<p>And did you complete the optional essay about your favorite works of art, etc?</p>
<p>I wrote on essay #2, the one inspired by POWERS OF TEN, zooming in and out on a local landmass/natural area I know well and have long loved; it had a philosophical bent with uniqueness (I'm 99.999% sure no one else would have used this place, particularly since relatively few people apply to UChicago from my state) and a few clever/memorable images. I did indeed do the optional essay as well, figuring that reading more of my writing can only help them and advance my case, concentrating on my favorite books (historical fiction, fantasy, biographies of political/historical figures) and music (jazz, bossa nova, classic rock, a certain '70s cult rock group I obsess over).</p>
<p>I actually am proud of my writing I did for UChicago and some other schools, but I have to wonder what it must be like to be someone who does not write as well as many UChicago applicants presumably must...I assume that students who are not comfortable writing must be a significant portion of the group of otherwise talented students who self-select to not bother applying to Chicago.</p>
<p>Hmm, well I wrote #2 as well, but my essay was kind of risky. I wrote about my high school and the racial self-segregation that occurs here, and then applied that to the entire country. I suppose it was sort of a commentary on society. It was hard to make the issue sound serious enough at my school to be meaningful, yet not SO widespread as to make me seem racially isolated (cuz I’m not). I just don’t know if I succeeded in finding the right balance. =P</p>
<p>For my art essay, I wrote about a painting on my wall. It didn’t really have much meaning…I just wanted to show I could write well in terms of descriptions.</p>
<p>Haha I would never be able to write something like your attempt at #2, not because I lack talent to do so (though I might; you never know) but more because my school is 99.5% white, so racial issues are a laugh, as they are anywhere in my general region, not because people have overcome racism but just because face-to-face instances with non-white people are absurdly small until you leave the state. I love this crazy place, its natural beauty, its lack of violent crime, but I really need to leave it…I think everyone needs to leave home and live elsewhere for a while, since the world is way too large to stay in one general vicinity, particularly a vicinity as thoroughly non-diverse as mine.</p>
<p>I wrote on #2 too! But it was zooming in and out through time, on myself… I loved it at the time but now I’m doubting if that was a good idea and besides, it might be too depressing.</p>
<p>But for the supplement one, I wrote about colors in music, and for the “why us?” one… it was kind of a whimsical take on a machine.</p>
<p>I wrote Option 5, which I think was all the prompts mashed together. I wrote about walking down the street one night and looking at the stars, reminiscing on my past, and pondering the secrets of the Universe.</p>
<p>It was trippy.</p>
<p>For one of the optional essays I wrote about how much I love my grandmother’s paintings and how they remind me that she will always be with me.</p>
<p>i described a path that i take to school everyday… compared it to my values, morales, ethics… lets just say the “light reflecting the simple beauty of the radiating pebbles as they lay, created a natural street lamp…” was a line the my english teacher just went like ,“What have you been smoking, cuz id like some”… my essay was a mere 510 words or something along those lines… it wasnt the full page even.</p>
<p>I addressed the fourth prompt, the one about putting a bunch of stuff into a particle accelerator. Somehow it ended up being about hipsters. My optional essay was about Seinfeld.</p>
<p>I wrote about living the question. I’m not a great writer, but I have never been so proud of a piece of writing in my life. I ended up turning it into my common app essay for the rest of my schools. I’m sure that I was just so happy with it because of my lack of writing skills. I don’t really want to say what I said in it, because regular applicants are still writing their essays. Writing it made me like UC even more. I did the optional one too, but it wasn’t anything special.</p>
<p>I wrote on Essay #2. I did it about this fundraiser that the NHS held at our school, and I zoomed in on all the hard work that goes into it, and zoomed out to see all the people that the money will help. I really liked it :D.</p>
<p>I did number two- I zoomed in and out on myself, which isn’t terribly original, but I wrote it in screenplay format. For the optional one, I added a category of my own and talked about my favorite place- airports. :)</p>
<p>“I have found that in seeking to get to know another person, we often ask them what they like; but I believe it is just as instructive (and often more interesting) to ask people what they dislike. So the prompt is: what annoys you? What do you find distasteful? What do you feel is detestable, repulsive, infuriating? After all, it cant always be sunshine and rainbows, right?”</p>
<p>And then responded to it. I started with a list of sorts of stupid things that annoy me. Then I moved on to arrogance and did a paragraph on that. Finally I closed with bigotry, focusing specifically on my experiences with helping start a GSA in my school because I would get so angry about people calling my friends names. I tried to end it positively, I didn’t want to seem too bitter =]</p>
<p>I also created my own prompt. It was inspired by a quote of Voltaire’s, examining the importance of making errors. I’m not sure if it was too generic. :(</p>
<p>I wrote the second one about my community. How from far away it may look trivial and insignificant but in reality it has shaped me beyond measure, and the diversity has enabled me with tools that other less diversified communities lack.</p>
For the optional one, I added a category of my own and talked about my favorite place- airports. :)</p>