<p>Hey everybody! I am confused as to the format of the optional favorite things one to two paragraph mini-essay in the UChicago supplement. Is it a list of say 20 of your favorite things, or is it a more in-depth explanation as to why a couple things are your favorite - or either? Which one did you choose? How long is it (regardless of format)?</p>
<p>Sorry if there is already a thread about this - feel free to link me to it and then forget about this!
Thanks a bunch!</p>
<p>I chose to mix it up - I listed some while going into depth about others. I decided a list format was far too boring for an admissions officer to look through so I just went with what felt right… and mine wasn’t a mini essay. More like 5 paragraphs :D</p>
<p>Here’s the thread but I don’t know how helpful it is.
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/1051807-supplement-question.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-chicago/1051807-supplement-question.html</a></p>
<p>There are no steadfast rules regarding this essay. Please do not worry about it. If you feel a list of things you enjoy would separate your application from the rest, then by all means, do it, and just be yourself. Put all your real energy toward your other essays.</p>
<p>Here’s an example of an extremely quirky and somewhat crude (I direct you to the second word in the paragraph directly following the poem) essay responding to this topic from a few years ago. This student was accepted. I assume he (or she) was just following his (or her) heart. A very, very, weird heart. Anyway, this goes to show that there’s no right way to answer this.</p>
<p>I knew this question would come up among my application essays and unfortunately I’m pretty sure that I’m going to see it many, many more times. So let me first thank you for that. Because of my clairvoyance not only am I ahead of the game, I have also had time to ponder which literary and artistic pieces please me mentally and often physically.
I can say without any doubt in my mind that my favorite poem (and as such should be the benchmark of all poetic art) is “This is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams. After being introduced to it during American Literature, dying with glee, and continuously re-reading it, I accidentally memorized the poem. Ill display it for you now. No, not in some arrogantly characteristic attempt to woo you with an elephant-like memory, but simply because I dont think anyone can fully appreciate my adoration of the poem without having first witnessed the deliciousness themselves. That and its pretty short. Here goes:</p>
<p>I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox</p>
<p>and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast</p>
<p>forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold</p>
<p>Hahahahaha! Orgasmic. I love it because it is so bleak. Here were these mouth-watering plums somebody else had set aside unselfishly for breakfast, perhaps for the family or the neighbors or even God, only to be devoured by a single man who did not care about the plans the plums had made. And what does he do to make amends. Why he gives a hollow apology for the buffet he did not regret. And why should he? The plums were, after all, delicious and cold and sweet. The poem is sheer brilliance. Read it again if you must. Why it’s hardly a poem at all, but a note the author left next to the icebox telling the recipient about the enjoyable plum heist which occurred before breakfast. Human nature at it’s finest. No one feels remorse for his or her Greed. It is after all the least deadly of the Seven Sins. Never in my life have I read a piece of literature that so truly reflected human nature, as “This is Just to Say”. My life, as does every applicant to Chicago, is that of petty larceny. Just today at Buffalo Wild Wings I distracted my sister to obtain the last Medium (not to be confused with the Mild, which is of less intensity) wing of the dozen. It was rightly hers, but I wouldn’t change my decision for the world. It is the plums and wings of the world that outline our true selves: greedy, life-sucking capitalists that would rather enjoy temporary satisfaction than ignore that insatiable temptation and lead selfless lives. We pass over the possibility of worldwide solidarity for plums. This mans miniature poem is a window into human honesty. And the survey says: humans suck.
Oh, and as far as favorite books go, Ive always been partial to the dictionary.</p>
<p>Pro-tip: Don’t make the it’s/its blunder that this student did.</p>
<p>I would have thought that describing a poem as “orgasmic” would be extremely inappropriate for college admissions. O_o</p>
<p>It is. But it’s also unique. Anyway, be yourself, and you’ll end up like esquared (this essay’s author).</p>
<p>I threw in a horrible pun about books in mine so I’m hoping the horrible humour will sway the admissions tutor in my favour :P</p>
<p>Thanks for the help everyone!
Oxalis- That one is great - I love the bit about the dictionary!
Muffinz - I’ve decided to essentially do what you did, but on a much shorter scale. I guess I am mostly concerned that it is going to look like I did not spend very much time on it if I don’t write a lot about each thing…</p>
<p>@oxaliswombo no way!!! i was accepted EA and i talked about two things in this essay and one was imagist poetry, that poem especially! that is so strange… i thought no one else would do that</p>
<p>It’s optional. Many people who get in don’t even do it! Just know that it can’t hurt you. They just want to get the chance to learn more about you, if you’ll let them.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Seconded.</p>
<p>Reading that essay now genuinely makes me cringe.</p>
<p>
it doesn’t necessarily have to be sexual…</p>
<p>Of course it makes you cringe, Esquared. You learn a few things in college. That’s why you get a degree.</p>
<p>They never actually gave me a degree. It was pretty much a high five and a “good luck”. </p>
<p>I still put it on my resume, though.</p>