<p>I've finished writing my extended essay for the Chicago supplement. I used footnotes in it whenever I wanted to give slightly extended definitions to some of my terms. There are four footnotes, each of which is maybe two to three sentences long. I actually do feel like the footnotes add to the essay and express the kind of person I am, so I am at loathe to get rid of them (especially since I've already written my essay and I like it). However, the footnotes also seem a bit too long to just fold into the body of the essay with parentheses or something. </p>
<p>What do you guys think? Is it just really bad form to use footnotes under all circumstances for these sorts of essays? I'd appreciate any thoughts!</p>
<p>Unless the footnotes serve some sort of creative purpose (a la DFW, perhaps), I don’t see any reason why you would need them. You shouldn’t be citing sources or anything, and the people who’ll be reading your essay aren’t dumb; they know words. Additionally, I’d be worried about the formatting translating correctly when you upload it to the Common App website.</p>
<p>If definitions are a necessity, express them in prose or simply choose words which don’t need to be defined.</p>
<p>To clarify, the “definitions” were slightly anecdotal explanations of terms that I created myself. The essay makes less sense without defining the terms somehow, but putting them in the body of the essay felt awkward and unwieldy at times. I wasn’t going for DFW (college app essays are probably among the worst places for practicing the art of pastiche) or anything like that. I just wanted to create the best reading experience for the essay, and none of my options seem very good for keeping it fluid and straightforward.</p>
<p>Personally, I would not do that. It is just all very wierd to have that many (if any) footnotes in your essay. And words you made up yourself? I don’t know about that either.</p>
<p>I think DFW/The Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao-style footnotes sound ridiculous*!
But I guess that doesn’t really answer your question…I’d skip the footnotes if you’re just defining terms…it’s too clunky for a personal statement. </p>
<p>*As in ridiculously awesome. Soo UChicago (or at least UChicago as I hope it to be!)</p>