<p>Hi there! The sneak peek of the supplemental essay prompts marks the beginning of the process for us UChicago hopefuls. It's strange that I am beginning this process myself, after being a lurker for roughly 2 years. I haven't seen one of these threads yet, so I thought I'd partake in the honor of making one. Post to let people know you're applying, and hopefully we'll make a helpful community that collaborates with one another to make the admissions process easy (and maybe even fun). Bring up issues, answer questions, etc.</p>
<p>I've attempted to start the released essays, but my uncreative mind isn't allowing me to think of any creative ideas. Any tips to get started?</p>
<p>UChicago is my first choice, but I haven’t told my parents that yet…
They’re extremely overprotective and even though we only live 4 hours from Chicago I don’t know if they’ll let me go. :/</p>
<p>Lemons8 - so where else do you think you’ll be applying? I guess if UChicago is unsafe, you’d knock Columbia, UPenn, Yale, and Hopkins off your list too?</p>
<p>I know! I’m really excited to begin the process(:
For tips to start your essay, what I did is really read each prompt and look for the one that really strikes a chord with you. For me, it ended up being the Where’s Waldo one which (not going to lie here) scared me a little haha. Then I just thought about it for a good twenty minutes (over a cup of tea!) and it just all came to me. Really meditate I guess and the thoughts will start flowing. good luck!</p>
<p>Hey guys! I, like youa all, was really excited when I saw that email in my inbox Quick question, how long does the essay have to be? And how are you guys going to format it? (5 paragraph etc)</p>
<p>The essay is ideally supposed to be around 500 words, but I’ve seen some essays up to 1000 words get accepted. I guess it doesn’t really matter that much.</p>
<p>cue7 - I might apply to Columbia, but I really don’t think I can get in there, anyway. I’ll probably apply Northwestern and to other state schools–Indiana University, Purdue, Butler. I’m thinking about Case Western in Ohio too.</p>
<p>If it helps anyone, one of the admissions officers gave me the advice that the best essays he reads are the ones where he learns something about the person, and he can then look at them and be able to say what kind of person he/she is.</p>
<p>I’m not sure which one I’ll do either, like mmarilyn11 I think I’m leaning towards the Waldo one…</p>
<p>Hey, guys. I recently finished my first draft and decent portion of my editing for the Waldo prompt. I think the Heisenberg one was good too, but an idea just came to me for the Waldo one. I have been rather discouraged not to find any class of 2016 acceptance threads with stats and the like to compare myself to. Anyone out there know of one?</p>
<p>Oh, and if anyone is interested, my essay is 600 words and has five paragraphs, but it is not a typical five-paragraph essay. It is really free in form.</p>
<p>I chose to pose my own question, and it wasn’t structured in a strictly traditional essay form. In fact, I’m pretty sure I stuck my prompt between my first and second paragraphs.</p>
<p>EA applicant here. International from Nigeria. So the prompts are different from those of last year? To think that I had alreasy begun brainstorming. Any other international here?</p>
<p>I must say, seeing our questions for the first time is really exciting (and quite scary). It just makes your heart pound to think you’ll be answering one of them and sending it off in a couple of months.
I have a question though - how do you create a UChicago account on the website?</p>
<p>Hi, I’m still having a lot of difficulty figuring out the whole application process. Would anyone mind doing a quick summary of what’s mandatory for the UChicago app? </p>
<p>I know UChicago uses the common app, so there must be essays for that. It also take unrestricted EA (thank you God TT-TT) and I’m assuming the early release prompts are a supplementary essay. So does anyone have the site that tells us the word requirements for the essay? Someone said 500-1000 but I’d love to see the site just in case.</p>
<p>Yeah and please keep on clarifying what we need to do for applying >.< I want to start my essays, but I’m afraid I’m doing it wrong.</p>
<p>Common app, UChicago long essay (the unique prompts), a “Why UChicago” essay, and I think an essay where you list books, movies, music, etc. you like and expand on any of them.</p>
<p>The “Why UChicago” essay has no limit. Mine was around 700 words as well. Not sure about the other two essays, but they were shorter (not sure if they had a limit).</p>
<p>So if you want to start your main UChicago essay, go all out. No restrictions!</p>
<p>I don’t think it’s correct to say that there are no restrictions on the UChicago long essay. This is what the UChicago rep had to say on another thread about this subject:</p>
<p>“500 words or about 1 page single spaced (2 pages double) is what we suggest. This is not set in stone-- we don’t care if you have 504 words-- but we do read everything you send us, so anything drastically longer than this might annoy your admissions counselor.”</p>