<p>I want to choose option 5 and pose my own question. I'm going to write a creative essay on an idiosyncrasy of mine, how I surmounted the obstacle that it erected, and how it changed me. However, I believe that i might not be able to tie it well with the "Find x" prompt. So I'm considering choosing option 5 and posing a prompt like, "Write about an obstacle and how the process of surmounting it affected you."</p>
<p>What are your opinions on this? Should i try to in someway integrate "x" and my obstacle? I have some ideas but i don't know if it might ruin the flow of the essay.</p>
<p>I don’t know if my thoughts are accurate, but your prompt sounds like a typical college essay prompt. When I talked to my college admissions rep for my state from UofC last year, she said to not do #5 unless you have something really profound and creative as a prompt. Not to say that you can’t talk about an obstacle, it’s just that you should approach it differently or use one of their prompts. </p>
<p>By the way, I’m not putting down #5, I used it myself and I liked having the option but that’s just something I’ve heard about it. </p>
<p>Any other thoughts?</p>
<p>that’s what i was thinking. A couple of other people share the same views.</p>
<p>Any other thoughts?</p>
<p>I wrote my own prompt, back in the day, but my advice is the same: only do it if you think your essay topic is weird enough to compete with the other prompts.</p>
<p>“Find x” seems like a pretty good metaphor for tackling an obstacle. You might at least take a little time and try it out. If Chicago-essay magic works you could find you’ve improved the flow.</p>
<p>you could pick past essay topics if you want to play it safe</p>
<p>Chicago doesn’t have too many “rules” for its essays, but posters from the admissions office have said NOT to use old prompts.</p>
<p>^ Really? Because the admissions counselor who visited my school told us that we can choose past essays for Choose Your Own Topic. Plus why else would they post them online</p>
<p>I overspoke. From UChicagoPSAC:</p>
<p>There’s no concrete way I can say that writing on a prompt from a few years ago will help or hurt; we generally prefer to see you answering a prompt from this year, or to create your own prompt, but if you absolutely feel that a previous year’s prompt is best for you you are welcome to write it and submit as if you were taking the option #5 “create your own”. The one worry, and why this might be discouraged, is that essays from previous years do circulate and we really don’t want to see the same responses to the prompts we’ve seen in years past (obviously most students would not plagiarize, but still might get ideas or inspiration from someone else’s previously written essay). What matters most is the quality of your essay, not the prompt, so as long as you feel that you can be as original and true to yourself in an essay prompt you may have seen answered before as an original prompt or one of this year’s new prompts, go for it.</p>
<p>should the supplemental essay also show insight into my character? I saw a lot of essays which are just very original and creative but don’t really tell what the writer is like. I want to talk about the things my obstacle maybe taught me but i don’t want it to sound too much like a personal essay. Any ideas?</p>
<p>
Yes, an admissions counselor told us the same thing.</p>
<p>However, Seashore is also right. I think attempting this year’s prompts might be a wiser choice.</p>
<p>At Chicago, what your prompt says/asks is as important as how you answer it.</p>