Essay help needed

Applying to College
1

I started writing my essays for UChicago. For one of them, I don’t know if the approach is sound.

The prompt:

Tell us about a few of your favorite books, poems, authors, films, plays, pieces of music, musicians, performers, paintings, artists, magazines, or newspapers. Feel free to touch on one, some, or all of the categories listed or add a category of your own.

It’s supposed to be 1-2 paragraphs.

So, I chose an art piece and talked about how it inspired me etc. Then I related it the the University of Chicago and how the piece of art embodies my goals as related to the University. I don’t really feel comfortable leaving the admissions people to decide my “personality” based on the essay, so I directly linked it to what I want from college. Do you think this is too much? Should I just take out all the references to the University?

2

<p>my best friend is applying to chicago and i (ironically) looked over her app and discussed her essay ideas with her last night... anyway, she said that she wasn't going to mention the school at all, because she didn't want to sound like a salesperson of "i will fit in at your school because...." she wanted it to be more of "here's who i am". however, do make it painstakingly clear what is is specifically that you can contribute to the school</p>