<p>"From game theory to Ultimate Frisbee to the great Chicago Scavenger Hunt, we at the University of Chicago take games seriously. We bet you do, too. Even if "just a game," sport, play, and other kinds of games seem to share at the very least an insistence that we take seriously a set of rules entirely peculiar to the circumstance of the game. You might say, in order to play a game we must take it seriously. Think playfully-or play thoughtfully-about games: how they distract us or draw us into the world, create community and competition, tease us and test us with stakes both set apart from and meaningful to everyday life. Don't tell us about The Big Game; rather, tell us about players and games."</p>
<p>My question- what is meant by The Big Game? Does "The Big Game" refer to life? As in, are they telling us not to write about how a given game can relate to life in general?</p>
<p>Or are they saying not to comment on the overall game, but rather it's players and what the players gain from the game itself. </p>
<p>In my essay, I am write about how what I learned from chess (through metaphors,etc...) can be applied to life. Is this an incorrect interpretation of the essay prompt? Is talking about life (meaning you are are talking about the Big Game) not what you are supposed to do? </p>
<p>There’s no right or wrong way to respond to one of our essay prompts- just do whatever you feel like you naturally want to when composing yours! Of course, pay attention to spelling and grammar and the like, but there’s no prototype of any essay question that we’re looking for.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for the response. I understand that the essay needs to be original and that there is “no right or wrong” but it seems like it says to specifically “not do something.” As in, specifically, do not write about The Big Game. That is why I am concerned about the interpretation of Big Game. </p>
<p>Is the interpretation of its meaning significant to the essay? If so, what does it mean? If not, then I can ignore my concerns?</p>
<p>If I don’t get deferred EA, I’ll send you mine on the 15th if you would like (as you can probably infer, I did that essay topic). </p>
<p>As for your specific question about the “Big Game,” I interpreted that as being the game of life in general. You can probably relate whatever game you did to life still, but don’t talk about life itself (that is, don’t talk about life without reference to some other game).</p>
<p>Here’s how I interpret “Don’t tell us about the Big Game”: </p>
<p>It’s pretty simple and specific. If you go to sessions with admissions people, and read a bunch of college admissions advice, you will eventually hear that one of the biggest cliches in college-application essay writing is an essay about the Big Game – How I faced a challenge when my team was down by a goal in the last five minutes, reached down inside myself, felt the support of my training, my coaches, my teammates, my parents, my fondly remembered dead grandmother, and God, and scored the winning/tying goal. Or didn’t score, but I finally understood that it’s not whether you win or lose, it’s how you do the best you can with your teammates. And what I learned on the field/court/rink carries over to everything I do in life.</p>
<p>Anyway, someone was afraid that if they had a prompt that asked about games they were inviting a deluge of Big Game stories that (a) no one would want to read, (b) no one would be able to tell apart, and (c) would probably doom the chances of perfectly good candidates because their essays would be so formulaic. So they said, “Don’t tell us about the Big Game”, just to make sure people understood. But that was a little in-jokey, and obviously caused some unintended confusion.</p>
<p>So . . . don’t tell them about the Big Chess Match. And, if I can nudge you a little more, maybe try to go deeper and more interesting than What Chess Taught Me About Life, which is pretty much The Big Game minus a narrative frame. At the very least, the prompt is begging you to acknowledge that there are aspects of life that don’t match up so well with chess, and what you think about that, too.</p>
<p>I think JHS has hit the nail on the head. I too have heard many admissions officers say they get really tired of the big game essays. I’ve read some nice ones, but they still seem kind of familiar. </p>
<p>Too me one of the interesting things about chess is that while it’s a great game (my kids played competitively for quite a while) it does attract more than its fair share of misfits (Though I think competitive Scrabble is worse.) I’ve always wondered what it is about chess specifically that does that.</p>