrawny seventeen year old. I contemplated the philosophical: If there exists a thirty-three ounce jar of Nutella, do we really have free will? I experienced a harsh physics lesson while observing a shopper who had no evident familiarity of inertia’s workings. With a cart filled to overflowing, she made her way towards the sloped exit, continuing to push and push while steadily losing control until the cart escaped her and went crashing into a concrete column, 52” plasma screen TV and all. Purchasing the yuletide hickory smoked ham inevitably led to a conversation between my father and me about Andrew Jackson’s controversiality"

Yes, yes, she’s literally talking about hot dogs and Costco. Now don’t underestimate her, this girl got accepted to 5 Ivy League Schools and Stanford. Jeez, that’s impressive. So now, you might be thinking , “Okay, enough of this, just get to the juicy part, give us the magic potion!” . Luckily enough for you, I’m getting to the point.

If you want to write an essay that slays everyone else’s like Beyoncé, first you gotta be true to yourself. You’re 17 or 18, you don’t want to end poverty or save the world. Maybe you enjoy pepperoni pizza, maybe you love watching horror films, maybe you love shopping at Macy’s, whatever it is, write about it.

The key is to choose a seemingly silly topic and present it in an intellectual light. Your ability to turn something silly into something genius will impress them and make you more memorable. In order to do that, you need to have a lot of knowledge about the topic you chose, which is why you need to be true to yourself. But then again, don’t write a pointless essay, don’t tell the officers that you can stuff 20 cheese balls in your mouth. Although I think it’s impressive, the admissions officer will beg to differ.

So there’s the secret formula to write a winning essay. Best of luck and I hope you get into your dream school!

Diyanshu Emandi

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proseandcon · 5 years

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the suffering never ends

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proseandcon · 6 years

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Hogwarts Houses common rooms in Halloween season

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proseandcon · 6 years

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a Denny’s haiku

If you love someone,

give them a special nickname.

Maybe… Burger Buns?

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proseandcon · 6 years

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Denny, Denny

Yes, Papa?

Eating sugar?

No, Papa!

Telling lies?

No, Papa!

Open your mouth.

Uh…I am a restaurant!

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proseandcon · 6 years

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“Daaaaad, I’m hungry!”

“Hello, Hungry. I’m Dad.”

The two embraced. At long last, father and son were reunited.

“I have returned to fulfill the prophecy, father—my one true destiny, to devour all of the glorious foods.”

It had been many, many moons since Hunger had seen his father, Dad, the all-powerful overseer of Mount Senses, after being tricked into exile by his scheming brother and rival, Thirsty. But now he would claim what was rightfully his: the prodigal feast.

“O, my son, how long you have patiently waited, subsisting solely on saltines from Mom’s enchanted purse, bottomless with preparedness. Your over-eager and desperate brother, Thirsty, commenting on all in your absence, unquenched and single, but now your noble quest achieved,"Dad’s eyes glistened with pride and emotion. "As the oracle prophesied, a great bounty of exquisite entrees, beautiful breakfasts, and delicious desserts have come together beneath one comforting roof. Behold, it is the Denny’s.”

Together, they gazed upon its magnificence.

They sat upon a throne-like booth, befitting the majestic mythological figures they were, as endless treasures arrived at their table; golden pancakes, the sweetest of syrups, eggs prepared in a myriad of styles. The feast was truly extravagant. Satiated and joyful, they relaxed and awaited their royal dessert. The son looked at his predecessor with great respect and admiration.

“Happy Father’s Day, Dad.”

And the father looked upon his son with great pride.

“Thank you, Hungry.”

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proseandcon · 6 years

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