I’m working on my supplement for UChicago and I’ve leaning towards the topic “How did you get caught? (Or not caught)”
I’m a bit worried about writing about this though since I don’t want to portray myself as a rebellious teenager.
This is the gist of it:
During my freshman year I helped the seniors pull off a spectacular senior prank. I was kind of central to the scheme since I provided them with a valuable item.
Anyway, after the seniors pulled their prank they confiscated the thing and I never got into any trouble since nobody believed that I did it (even after admitting it so I could get the item back) while the others were suspended for a week since most had a minor* disciplinary history and were pretty much average C students.
*cellphones in class, lateness, etc.
In my essay I want to discuss the prank and afterwards on how looking back at it over the years has made me aware of the kind of privilege I have that comes from being an A student that is able to follow rules without question and how that’s unfair since the purpose of an education isn’t about being an A student or learning how to follow rules without question so people shouldn’t be penalized for that kind of thing
I was on board until your last paragraph. You would not be portraying yourself as a rebellious teenager (past tense) as opposed to someone (present tense) who apparently thinks that usually following the rules should not matter when it comes to punishment for violating them. Have I misstated your thesis? I would agree that “the purpose of an education isn’t about … learning how to follow rules without question”; heck, I would say that the purpose of an education is to learn when AND HOW to question the rules. How does discipline for a senior prank come into play?
I don’t think I explained myself very well since I tried condensing the point I was trying to get across and kind of failed.
What you just said was more in line with what I meant.
And I discipline comes into effect somehow… it made more sense in my head haha. I think it has more to do with criticizing favoritism than the discipline itself if that makes sense.
My idea for this isn’t exactly polished as you can see but I just wanted to see if it was doable.
I think it is okay for Chicago, and let’s face it, the prompt is provocative. You aren’t saying something smarmy or precious at least. Work on the discussion, I think it can come together.
But it does remind me a bit of a Justin Lin movie about straight A Asian students doing all kinds of bad stuff behind the scenes. When I looked up the title I found that part of it was inspired my a real life murder. Better Luck To or row.
It’s a curious prompt. I’m not sure what they’re looking for. Unless you can tie it into giving you a better sense of what is ethical or something along those lines, I think it’s dangerous.