So I chose an old prompt for the creative essay “Why are odd numbers so odd?” and wrote what I thought was a pretty clever essay. It’s a mix between a play on a common joke about numbers and a commentary on prejudice in society, and I was pretty proud of it. Then, I asked three people to review it. My best friend liked it, but she likes everything I write so I don’t think it’s an accurate opinion. My mom says it sounds smart but she has no idea what I’m talking about. My brother says it’s way too weird and sounds like I’m high.
So… is there such a thing as too weird for a UChicago creative essay? Should I write something most people would understand and like, or should I just trust my gut instinct, make my final edits, and submit?
There certainly is such a thing as an incoherent essay. Neither your mom nor your brother seems to get what you are trying to convey so that’s a red flag. Note where you lost the reader and then go back and re-examine what you wrote. Do your thoughts hang together? Is the section grammatically correct? A bit of clarity might be in order! You needn’t have to chuck the entire essay in order to make that kind of crucial edit.
It’s always a good idea to write something that others enjoy reading.
If you are working out an unusual, strange, or unconventional idea, then your means of expression - diction, logical progression, even punctuation - ought to be standard accepted English usage. That is, you ought to yoke oddity with orderliness. That is what one finds in the stories of Franz Kafka.
On the other hand if you are expressing a rather well-known or commonplace idea you might need to juice it up a bit with an unusual tweak or two of style. Again, the idea is to create internal tension between content and expression.
These are just rules of thumb. As a great writer (George Orwell) once said, “Be prepared to break any rule rather than commit a barbarism.” Or, I would add, risk dullness on the one hand or incomprehension on the other.
Thank you for the advice! It’s actually strangely comforting.
@TeresaMead are you planning to apply ED2 or RD?
^ Saw your other posts - good luck and keep us posted!
Being quirky and being confusing seems to be something many UChicago applicants (myself included during my first try at it last year) many students misinterpret.
There’s a very fine line between those two and UChicago’s rep for being a “weird and quirky” school doesn’t help.
However, the reactions from your family do pose a red flag, especially as it was similar to my UChicago essay last year: I thought it was clever and counselors said it was a great essay, but they just couldn’t follow.