Tufts Applicants Asked to Contemplate YOLO

[Wrenry]

Quote:

Popularized by the rapper Drake, the term YOLO (frequently accompanied by a hashtag) has become a fixture of pop culture. It has been the subject of a hit YouTube video by the band the Lonely Island featuring Adam Levine and Kendrick Lamar. It is a phrase common among teenagers and young adults as they embark on a night of partying.

And now, it is the subject of an admissions essay at one of the top universities in the country.
Tufts University, as part of its supplemental application, has provided applicants seeking a spot in the class of 2018 with an option to submit a 200-300 word essay about what the term means to them.

The question in its entirety:
"The ancient Romans started it when they coined the phrase "Carpe diem." Jonathan Larson proclaimed "No day but today!" and most recently, Drake explained You Only Live Once (YOLO). Have you ever seized the day? Lived like there was no tomorrow? Or perhaps you plan to shout YOLO while jumping into something in the future. What does #YOLO mean to you?"

Tufts has a reputation for atypical admissions essays. The Tufts student newspaper reported in 2010 that students had the option of creating a YouTube video instead of writing an essay. This year, if students do not select the question of YOLO, they can write about what makes them happy or how they "celebrate their nerdy side."

U.S News and World Report ranked Tufts at number 28 in its most recent college rankings. It has an admissions rate of 21 percent, making it one of the most selective schools in the country.

The essay prompt made its way around social media, going viral on Twitter. Tufts Admissions tweeted: "I wish # tufts was trending more than # yolo, but hey people are talking about us"
Source

But does that ensure you'll still get a job after graduating?

[O_o-Dimensia_Juice-x_X]

emotion_facepalm

[Kai-Shan Valandria]

Ha - as I posted on another site, I'm not sure I could stretch out the meaning of YOLO into a 200-300 word essay. YOLO is the (primarily) black version of the redneck "Here, hold my beer and watch this." Both mean the speaker is about to do something really stupid and dangerous, and you should back up to a distance of 30+ feet. The last time I heard the heard the redneck version, a guy decided to throw a just-emptied gas tank on a bonfire. The fumes ignited and made a 40 foot fireball that looked like something out of Die Hard. As soon as I heard what they were doing, I moved waaay back from where I was sitting 10 feet away from the bonfire, but hurried back for the cat that was chilling out on the bench next to me. I made it back to where I was standing before it blew just as it ignited, and the cat launched herself off my chest and ran into the darkness. I only got a couple cinder burns in my hoodie, while the guy who tossed it on got second and third degree burns on his chest and legs.

The last time I heard about YOLO being used, it was by some rapper who was drunk, texting, and driving 120mph. He crashed and died. Fail.

[David2074]

I find the first paragraph rather amusing. Rapper Drake may have made the term 'popular' but only in the stupid current use way. The term has been around for ages - including the 1937 movie by the same name. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029808/

[Hasuki Aatisuto]

It's pretty sad when colleges have to revert to an internet slang as a part of the college application nowadays. There are far better things to write an essay about. =/

[Chibi Halo]

Hasuki Aatisuto

It's pretty sad when colleges have to revert to an internet slang as a part of the college application nowadays. There are far better things to write an essay about. =/

I don't know man a lot of college bound high school seniors write essays based on what they think the universities want to hear from them. They're never truly honest with them because they all work from some cheat sheet guide about how to write the perfect college entrance essay that will get you accepted into college. Colleges now are coming up with essay topics that try and get the seniors to be open and honest with them. You would think that something like "What I did last summer" would be a lower elementary creative writing project but it's not. That's what was on the MIT application for the fall term that my niece filled out. My niece was totally honest and wrote her list in order of the things she did over the summer last year. The first thing on her list, held movie marathons in my basement with my friends. My sister the night before it had to be postmarked had to tell herself that her daughter had to sink or swim on her own and that it was too late to rework the essay. It totally worked as she's going to head off to the Cambridge, Mass. area next month to attend MIT.

And when she and my sister went to the preview weekend my niece was at a deal with a bunch of prospective students and the rep who said to them they were going to add a bunch of new classes next year based on what they wrote in their essays. Now mind you this was all said in jest but the rep told them there would be classes in Visiting the Elderly, Putting together boxes of food for the poor, etc. It was to show the new students just how fabricated sounding their essay choices were and how not honest and real they weren't. So yeah, sometimes the most elementary and juvenile sounding essay topics for an entrance exam totally work at getting seniors to be themselves and not give them the same thing they read thousands of times again and again.

[Whispyre]

Hasuki Aatisuto

It's pretty sad when colleges have to revert to an internet slang as a part of the college application nowadays. There are far better things to write an essay about. =/

Thanks for paying the full tuition to get in! You're first assignment is to write and essay about YOLO, then I would like you to give a live demonstration to the class. =D

[Hasuki Aatisuto]

Chibi Halo

Hasuki Aatisuto

It's pretty sad when colleges have to revert to an internet slang as a part of the college application nowadays. There are far better things to write an essay about. =/

I don't know man a lot of college bound high school seniors write essays based on what they think the universities want to hear from them. They're never truly honest with them because they all work from some cheat sheet guide about how to write the perfect college entrance essay that will get you accepted into college. Colleges now are coming up with essay topics that try and get the seniors to be open and honest with them. You would think that something like "What I did last summer" would be a lower elementary creative writing project but it's not. That's what was on the MIT application for the fall term that my niece filled out. My niece was totally honest and wrote her list in order of the things she did over the summer last year. The first thing on her list, held movie marathons in my basement with my friends. My sister the night before it had to be postmarked had to tell herself that her daughter had to sink or swim on her own and that it was too late to rework the essay. It totally worked as she's going to head off to the Cambridge, Mass. area next month to attend MIT.

And when she and my sister went to the preview weekend my niece was at a deal with a bunch of prospective students and the rep who said to them they were going to add a bunch of new classes next year based on what they wrote in their essays. Now mind you this was all said in jest but the rep told them there would be classes in Visiting the Elderly, Putting together boxes of food for the poor, etc. It was to show the new students just how fabricated sounding their essay choices were and how not honest and real they weren't. So yeah, sometimes the most elementary and juvenile sounding essay topics for an entrance exam totally work at getting seniors to be themselves and not give them the same thing they read thousands of times again and again.

That's actually a very interesting way of looking at this, and I have honestly never thought of it that way. Thank you for taking the time to type out the insightful comment. :3

[Chibi Halo]

Hasuki Aatisuto

That's actually a very interesting way of looking at this, and I have honestly never thought of it that way. Thank you for taking the time to type out the insightful comment. :3

You're welcome. One of our cousins is to the point where this fall his son will be going through the same thing. He won't be applying to MIT mind you but when he starts sending in apps to places like Michigan and Notre Dame he'll have to go through similar things. So at the graduation party last month she told my cousin, his wife, their son, one of our other sisters, and me the story of what it was that got my niece into MIT. My niece isn't the most creative writer out there so honesty and being herself is her stronger suit. Colleges want to see the real perspective student and not the fabricated "My hero is (insert current respected world renowned politician, author, or scientist/doctor)" essays because they probably get a few hundred of the same answers filled with nothing but generic buzzwords.

[Pawlas Cathena]

Meh. I don't see anything wrong with that as an essay subject or being used by anyone in general. Just another stupid "I hate it because it's popular!" moment.

[Eveille]

I actually think this isn't a terrible prompt. It asks about a day when you lived like no tomorrow. That isn't a bad prompt for a 200-300 word limit. And if you say you spenteansously spent that day helping clean up a beach, all the better.

It isn't asking about the terms effect on culture; that would be far longer than the current word limit; or YOLO versus a more traditional concept of being held accountable in some sort of afterlife; that too would be too long. However, for the current limit, I don't think it's a bad prompt.

It only sounds bad because YOLO is now a pop culture term with stupid associated with it. Though I suppose the essay could then start out mentioning that and then go on to how your YOLO day was actually not stupid at all and vindicated the original meaning of the sentiment.

[Diskolated]

lolololol i go here lololololololol

[Ask Jappleack]

Kai-Shan Valandria

Ha - as I posted on another site, I'm not sure I could stretch out the meaning of YOLO into a 200-300 word essay. YOLO is the (primarily) black version of the redneck "Here, hold my beer and watch this." Both mean the speaker is about to do something really stupid and dangerous, and you should back up to a distance of 30+ feet. The last time I heard the heard the redneck version, a guy decided to throw a just-emptied gas tank on a bonfire. The fumes ignited and made a 40 foot fireball that looked like something out of Die Hard. As soon as I heard what they were doing, I moved waaay back from where I was sitting 10 feet away from the bonfire, but hurried back for the cat that was chilling out on the bench next to me. I made it back to where I was standing before it blew just as it ignited, and the cat launched herself off my chest and ran into the darkness. I only got a couple cinder burns in my hoodie, while the guy who tossed it on got second and third degree burns on his chest and legs.

The last time I heard about YOLO being used, it was by some rapper who was drunk, texting, and driving 120mph. He crashed and died. Fail.

I think YOLO used by partiers is beyond ironic, since you only live once you might wanna be careful with that life and not wasteful.

[Ask Jappleack]

Hasuki Aatisuto

It's pretty sad when colleges have to revert to an internet slang as a part of the college application nowadays. There are far better things to write an essay about. =/

Such as?

[Keltoi Samurai]

Kai-Shan Valandria

Ha - as I posted on another site, I'm not sure I could stretch out the meaning of YOLO into a 200-300 word essay. YOLO is the (primarily) black version of the redneck "Here, hold my beer and watch this." Both mean the speaker is about to do something really stupid and dangerous, and you should back up to a distance of 30+ feet. The last time I heard the heard the redneck version, a guy decided to throw a just-emptied gas tank on a bonfire. The fumes ignited and made a 40 foot fireball that looked like something out of Die Hard. As soon as I heard what they were doing, I moved waaay back from where I was sitting 10 feet away from the bonfire, but hurried back for the cat that was chilling out on the bench next to me. I made it back to where I was standing before it blew just as it ignited, and the cat launched herself off my chest and ran into the darkness. I only got a couple cinder burns in my hoodie, while the guy who tossed it on got second and third degree burns on his chest and legs.

The last time I heard about YOLO being used, it was by some rapper who was drunk, texting, and driving 120mph. He crashed and died. Fail.

Y'know, I use neither "YOLO" nor "Hold m'beer."

When I do something incredibly stupid, my warning phrase of choice is pretty well always "Watch me do something incredibly stupid."

I like the flow of it. Have ever since I read this paragraph in a section on the various Howls in the old World of Darkness Werewolf: the Apocalypse core rulebook:

White Wolf Publishing

Cry of Elation
In the heat of battle, young heroes may think themselves almost invincible, and they may attempt ridiculous feats of courage that no sane werewolf would attempt. The cry basically means, "Look at me!" or (as some elders put it), "Watch me do something incredibly stupid!" With enough expression, it may also convey who should get out of the way, what four or five objects are going to be used, where they will be inserted in the victim and why the pack's healer should ready her mystic Gifts if the attempt fails.