<p>If you've applied to UChicago this winter, you know exactly what I'm talking about.</p>
<p>UChicago's essays are needless to say, different and there are thousand ways in which you can approach them. There is nothing "right" or "wrong" when it comes to essays and nowhere does this seem to be more true than at UChicago.</p>
<p>So, all you '12 applicants, how did you go about your 'Describe a picture' essay?</p>
<p>I wrote about when my "internet" boyfriend and I finally met.</p>
<p>Long story.</p>
<p>Great! I used the picture of a woman and described it shortly, later coming to the conclusion that a picture means "nothing" and relies in the perception of the viewer.</p>
<p>I wrote a longish story about meeting a grumpy, choleric DaVinci XD</p>
<p>That sounds good, but what did UChicago expect? Were we expected to choose a picture and describe it? Or was it less subjective?</p>
<p>I think they wanted to see whatever and however you decided to interpret it. They don't have specific goals in mind when they come up with these questions. My year, there were a bunch of other zany prompts, including one that read "Mind that does not stick."</p>
<p>I know at least one person who wrote an essay about dissecting frogs in biology and having to deal with the cleanup once the brains stuck to the floor. I know another person who decided to use the prompt to write about her struggles with ADD and dyslexia. With "what does a picture want?" there's a lot of room for interpretation.</p>
<p>@ unalove</p>
<p>I used a picture which was very simple at the outset, but I interpreted it and charted out my journey of how I realised that a picture has no meaning and that it depends on how the viewer tries to perceive it?</p>
<p>Is that good? Could you read my essay?</p>
<p>My picture = "Women Friends" by Klimt (I luuuuuuuurve him).</p>
<p>Historians pretty much agree it was destroyed in a fire but in my essay it's hangin' out in an abandoned cottage in Austria, waiting to be glorified...it seems really different from the other WAPW essays, which I guess is a good thing :P</p>
<p>I only really spent the last half of the essay talking about the picture, too; the first...oh, 700 words or so were just describing the scene and leading up to the finding of the artwork</p>
<p>I'm thinking of doing my own essay and was wondering what sort of essay would fit in this prompt.</p>
<p>I feel like I would do best by just writing about myself and my struggles/achievements and other details and how that factors into how and where I want to attend school. Is this a bad idea considering the other essays are really abstract and unconventional; I don't want it to seem like I didn't follow directions.</p>
<p>I originally had a topic that I was going to write how music has changed my life and describing different periods of my life and how the music I listened to affected or was a result of who I was at the time. Music is very important to me but I just didn't see that essay working out without being cheesy or contrived, especially since the interests short answer essay touches on music.</p>
<p>Any ideas, advice, or comments?</p>
<p>I'll ask the obvious question. When are you planning on doing this, the deadline for applying this year has already past, and if you are planning on applying next year I would wait until ou see what next years essay topics look like before you make any big decisions.</p>
<p>Transfer student. Later deadlines.</p>
<p>I once heard a Chicago admissions officer say that the biggest mistake applicants make is to try to make their essays sound like what they think Chicago wants rather than making them sound like themselves. Your essay topics don't sound very Chicago-y to me but if they are the best way you can portray yourself, those are the topics you should use.</p>
<p>thanks seashore, I guess that makes sense. Any other comments?</p>
<p>^ Do what your heart tells you!</p>
<p>And honestly, my essay was cheesier than a bag of melted gorgonzola.</p>
<p>That's a very valid point, it seems to be quite obvious at the outset but it surely isn't.</p>
<p>describe a what? i didn't do that essay</p>
<p>I bet you guys have all already seen this, but it is teh funni...</p>
<p>picturecat.jpg</a> (image)</p>
<p>also this is hilarious
tablecat.jpg</a> (image)</p>
<p>In my essay, the "picture" was of the University of Chicago, and the picture wanted me!</p>
