If I write about the two ways that people let toilet paper roll and then say how I prefer it, would it be too weird or something?
I mean, if you could write an essay on that, more power to you.
If you can write an essay on this topic that shows intellectual vitality and fit for UChicago, drop out of school and start working on your first bestselling novel.
It really depends on how you handle it. You could turn it easily into an extremely beautiful and thoughtful essay, rich with metaphors and symbolism. Or, it could fall completely flat, leaving the admissions team cringing.
If u just talk about toilet paper, then it’s a fluff essay (ha! I just made a pun). If you use toilet paper preference as a proxy for some important issue, then it could be a creative discussion.
Or, it could be a discussion about choices that don’t make any difference at all, which is the kind of topic that doesn’t get discussed every day.
Whimsy is highly overrated, especially when the subject is already unbearably light. I like JHS’ suggestion, but you might tweak it a little further and question or even satirize binary oppositions generally. Does the world really divide between people who like [fill in the blank] and people who don’t like [ditto]. Swift is the master of such things. Take a look at the Big-endians and Little-endians of Lilliput. Make a serious thought take off from a frivolous launching pad. Playing against expectations will get the attention of your reader and stimulate your thinking. That’s supposed to be what a Chicago education is all about.