A few tips in anticipation for this year's essays...

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Chicago ✅
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<p>I'm far from an expert on admissions at UChicago, but after having read and talked to lots of students about their essays (both in response to common and uncommon prompts), I want to post some advice about UChicago essays and college essays in general.</p>

<p>1) BE HONEST. This is true for any college essay that you write. Don't use big words to showcase what vocabulary you know. Don't even make yourself out to be an infallible creature... if you do, you will come off in your writing as ignorant, removed, and cocky. One of my good friends (a Harvard admit) wrote poignant college essays about relatively normal things... a fight with her father, her experiences at Weight Watchers. If you discuss one of your weaknesses through your essay or otherwise acknowledge that you are imperfect, you're much more likely to come off as sympathetic to the reader. I will add, though, that you do want your essay to end on a positive note. In both of the example essays for my friend, she talked about how a fight with her father taught her how to listen to others better, and how going to Weight Watchers helped her self-image.</p>

<p>2) KEEP IT SHORT. If you can. Use short paragraphs, dialogue, etc. Admissions officers have a ton of these to read, and you'll be helping them out if you stick to the point and make sure that every sentence and every word is essential to your essay. Also, start off with a REALLY CATCHY opening... especially if an admissions officer is marathon-reading applications, you want to make sure your voice is capturing and compelling (if your scores and grades haven't bored them enough!).</p>

<p>3) FOR THE UNCOMMON ESSAY, DON'T WORRY IF YOU'RE NOT WRITING DIRECTLY ABOUT YOURSELF. DON'T WORRY IF YOU ARE. When we talk about writing a "good" essay here, I don't think any of us equate that with "an off-the-wall treatise on the meaning of life." Though I've read my share of essays of the latter category, what makes both an essay about you directly and an essay about something else significant for the admissions office is that both show something about YOU. If you're writing about yourself, you are able to tell a story about yourself, and you are also able to convey more subtle things about you through your narration. If you write about whom you'd invite to dinner and what would happen, you are letting the admissions office know how you put together thoughts and how you look at the world.</p>

<p>In uncommon essays are fun because there is no guideline as to how the prompts should be interpreted. In past years, they even try to make direct interpretation difficult: think about prompts like "Mind that does not stick," or "How do you feel about Wednesday?" Though I do know kids who wrote literally about minds sticking (some sci-fi stories and one of my friends wrote about dissecting a frog in biology class) and I'm sure there was a kid or two who wrote about Wednesday Adams, you can interpret these prompts any way you like. When I wrote my essay in the year of the String, I compared something very important in my life to a string, even though the object I used had no physical properties in common with a string. I was able to use the idea of the string, though, as a launchpad into my big "wow" moment in my essay.</p>

<p>Some of my friends have used their common app essay to fit the uncommon prompt or have made a prompt for their essay. For them, they felt connected to their common app essay for having worked on it for so long that they were unwilling to try to write another essay that they feared would not be as good. They were accepted. I have other friends who used the uncommon for common app, with mixed results admissions-wise... these were friends who had so much fun writing the uncommon essay that they didn't want to bother writing a run-of-the-mill essay.</p>

<p>One of my friends decided to send in BOTH his uncommon and common essay to Chicago, using the common as a failsafe if his uncommon attempts didn't come out right... some of my friends have used their uncommon essay on supplements for other colleges if they have a "free choice" essay.</p>

<p>What you should NOT do is take another school's specific prompt (Hopkins' 10 dollar question, for example) and use it for Chicago's. If you have a brilliant idea, try to write a spin-off for Chicago instead of copy-pasting the essay exactly. I recommend this because Chicago KNOWS its peer schools' prompts, and your using one essay to answer one specific question from another application is akin to saying that you think Chicago is not worth your while.</p>

<p>4) Most importantly... HAVE FUN. If you think writing your essay is boring, what are admissions people going to think??? A college essay is your chance to write about who you are and what makes you tick. If it's not ladleing out soup or petting puppies, don't write about those experiences. If it has to do with Space Invaders and hot dogs, write about it. You don't need to even be a good writer to be able to pick a topic that is important to you and get out some ideas about it. </p>

<p>I'll be around most of the summer to read and help edit college essays. PM me and we'll be in business.</p>

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<p>Fantastic post! Thanks for the advice.</p>

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<p>on Chicag's website, it displays the 2007-2008, however its topics include those such as mad hatter; are these topics what we respond to if we are currently a junior going on senior and want to apply during the fall?</p>

<p>Im really confused xP</p>

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<p>no.</p>

<p>the 2007-2008 year is for the class of 2011, I guess 07-08 is for their first year of college, not their application year.</p>

<p>Weird, right?</p>

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<p>^^^
thx i was gonna start writing my essay!
lol imagine how stupid i would feel when i get a letter asking me why i wrote the wrong essays :)</p>

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<p>Good tips. Be Honest is always my #1 suggestion. It's sort of ironic since I spent my essay telling a personal story that may or may not have actually happened (and then sort of questioned the value of truth). Eh, whatever. :)</p>

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<p>Good post, unalove.</p>

<p>"you want to make sure your voice is capturing and compelling "</p>

<p>Applicants should believe in themselves enough that it is, in fact, THEIR OWN voice in the essay - not their english teacher's, or mother's, or college counselor's.</p>

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<p>ohhhhh yes. Ohion_mom is right. A seventeen-year-old college hopeful does not sound at all like a thirty-three year old professional.</p>

<p>At the same time, I used my English teacher and guidance counselor (and my friends) as sounding boards. I used my English teacher for grammar and other technical issues; I used my guidance counselor to make sure the essay wasn't completely rough around the edges; I used my friends to make sure that I sounded like myself. I don't think I even let my parents see my essays.</p>

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<p>"I don't think I even let my parents see my essays." Me neither. :)</p>

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<p>I guess my tip is to never give up making your essay better. I wrote about 12 versions of my essay since my school gives us 2 weeks off in October just because. Finally, on the last day, I decided to change my whole subject and wrote another 2 versions. I turned in my application at 11:30. What an experience.</p>

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<p>THE PROMPTS THAT ARE UP RIGHT NOW ARE NOT YOUR PROMPTS! They were for the class of 2011.</p>

<p>"Have fun". This is the most important thing to remember. The UChicago acceptance letter mentions that the acceptee demonstrated the "absolute joy" of learning. So convey some joy in your essay. My essay was about Roseanne (like TV Roseanne), and it happened at Disney World. Don't be afraid to be silly, so long as there's some creative meaning - in my case, Roseanne had a reasonably intelligent conversation with another guest at my party.</p>

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<p>Well, that's depressing. I was so excited about the "Mad Hatter" prompt =(</p>

<p>Oh, well, I'm sure the new topics will be just as fun!</p>

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<p>There we go. Good attitude!</p>

<p>Plus, if you have an amazing idea... make your own prompt to fit your idea. I know you want to write a dialogue between Voldemort and Monica Lewinsky, but there are other things that are equally exciting.</p>

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<p>Personally, I think the "How do you feel about Wednesday?" prompt is one of the best I have ever seen for any essay prompt. Any student with an ounce of ingenuity should be able to craft a good (self-revelatory) response. So much better than the common essay ones.</p>

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<p>
[quote]

2) KEEP IT SHORT.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I disagree. I don't think that keeping your essay short should be a priority. Obviously, writing a book is a terrible idea, but I don't think there is anything to be worried about if you write a "long" essay (even if it's more than 1,000 words). In my admittedly limited experience with Chicago admissions counelors, I've gotten the strong impression that they honestly don't care much at all about length. They are looking for passion and thought in essays -- not for length. Which helps explain why they don't put a word limit on the uncommon application essays. What I recommend is, if it comes to the point where the essay is long but nothing can be cut out of it without it losing even some of its message, then it is much better to err on the side of keeping it long but totally complete. In other words, don't worry about length.</p>

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<p>^ That was my experience, too.</p>

<p>My long essay was over 1000 words and took up two and a half pages (then again, it was entirely dialogue, which amounts to a double space every two or so lines).</p>

<p>I think what unalove meant, instead of simply "keep it short," is "don't use a whole paragraph to say what could be phrased in one sentence." Also, don't just talk about your extracurriculars, awards, etc., JUST because you want to make sure your admissions officer knows of your accomplishments. There's a spot on the application for listing those, and constantly thrusting them in the counselor's face is just going to be boring. If one particular thing on your resume was meaningful to you, by all means write about it. Don't waste precious essay space beefing up your resume.</p>

<p>I definitely agree with tip #3. My essay was not about me at all. Basically, it was a conversation between me and my brain about whether Einstein was happy. This was for the Mad Hatter dinner party prompt, too. It was a risk, but in the end, it worked for me.</p>

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<p>I think "keep it short" is an oversimplification, but you better have a darn good reason to go over 2 pages.</p>

<p>All my essays went to the bottom of the second page, but no further. I trimmed them so they would fit on two, and I'm very glad I did.</p>

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<p>I think metonymy put it better than I did. Sure, the admissions staff (at any school, really) wants to learn about you. However, there are time constraints and attention constraints. If you spend 300 words talking about ladling out soup at a soup kitchen or putting up balloons for the school dance (or any other semi-generic high school experience), you're really going to bore your audience. When you can pare it down, do it.</p>

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<p>Regarding length - you need enough words, not extraneous. Sometimes it is easier to write long, and edit short.</p>

<p>"I have made this [letter] longer, because I have not had the time to make it shorter."
Blaise Pascal (1623 - 1662), "Lettres provinciales", letter 16, 1657</p>

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<p>At corranged's suggestion, I am bumping this thread. I'm going to go through the uncommon prompts and give general advice. Please don't read into my advice TOO much-- I'm far from an expert on Chicago admissions-- but I'll try to steer you in the right direction.</p>

<p>check out the questions here:</p>

<p><a href="http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=376%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/level3.asp?id=376&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Essay Topic 1: What does a picture want?</p>

<p>Without going into too much detail about what I would do and without taking away any of your ideas, I will tell you that this is NOT where you write about your love of Van Gogh's "Starry Night," Picasso's "Guernica," or your trip to Venice. Not only are these artworks cliche and part of the high school canon, but you have an opportunity to expound on why you love these works of art so much in essay question 1 (the books/music/movies/art question). I also think that you have the flexibility to make this essay extremely personal (use a picture from your family's photo album!) and you could probably get away with double-billing this essay on this common app and be successful with it.</p>

<p>Essay topic 2: table</p>

<p>The obvious and most conventional essay will be talking about family dinners and whatnot. Your reflections will make for a fantastic and personal essay. Don't feel confined by that idea, though.</p>

<p>Essay topic 3: Borges y yo</p>

<p>If you're totally stuck, choose this one, and let yourself freewrite. I think it's the easiest prompt on the list because the knot has already been made for you and all you have to do is untie it. If you can come up with an argumentative, insightful, prosaic essay, personal reflection, or a short story on this subject, you're in great shape. Don't use this essay for the common app, unless it's extremely personal. It's too academic for the common app.</p>

<p>Essay topic four: the story</p>

<p>This one already seems like the hands-down favorite. Though it looks like fun, I'm telling you in advance that it's the hardest one on the list. Make sure that there is at least some cohesion to the elements that you are choosing and some reason for their being there. (Not, "At the University of Chicago there can be number 2 pencils or invisible hands.") DO NOT USE THIS ESSAY FOR THE COMMON APP. DARTMOUTH, BROWN, YALE, DUKE, PRINCETON, AND NORTHWESTERN WILL ALL THINK THAT YOU'RE ON LSD.</p>

<p>Essay topic five: free choice</p>

<p>Again, I think it's fine to use your common app essay and come up with a question after you've written it, but make sure your common essay is uncommonly good.</p>

<p>IF YOU HAVE LOTS OF GEEKY FUN WITH THESE ESSAYS, welcome to the University of Chicago.</p>

<p>IF YOU FIND YOURSELF BEATING YOUR HEAD WITH A STICK AND WONDERING WHY LIFE HAS TO BE SO UNFAIR AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SO WEIRD DESPITE ITS HIGH RANKINGS, this is not the right place for you.</p>