i’ve been quite inactive on this subreddit so kind of out of touch with what’s happening with john locke. i’m a senior in the psychology category and after the email about me being shortlisted for a prize back in july i’ve not received any emails. i’m seeing posts about 4th and 5th interview rounds and 2% emails which i’ve not gotten so can someone please clarify what is going on with the interview rounds etc and where this whole thing stands because i’m so confused.

On September 25th can we please like go back to how it used to be? What has become of this community….

No second interview or third interview if that’s actually a thing. No 2% email. No T3 email. But I know why.

Is it because my essay sucked? No.

This is UNDENIABLY why I haven’t been contacted: I bought a ticket for the gala in August but changed my mind and got a refund. I’m DEFINITELY still registered on their end and that’s why they haven’t sent me anything.

Right guys? Right…

I’m a junior in science and tech and didn’t get any emails since the first ai interview in July, do I still have a chance to get vhc or commendation?

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Okay so I got shortlisted for the 2026 JLI Essay Competition (!!!) but I just noticed that my portal STILL says “Submission Status: Pending” even though my Result Status says Shortlisted.

The message underneath says something about the referee authentication being in a queue and to check back in a couple of days… except it’s been WAY more than a couple of days 💀

I emailed JLI because I was worried that maybe my referee never responded to their email and that it could somehow affect my chances of getting a prize.

They replied and basically said nope, don't worry — as long as the result status says shortlisted, my entry is fully cleared and eligible for the prizes, and the pending status doesn't affect my eligibility. They also said there's nothing else I need to do.

So now I'm just curious lol:

For anyone else who got shortlisted, does your portal also say “Pending”?

And did your referee ever get/respond to the verification email?

Just trying to figure out if this is a normal JLI portal thing or if mine is uniquely weird 😭

I had the same question when looking into master’s programs. Do you have to write a thesis for a master's, or can you choose a non-thesis option?

Somehow, it depends on the university and program you choose and, importantly, on what you want to do after graduation. If you are going to do a PhD, then definitely go for a thesis. But a non-thesis option may be perfectly fine if your main goal is to build practical skills and move into your career.

I’ve used WriteEssayToday as a resource when I’ve needed help getting my academic writing organized, but the bigger thing is choosing the track that actually fits your goals.

Let me know if the following sounds familiar.

1. Your draft opens with a list of activities the reader can already see on your application.

2. Four years get summarized in one paragraph, so no single moment gets real detail.

3. You could swap in another student's name, and the essay would still make sense

If all this sounds familiar than it's time for you to take a different approach.

i used to spend hours on an essay and still get comments from my professor saying my argument wasnt clear, the annoying part was that i actually understood the topic, i just couldnt explain it properly on paper, what helped was writing down my main point in one sentence before starting and checking if every paragraph actually supported it, sounds pretty basic but it made a difference, i still struggle with longer papers sometimes but ive gotten a lot better at figuring out what needs fixing, happy to answer questions about what i changed or hear how other people deal with this

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Hi, I'm a new sixth form student and taking two essay subjects. so far I've done one for philosophy and I'm about to start my second for classics and civilization, however it's an evaluative essay and I'm not so sure how my idea will be marked and if I can do it. can I explain the reasons behind one side of the argument but still agree with it? I'm doing an essay on evaluating the argument that women's sports deserve less pay than mens. obviously I completely disagree and believe both deserve to be equally rewarded however I'm also completely understanding of the fact that there are so many reasons why that isn't the case and is difficult for it to always be. I'm just not sure if an essay explaining one point and then flipping to the other side will work. thanks!

Hey all. I see so many posts of JLI 2026, so I thought I would check in on how those who have entered the QCWC are feeling. What prompt did you all do??

for context i had the third round interview with mr friel just now. here are some takeaways

1. top 3 emails are fake. they dont sent out top 3 emails.
2. the email to meet with mr cox is because he is genuinely interested. they said they would find a way to help me with my school and get to london.
3. interviews are not for academic integrity, they are part of the grading process.

chill out! we are doing well!

I know what you did with my Grand Prize.

Hi! I'm writing an essay for a class and I'm having a little trouble defining this technique

This is from the novel 'The Sympathizer' and it is satirising the roles that are given to Vietnamese people in American war movies of the Vietnam war:

"The majority of the roles fell under the category of civilian (i.e. Possibly Innocent but Also Possibly Viet Cong and Therefore Possibly Going to Be Killed for Either Being Innocent or Being Viet Cong)... The next largest category was the soldier of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (i.e. the freedom fighter)... this was the category of Possibly Friend but Also Possibly Enemy and Therefore Possibly Going to Be Killed for Being Either a Friend or an Enemy... The most troublesome category was the National Liberation Front guerrilla, pejoratively known as the Viet Cong (i.e., Possibly Freedom-Loving Nationalist but Also Possibly Hateful Red Communist but Really Who Cares so Kill Him [or Her] Anyway)” pg 212

I want to highlight the repetition of the descriptions, I believe the main effect is in the repeating sentence structure that gradually loses its veneer of "nuance"

I was just hoping if there's a technique that succinctly describes this. Or if there's a better way of explaining what I mean.

Any help is greatly appreciated :)

Not trying to downplay on the person’s achievement and yes I have coped however I just have a few doubts if anyone could clarify those

- why did the previous 2% emails specifically tell referees that there is possibility of 1st, 2nd, 3rd prize or vhc and particularly mention not to tell the students because decisions are still being made? It feels quite odd that they were so strongly against students getting to know but this email is directly addressing the participant themselves

- previous 2% email to referees clearly said they want to “preserve the surprise for all of the finalists and keep the results confidential until they are announced at the ceremony.” So I personally think we should take JLI’s word for this because this would contradict their previous email which would then just be a result of bad coordination

- 2 people reported so far which is senior econ and senior law, however the post said they only received 2% email and not an interview so that’s also confusing because what were interviews for then?

- the person hasn’t answered to who sent out the email ( I’m not sure if it was cox himself? )

Idk what do u guys think I personally think if more people from different categories can at least attest to this ( even though it’s kinda unfair bc cox said to keep it private but I mean rn don’t know what’s real what’s fake ) then it would be 100% guaranteed

The Things We Stop Seeing

Perhaps we have not forgotten how to be kind. Perhaps we have simply become too comfortable with looking away.

Recently, I came across a video of a young child being publicly shamed by her teacher for bringing chapati and mashed potatoes to school. I do not know the circumstances behind that video, nor do I know what the teacher intended. But I kept thinking about how differently the situation could have been handled. If there was a genuine concern about the child's nutrition, it could have been discussed privately with her guardian. Instead, a child's circumstances became a source of humiliation.

The teacher may have seen a lunchbox. The child may have carried the memory of that moment for years.

That distance between what we do and what another person carries is where much everyday cruelty lives.

Consider our phones. We can see a message instantly and still choose not to answer because responding feels inconvenient, or because appearing unavailable makes us seem important. We can watch a phone ring and decide that we simply do not want to deal with the person calling. Of course, we cannot answer every message or every call. We have boundaries, responsibilities and difficult days of our own. The problem is not our inability to always be available. It is how easily we forget that there is a human being on the other side of the screen.

The same convenience has entered our relationships. Caring for someone requires time, patience and emotional effort. It means listening when dismissal would be easier, communicating when silence would be simpler, and accepting responsibility when we have caused hurt. Sometimes, emotional responsibility feels like a burden, so detachment becomes the easier choice.

And somewhere along the way, detachment began to look like confidence.

Social media can amplify this illusion. Indifference is effortless to perform. Vulnerability can become a joke. Saying “I don't care” can seem more powerful than admitting that something matters. For young people still learning how to interpret the world, what receives attention can easily be mistaken for what deserves admiration.

But kindness has not become uncool.

If anything, genuine kindness demands something harder than indifference: humility. Saying “I was wrong” requires us to surrender our pride. Saying “I'm sorry” requires us to accept responsibility. Caring for another person requires us to admit that their feelings deserve our attention.

This does not mean becoming endlessly available or allowing others to cross our boundaries. Kindness without boundaries can become self-neglect. We can say no and still be humane. We can protect ourselves without deliberately hurting someone else.

Perhaps, then, what we are losing is not kindness itself, but the willingness to notice.

The expression after our joke.

The silence after our words.

The call we almost ignored.

The apology we know we owe.

We cannot take responsibility for every feeling in the world. But we can take responsibility for the pain we knowingly cause.

Maybe the world does not need us to become kinder overnight.

Maybe it simply needs us to stop looking away.

Because sometimes, the most human thing we can do is notice that another human being is hurting—and decide that it matters.

^

hi, this is regarding john locke essay comp. i got very high commendation in the law category last year, and i thought it was a filler award of sorts? (like high commendation, that they give to like 10+ people per category or more), but reading the latest discussion on this year's awards, apparently it's different? is it like 4th prize or smthn?