<p>Having now read several U of Chicago uncommon essays by past applicants and accepted students, I noticed that many of them interpreted the prompt in a creative and quirky manner, which is in line with my impression of Chicago. However, I also think that some of these essays do not reveal much about the writer, or at all. My question is - is the Chicago supplementary essay simply a chance to write something that's interesting and thought provoking, without necessarily having to explicitly reveal something about yourself? How should one approach them?</p>
<p>I think there’s something to be said for how, what you choose to write about and how you write it, does tell a lot about you. The University wants students who not only can think critically and differently about various subjects but those who also know how to articulate what they think. Besides, who’s more interesting: the guy who spends 1500 words talking about himself or the guy who can discuss disjoint ideas and put them together into a single narrative? ;)</p>
<p>I for one wrote about about one of my own experiences in my UChicago essay, but only as a basis to talk about my personal thoughts. If you can write passionately about some ideas that have nagging you for a long time and make the case for why your thoughts are worth listening to, then I think you’ve got yourself a winner.</p>
<p>@ramboacid Thank you for your thoughtful response. My confusion stemmed from writing my Common App essay, in which I always tried to tie the idea back to myself. I guess the Chicago essay invites a more implicit revelation of oneself through his or her writing, as you mentioned. </p>
<p>APPLES AND ORANGES. When I worked in the refugee camp in Somalia, trying to feed and clothe the dying children, every now and then we would get shipments of apples, which we handed out. But never oranges. So apples and oranges are indeed different, just as I am very different from other applicants----way smarter than them and with a more well-developed social conscience, crunchy like an apple, never squishy like an orange. Now let me tell you about all the adversity I have faced in life, much as an apple tree faces disease (scab, fire blight, powdery mildew, black rot…I know a lot of stuff…) </p>
<p>A slightly related question to what has been said: my current essay is turning out more like a very short work of fiction that deals with certain ideas I had rather than a more standard “essay” with a thesis, support, etc. Would this be too much risk, even for UChicago?</p>
<p>My kid spent a fair amount of time consider ALL the U of Chicago prompts before coming up with an idea for one that was revealing about herself and also interesting. And she got in… So… you can do both.</p>
<p>@LifeAsIKnowIt I interviewed at Uchic this past summer aand my interviewer mentioned that she wrote a short fictional piece for the prompt “find x”. It’s probably not too risky, as long as its strong writing and can set you apart from the other applicants. </p>
<p>@ramboacid What is it exactly that U of Chicago looks for in these uncommon essays that isn’t already shown through a student’s Common App essay? Do you think it’s fine to either talk about yourself vs talk about another topic?</p>
<p>Hey @southboundtrain Just wanted to give you credit for your apples and oranges essay sample above…funny stuff…and you have their number… 
</p>