<p>Most of you are done with your essays as you've already applied, but I"m still writing mine. I'm applying as a transfer student so I still have time. As I was looking over the 5 choices though, the first one seemed quite easy to me, especially compared with the others.</p>
<p>Essay Option 1:
The instructor said,
Go home and write
a page tonight.
And let that page come out of you
Then, it will be true.</p>
<p>"Theme for English B" by Langston Hughes</p>
<p>Perhaps you recognize this poem. If you do, then your mind has probably moved on to the question the next line poses: "I wonder if it's that simple?" Saying who we are is never simple (read the entire poem if you need evidence of that). Write a truthful page about yourself for us, an audience you do not knowa very tall order. Hughes begins: "I am twenty-two, colored, born in Winston-Salem./I went to school there, then Durham, then here/to this college on the hill above Harlem./I am the only colored student in my class." That is, each of us is of a certain age and of a particular family background. We have lived somewhere and been schooled. We are each what we feel and see and hear. Begin there and see what happens.</p>
<p>Am I mistaken or do they want us to just talk about our selves? Obviously it wouldn't be a fact sheet, I think I would start writing about a couple of facts and then lead into something that happened and then my thoughts on it and then get a little deep. Or am I completely missing the point of the promt and am off mark? Thanks.</p>
<p>well, this was actually the one i wrote on, because the other ones were so out there. basically, what i did is (and i don't know that this is what they want) but i began with my birth (i'm an immigrant, so there was some diversity factor there) and continued with cute little anecdotes about my childhood and the kind of child i was. finally, i sum it up with what the significance of these memories are. i liked the prompt a lot. it was probably the best college essay I wrote throughout the whole process. but yeah, i don't think you're off the mark. at any rate, chicago seems to be a pretty open-minded school, and they'll take anything with a grain of salt (at least I hope).</p>
<p>Well, actually, I wrote on the prompt that was "Mind that does not stick." It seems really "out there" at first, but I think the admissions office wanted you to connect that topic to yourself...it's not as difficult of a task if you approach the prompt in that manner.</p>
<p>My son wrote an 800-word poem in response to this prompt and got in EA. I think they are looking for creative and thoughtful essays that can take a variety of formats. Your idea sounds promising.</p>
<p>I applied and was accepted EA, and I did the first option. At first I had the same reaction - I even went as far as thinking that this might be a trap to catch students who aren't willing to answer the truly unusual prompts. But, as you can see, I stand as proof that this isn't the case. Personally, I did what darkamar did - I'm an immigrant as well, so this was equally easy for me. Good luck with your app!!!</p>
<p>Thanks a lot guys/gals. I just wanted to make sure that I'm not about to mess up. It definately seems like a fun essay to write and involves a little self exploration. I'm not an immigrant technically but I did move between Turkey and America a lot, but I'm not sure if I'll focus on that too much. I might even just choose to focus on a very simple thing and talk about my feelings and views on it while dropping hints to my life and my feelings.
I wish I could write a poem good enough for UChicago, but I'm afraid other than poetic-chat (basically replying to everything while chatting with a friend in a poetic form, so the whole conversation looks like a poem) for hours is as far as I'm willing to express myself poetically. That's pretty cool that such creativity is encouraged by UChicago. </p>
<p>i also applied early and got in, and did essay option #1. my essay was basically a snapshot of an incident i had in early childhood years (smthing very important, related to toilets so i think it's original :P) and basically a story-like anecdote the whole way. it took forever to write. :P</p>
<p>but yea #1 seemed much safer to me too, cuz the rest of the prompts seemed to be way out there.</p>
<p>I wrote a poem. I'm hoping for the same luck as Cami's S. I went on to use the poem for every school I applied to, it just, luckily, coincided with a Chicago prompt. Yes, my friends were jealous that I wrote one only long essay (of course, plus supplementals). We'll see if that comes back to bite me.</p>