<p>^^^ I don’t think they’d get ANGRY. But they might think you’re unoriginal. And according to the uncommon blog (though I haven’t seen the actual wording myself, just heard from a fellow CC’er) they discourage using a previous year’s prompt for the 5th essay choice.</p>
<p>AND almost done with my essay. Of course, I’ll give it to my college counselor, who will say its terrible, and I’ll have to re-write… making this post essentially meaningless. But I’m still taking the time to write this. I should probably stop typing this post and work on my essay… both of which are meaningless as shown above… Kbye</p>
<p>Do you guys plan to write the optional “favorite movies, books, or music” essay?
I am kind of on the fence about it…</p>
<p>Also, how are you guys sending your recommendations in? Are your teachers uploading the documents to the common app, or mailing them? I am unsure how this works, and which method is preferable…</p>
<p>yes, yes yes!! i am trying to help you out, i definitely recommend writing the optional essay because once i read an article from the new york times i think that “optional” essays aren’t really optional. well they are, but its by far preferable that you do write them. its just another opportunity for an applicant to show about themselves and their passions and uchicago applicants get it pretty good, because a lot of people applying to other places wish there were more opportunities for their writing, especially when it is so open ended and informal, and you get to write about what you love. so i think you should! </p>
<p>hey guys, i will be so sad if i dont get in, even though its a reach for me, so im not really expecting to. but still. its so cool. so different. and eccentric. who doesnt wanna be someplace like that where you could meet the most interesting people youve ever known who will be amazing friends for life? and learn so much? i just love this university. grrrr. isnt this so stressful the essays n all this ****. hopefully we all get in <3 <3</p>
<p>Hi all. I’m a Chicagoan applying to Chicago–do I get brownie points? </p>
<p>I submitted my EA app to Chicago last week. I ended up responding to the essay prompt about outgrowing a pair of pants (after starting two other unsuccessful essays). I think that the optional essay was my favorite to write. I love the creativity of Chicago’s prompts. I can actually write an INTERESTING essay, not a cliche one!</p>
<p>I would definitely suggest writing the optional essay, especially if UChicago is your first choice school. Ummmm, I know this has been asked before, but I don’t feel like searching through posts and I don’t think a clear answer was ever given: How long should the optional essay be and should it be written as an essay or just a quick paragraph-type thing? I wrote the optional essay about one of my favorite movies. I discussed the conflict of surrealism and realism in the film and analyzed the characters and their purpose in the plot, so needless to say it is way too long, haha. All my UChicago essays are too long. I wrote a response to prompt #2 and it ended up being five pages typed…single spaced and my “Why UChicago?” essay is two and a half pages <em>Sigh</em> Why does UChicago have to be so great?</p>
<p>Okay, here’s what the uncommon blog says if anyone’s interested:
There are NO RIGHT ANSWERS for the essay questions. I’m going to give an example from a couple of years back. If any of you have attended my info sessions, you will have heard this example.
The question asked students to write an essay somehow inspired by super-huge mustard. </p>
<p>We got a lot of really great scathing critiques of American (and global) consumerism. These analyses were from economic, political, and medical standpoints. We also got a really interesting physics-based essay that raised the question “What would it be like to dive into a pool filled with mustard as opposed to water?” Would you sink or float? How fast could Michael Phelps go in a pool filled with mustard? Then there was a moving, beautiful essay about the color yellow and the nostalgia that inspired in that particular student. See? I told you. There’s no right answer. Talk about whatever interests you in the question. We want to hear it.</p>
<p>NOTE:We do not recommend that you submit an essay from one of our past essay prompts. You are applying to this year’s class, not the class from a couple of years ago. We want to see how you respond to new situations! If you would like to submit your own prompt, you’re more than welcome to! Some of our favorite essay questions have been from applicants creating their own essay question (like the Cartesian coordinate system question).</p>
<p>I told my English teacher today that I was sending a total of four essays to Chicago. She theorized that they ask for four to sift out the unserious applicants and only end up reading one of them.</p>
<p>hey, this is Hannah from Detroit applying EA looking into the history and philosophy of science and technology, Chicago is the ONLY school I’ve found with this major which is perfect for me! I’ve written an essay for each of the prompts but still can’t manage to crank one out that really sounds like me… There’s only a month to go until the deadline and its getting closer by the minute, ahh!</p>
<p>Citizen of the Earth, currently residing in Podunk, Pennsylvania, EA applicant to U of C I am. Of late, I’ve been lollygagging around with thought bubbles hovering above my head. The contents? Essays, essays, essays…thinking option five is going to be my friend. (She gave me a popsicle and a BFFL necklace, what can I say?)</p>
<p>Titann: EA for Chicago is not restrictive, so apply to other schools Early Action if you wantsies. Just make surely sure that the other schools’ policies are similarly flexible, ya?</p>