Chicago's Essay Topics: love them or hate them?

College Essays
1

<p>I think that one of the best things about Chicago is its wacky essay prompts and the way that the school tries to poke fun of the entire college admissions process by making it fun. (In '04-'05, students were asked to come up with a creation theory for, the USNWR rankings, among other things; in another year, students were asked to create an episode of a show like Friends using members of the UChicago admissions office).</p>

<p>However, a lot of people (posters on IvyGate and friends of mine) told them that they not only found the essays a turn-off (understandable, to say the least), but incredibly pretentious. In this day and age, where colleges have worked to make it easier and easier to apply to them, they think it unfair that one school should require not only so much individual attention, but also make their essays incompatible with essays for other schools.</p>

<p>Along with the main essays, Chicago applicants are asked to write two shorter, more traditional essays (recommended length is 1-2 paragraphs) about one's favorite books, music, movies, newspapers, or anything else, and also a statement on why Chicago.</p>

<p>Check out the essay topics for yourself. What do you think of them?</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>

2

<p>UChicago always has fun topics.</p>

<p>Although I'm not interested in applying there, I'd love to write the essays.</p>

3

<p>I love all of them... some would be so challenging, though.</p>

<p>Number one is AMAZING OH GOD WHY AM I A YEAR TOO YOUNG FOR THIS QUESTION?!?!!?!</p>

<p>Number two reminds me of questions on previous years' applications... mine is surrounded by 8 or so Louix XIV chairs.</p>

<p>Number three, doesn't it have to be the second, because as writers we are advertising ourselves, and that's all that the application process is.. but that's SO not what Chicago wants to hear...</p>

<p>Number four.... DINOSAURS! Yes! It involves dinosaurs and seeps the color pink as you read it..</p>

<p>That's all for now. lol. have to do the dishes and go to bed. :C</p>

4

<p>You could always hijack a Chicago essay prompt and use it for a common app essay. My friend did that a couple of years ago.</p>

5

<p>This is intimidating since I am applying next year :(</p>

6

<p>While I think it's respectable that Chicago makes its application one that requires a lot of time, making the essay prompts uncommon for the mere sake of being uncommon, in my opinion, is what makes some people call them "pretentious."</p>

<p>An essay should not have to force a student to produce an essay that is uncommon. Rather, some of the best and unforgettable essays I've read were written on topics that were very neutral and malleable. Everyone is a different writer; some are strong in creative writing, others in persuasive writing, or simply writing as an eloquent art. Personally, I find it more impressive when I read an essay that gleams genuine intellect written on a standard essay prompt with personal taste reflected in the direction taken than to read an essay forced to answer creatively to a set topic that explicitly asks for a creativity.</p>

<p>As such, I don't necessarily find it negative that more and more schools are now using the Commonapp. If a genuinely intellectual student only had to produce a single essay for the entire college application process (although, with supplements, this is usually not the case) on a topic very flexible, the student would be able to think and map out his thoughts with sufficient time and produce a piece, polished and revised, that reflects the best of his/her capacity for writing.</p>

7

<p>Even though I didn't apply to Chicago last year, I have to admit that this year's essay topics look much more fun and interesting than last year's. I remember reading last year that Chicago was going to stop using the Uncommon Application or did I read wrong? I think the essay topics serve as a way of weeding out applicants that apply to 30 schools just for the prestige and heck of it, and it also allows the admissions commitee to see whether the student is right for the university. After all, I heard that Chicago has a unique student body.</p>

8

<p>
[quote]
I remember reading last year that Chicago was going to stop using the Uncommon Application or did I read wrong?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>UChicago is switching to the Common App soon, but it will still be making the Uncommon App available for those interested. In addition, an Uncommon supplement will be required which will have the same questions as the Uncommon App, so it's basically the same thing (this despite the amount of protesters you see around).</p>

9

<p>^ But that's what most top schools do. You can either apply by Commonapp with a few supplement essays that are unique to that school or apply individually by their own application. It's usually a choice of personal preference at most of top schools, so that method is hardly uncommon any more.</p>

10

<p>Love 'em. One thing that's always drawn me to Chicago is how unique it is! And that can definitely be seen in its essay topics. While the topics are strange, I'm sure the adcoms are able to make many judgments/decisions using them. They seem to look for a very... particular (read: "special") sort of student. =p</p>

11

<p>I like some of them. I like the table one and the comedy one.</p>

12

<p>Lejeune-- I agree with you that some of the best essays are also the simplest. I didn't mention in my original post that Chicago offers a free-choice option for which one can use his common app essay. I don't think approaching the essays more traditionally is a detriment to one's application-- a lot of my friends who were admitted and a lot who are currently attending used their common application essay because they were proud of it and were afraid that the uncommon essays wouldn't come off well. One of my friends actually sent in both his common essay and an uncommon essays, so one could be a fallback for the other.</p>

<p>If anything, it seems like the uncommon questions are compatible with the common questions, but not the other way around. The people I know who took their extremely wacky essays and used them for common app schools were not as successful with them.</p>

<p>But what I'm talking about more is your reaction to the questions, not necessarily how feasible their execution is. Are there people who look at these questions and think, "EW, YUCK!" or am I looking in the wrong place for that?</p>

<p>I found this comment from "Yale '09" on another website:</p>

<p>"i found chicago's essay questions to be incredibly pretentious. they all prompt the applicant to rhapsodize in vague, spacey terms on The Meaning of Life or The Nature of Beauty or whatever. forgive me for being so soulless if i just want to tell you why i want to go to your school"</p>

13

<p>Firstly, I am in love with option four!!!</p>

<p>Secondly, I can't see how anyone could call the topics "pretentious." The essay prompts are vague so that each applicant can approach the topic however s/he wants to. Applicants don't have to suddenly adopt a philosophical tone and write platitude after platitude on "The Meaning of Life or The Nature of Beauty." Some applicants may write about those and succeed, while others can take an entirely different approach.
Also, STUDENTS write the prompts. It's not as if the UChicago admissions officers gather around a table and "uncommon" brainstorm essay prompts, revelling in their uniqueness and pretension....
I could be biased since I am completely in love with UChicago, but I found Yale '09's comments to be oh-so-very ignorant.</p>

14

<p>I wrote this on another thread-- it's just my advice and opinions, but it could prove useful.</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>

15

<p>"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>Also, one of the required elements IS UChicago, so that might send an unpleasant message to those schools =)</p>

16

<p>^^ agreed the fact that students come up with prompt shows that Chicago is trying to admit student willing to think differently and those that will fit in at the school. I love the table, mirror, and Borge ones, but option four is WAY too over the top for me. I think if your Chicago essay isn't too odd/out there, you can write a prompt similar to Chicago's or one that fits your topic more for the Common app free choice option.</p>

17

<p>The Uncommon App is part of what draws me to the place. People who believe that this kind of assignment is pretentious probably wouldn't have such a fun time at the school, anyway. If you're just not comfortable with or don't see the point in writing a story just for fun, or wouldn't sit down and tackle the other questions at least in your head as recreation, that's OK! You don't want Chicago (and at least Chicago gave you a shot).</p>

18

<p>I have to agree with you, hollyert.... the application and your reaction to it is a great bellwether for how you will fit in with the school. Academic life here will be challenging and it will be crazy, but it will also be immensely satisfying, rewarding, and, yes, fun.</p>

<p>When I was applying, I was actually happy to see that a college didn't take itself or its admissions process too seriously-- I was tired of answering questions like, "How are you going to change the world?" and "What are your intellectual goals?" geez, I'm seventeen years old, what do I know about myself and the world?</p>

19

<p>omg you go there? (how very lame of me...) Remember me in a year! I'll mos. def. need some help when applying. In fact, I'm visiting the city (and school, duh) on Saturday. Not like I'm stalking people there or anything... hehe.</p>

<p>But I really dislike the Common App for a great deal of reasons, and the Uncommon App is just totally relieving as a person who (despite what seems obvious on these forums [or is it fora?]) is a better writer, than, say, anything else-er.</p>

<p>Wow sugar high......... gonna go read or something to calm down now.</p>

20

<p>Im not sure if im gonna be applying. I went to the highschool summer session (June16-July7...if anyone went pm me). I thought the campus was cool and all, except pretty ghetto. One morning i went to starbucks and this gangster walked in with a gun. Scary. It was my last day there. But anyway, the work there was amazing. The professors were great, and atmosphere was incredible, cause i was slammed with usually around 9+ hrs of work every night.</p>

<p>But im not into the whole pricetag thingie cause i wanna go to grad school, and chicago isnt the accommodating area i thought it would be. I got tons of bad looks and stuff in south chicago and even down town. Being white just gets you attacked (or at least me). I bumped into this one guy and he almost tried to fight me saying i was all racist, just cause i bumped into him and im white.</p>