<p>Thx for the onions everyone!</p>
<p>âTo bartleby, I know for a fact that his application was very strong and he had a wonderful interview (I should know, Iâm Rohanâs girlfriend). He didnât just write a funny/cute essay, he had a numerous ECâs and an excellent transcript. Oh, and heâs very personableâ</p>
<p>I didnât say Rohan shouldnât have gotten in. I canât make that judgment without seeing the application as a whole. Iâm just saying his essay would not have added him any points in my book and that the criteria the UofC ad-com uses is very problematic.</p>
<p>âbartleby, how do you think corporate lawyers get their corporate accounts? Networking, personality, creativity. All necessary for corporate ârainmaking.â Corporate lawyers who are drones cranking out contracts are easy to find; those who can actually speak to clients and understand their businesses and develop relationships are much rarer and therefore usually much more successful and in demand.â</p>
<p>As I said, most corporate lawyers, and most people who wish to become corporate lawyers, arenât known for their personality. You all are crazy if you think this essay showed anything positive about Rohanâs personality. Well, it showed a keen awareness of othersâ desires, which is certainly very important.</p>
<p>âOh, and as I understand it, the system in China is much more restrictive. Not everyone is eligible for college.â</p>
<p>Um, I donât know what that means. You take the same standardized tests as basically everybody else applying for college, and your eligibility is based upon your performance.</p>
<p>âI was accepted EA to UChicago this year and I can tell you that my âWhy Chicago?â essay was ĂŒber-specific and completely formulaic (not creative what-so-ever). My main essay was pretty plain as well (though there was some sarcasm in it because Iâm a sarcastic person). I was not admitted for being âcuteâ or original.â</p>
<p>Congratulations, but they could have accepted you because of your amazing ECs, your amazing grades, or something else. Personalizing this doesnât help the conversation. Obviously, people who arenât âcuteâ are accepted. That doesnât mean that UofC does not place a far too heavy priority on cuteness and similar frivolity in its admissions process. The plural of anecdote is not data.</p>
<p>âAnd if you have such a problem with UChicagoâs admissions criteria then you should have abstained from applying and have sent your application to a more âsensibleâ school.â</p>
<p>You generally donât apply to a school because you like its ad-com. You apply because you like something about its academics or general atmosphere, genius. I have a problem with the admissions criteria of almost every university in the countryâdoes that mean I shouldnât have applied anywhere? Your logical abilities do not speak well of UofC.</p>
<p>âThis is a superbly written essay (barring the minor comma problems; but I suppose that one of the main points of a school like UChicago is to teach its students how to use semicolons). Maybe you could have âpredictedâ itâd be effective, but the reason you didnât write an essay like it is because you canât. Youâre nowhere near a good enough writer. This student will do far better in his UChicago English and Humanities courses than you would. I can tell you that just from reading your posts; youâre writing is fine but occasionally awkward, and you have trouble eliciting your major points.â</p>
<p>I think numerous Berkeley professors commenting in best possible manner about my writing style is good enough for my ego. I think peers saying that my writing is the best they have read is good for my ego. I donât really care what some creepy stalker-â â â â â thinks about how I write on an online message board. </p>
<p>And to be quite honest, after seeing essay after essay similar to Rohanâs be judged positively by UofCs ad-com, I donât really care what they think. Iâm happy where I am, Iâm saving at least $100,000, Iâm enjoying myself, and theyâre not the kind of people whose disapproval I take too closely to heart.</p>
<p>âFurther, havenât you read any of UChicagoâs literature? You think they want kids who drink, hook up and watch movies with friends? College is 80% outside of the classroom and the academic resources you mention. UChicago shapes that time by trying broadly to admit a certain type of student. The kind of person that ironically name-drops Kierkegaard and a passage from the Psalms. And as ironic and meta as I am, Iâm not even sure that I could have written this.â</p>
<p>The kind of person who ironically name-drops Kierkegaard does not necessarily understand Kierkegaardâs philosophy a whit. It just comes off as âOOOH, LOOK WHOSE NAME I KNOW.â Now, Rohan may understand Kierkegaard perfectlyâI do not know himâbut thatâs not something a reader would gather from this essay.</p>
<p>The last I looked this was an essay written by a high school kid before he has had the benefit of a college course in humanities. Perhaps a little lightening up is in order. I doubt this is all the writer had going for him. It was well done, but he was judged not only in a context of transcripts, recommendations, ECs, and test scores, but other essays as well. It was only one of several essays he wrote that the Chicago admissions people read. </p>
<p>
A U of C student succinctly described how arguments proceed:
</p>
<p>Or this from a faculty handbook:
</p>
<p>For those interested in what kind of place Chicago is I recommend reading the entire speech from which the above quote was taken: [The</a> Idea of the University Colloquium: Donald N. Levine](<a href=âhttp://iotu.uchicago.edu/levine.html]Theâ>The Idea of the University Colloquium: Donald N. Levine)</p>
<p>Another quote from the speech:
</p>
<p>Now how could one not love a warm and fuzzy place like that, or not be compelled to write it a love letter?</p>
<p>it was nice, no reason to refrain from showing everyone!</p>
<p>the essay was definitely u of chicago material, i thought. loved it!</p>
<p>âNow how could one not love a warm and fuzzy place like that?â
LOL!!! well said idad!</p>
<p>Itâs clever! I donât find it provocative in the slightest.</p>
<p>I find it neither provocative nor exceptionally well-written, but itâs definitely clever. I donât think the admissions committee âfell for itâ or admitted him because they were flattered. I think he was admitted because on top of what must have been a very strong application, he obviously has a personality and a great sense of humor. It takes some cojones to send in an essay like this, and it paid off! The college essay is about getting to know the applicant in a way that doesnât come through in GPA, SAT, ACT, etc and this essay succeeded in doing that. A formulaic essay about âhow I went to Africa and decided to become a doctor because I want to help those less fortunate blah blah blahâ doesnât do that as well as this essay has.</p>
<p>I think the idea of sending the essay around to perspective students was to answer that age old question âwhat are they looking for on admissions forms?â. The idea here was to show that they are looking for something unique, something that shows the real person (and having read enough sample admission essays posted here and there, let me tell you I am glad I donât have to read them for a livingâŠmost of them are deathly dull, written to try and impress what they think admissions people want to read, and are full of earnest paens to world peace, economic justice of varying sorts, and come across as not the person writing it, but rather what someone told them to write).</p>
<p>I think this showed a lot about the writer, I think it was clever, someone willing to use parody to express something and yeah, with a pair of brass ones as well and who had a unique view of things (reminds me of a graduation speech at a private school my son attended, instead of a typical graduation speech earnestly telling them to go forth and take over the world, it was funny, wry comments on his experience at the school, and fun to listen to). As far as it being inappropriate, maybe in a country where tomatoes and cucumbers are not allowed to be on the same plate because that is considered provocative or down in some Christian school in the bible belt, but in most places it would be seen as what it is, a spoof and a parody of a 19th century love letter might look like.</p>
<p>very witty marketing strategy~ amazed by the aspectâŠ</p>
<p>This is what makes the world go roundâŠwe are all sooo differentâŠEssays are like art, a true reflection of oneâs view towards something!</p>
<p>âCongratulations, but they could have accepted you because of your amazing ECs, your amazing grades, or something else. Personalizing this doesnât help the conversation. Obviously, people who arenât âcuteâ are accepted. That doesnât mean that UofC does not place a far too heavy priority on cuteness and similar frivolity in its admissions process. The plural of anecdote is not data.â</p>
<p>Perhaps. I will admit to having gotten a little impassioned. Honestly, though? I think it had to have been the essays, at least in part. I had several significant flaws in the objective portion of my appânotably an almost-complete lack of ECs.</p>
<p>I did say that mine was an idealistic view.</p>
<p>My point was that as people here and elsewhere have commented, plenty of kids get in without trying to be off-the-chain and clever, and I wanted to at least refute the idea that this was not so. In retrospect, I probably should have made my argument a little differently. I do think a lot of what Chicago loves in a college essayâI think of all the kids who do creative writing submissionsâcould be seen as gimmicky, but thatâs the nature of subjectivity. If the Internet has taught me anything, itâs that two perfectly reasonable, intelligent people can come to completely opposite conclusions about almost any topic. Many of us have explained what we saw in Rohanâs essay that might lead admissions to single it out so; if you disagree, that is your prerogative.</p>
<p>And I think the two sides in this debate are pretty much talking past each other now, so I will respectfully take my leave of this thread.</p>
<p>I thought the essay was a well-calculated risk, and agree that it showed Rohan understood UofCâs personality. Still, forgive me if thereâs something more profound Iâm missing here, but after having received an excessive number of those quirky postcards from UofC begging for interesting essays, how dense would an applicant have to be not to surmise theyâd want something provocative and original? I think you all are attributing more intelligence to this than whatâs actually there. The real question is whether thereâs a correlation between this particular kind of cutesy âcreativityâ and the scientific or innovative creativity an institution hopes for? I think that can only arise from a disciplined and deep educational foundation, which this letter does not imply. For the most part, Iâm with bartleby on this one.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>The fact is (again, as I understand it) that not everyone who wants to take the same standardized tests is allowed to do so. You canât just go register for the SAT. Additionally, there are many fewer seats for higher education in China as a proportion of their population than there are here. In the US, virtually everyone who wants to can get some kind of higher education, be it 4 years, public, private, community college, part-time, all as immediate high school graduates or as returning students. This is very different than in almost every other country.</p>
<p>âYou canât just go register for the SAT.â</p>
<p>I think you meant to say that unlike in the U.S., where anyone can take the SAT, in China and some other countries, only some people can take the exams that are the door to college entrance. In some countries, decisions are made for students as young as 13 about whoâll be allowed to pursue the courses required to sit for the college qualification exams.</p>
<p>"how dense would an applicant have to be not to surmise theyâd want something provocative and original? I think you all are attributing more intelligence to this than whatâs actually there. "</p>
<p>There are many bright people posting here who donât understand what Chicago wants.</p>
<p>The letter itself â the creativity, style, references â reflected a great deal of intelligence.</p>
<p>Sorry, but every single piece of literature Chicago sent out reflected their personality and begged students to respond to them in similarly creative fashion. Maybe the posters are very bright students, but just werenât paying attention?</p>
<p>Hahahaha I love this essay. Its perfect for Chicago.</p>
<p>Wow, I love this essay it is very entertaining. Glad the kid got in.</p>