<p>I want to go to UChicago so I can write as well as mathgrad. Unalove awes me, too. I’m not a bad writer but those two just blow me away. Sorry for intruding on your forum… I’m only prospective 2014, but I’ve been reading because I am trying to write my “Why Chicago” essay. Sometimes I feel like I’ll fit in, and sometimes I look at the reading that I’ve never really liked or understood and wonder if I fit at all.</p>
<p>applicannot - first, thanks! I’m flattered you think I write well - honestly, I tend to worry I’m just rambly and circular, so I’m glad someone likes it 
Second, don’t worry so much: you don’t have to love everything ever remotely intellectual to fit in at UChicago - we’ve got plenty of math-haters and reading-haters and whatnot; there’s a tendency for students to love something intensely, but by no means does that imply they love everything intensely. I still have no idea what half of my Hum reading ‘really meant’, but I loved listening to the professor (we won’t even get into the math classes I hated despite understanding, never mind the ones I did not understand… as a math major!). And misunderstanding and all, I think I fit in plenty: UChicago felt like it was hand-crafted for me, really… it’s the rest of the world I wonder if I fit at all. If you’re really worried, though, I cannot recommend highly enough an overnight visit in the dorms - you get to hang out with <em>real</em> students, doing <em>real</em> things, and it’s really the best way to get a feel for the environment/community: if you enjoy that night, there’s a very high likelihood you’ll like living it for a few years more.</p>
<p>mathgrad,</p>
<p>Thanks for responding. I think you may be circular, but not nearly as circular as me and quite clear in the way you do it. I don’t really understand much literature at all, and really I’m not interested (yet). But I’m definitely fiery for politics, and I’ve never turned down the opportunity to have a good conversation about anything, much less something intellectual. I would love to visit UChicago but I can’t afford to fly from MD to Chicago, stay for the night/day and then fly home. UChicago doesn’t have a fly-out program for low-income/first generation/minority students, so I won’t be able to visit.</p>
<p>Just a little interview question…</p>
<p>I’ve already applied EA, and I know that Chicago has an interview option. Should I schedule one? I live in the Chicago area, so an interview would be fairly easy to get, but I’m a bit hesitant to do so. I’ve heard that the interviews are a bit like the essays (which I loved, but I definitely had to think about them quite a bit). A few people have told me that they didn’t feel that they did well in the interview because the questions threw them off.</p>
<p>Admitted students – would you recommend doing an interview? How much do you think it matters?</p>
<p>oops, wow this is an old post…</p>