Does anyone know when the new essay prompts for UChicago supplemental essay questions will be out?
The 2016-17 one is still on their homepage. 
i just got an email with them enclosed
@vegucated26 Could you please send me the questions through message or post them on this thread? 
Hey guys! I got an email too. I love the prompts. They really…prompt me 
When are you guys starting your essays?
I got them off Reddit.
Here they are:
- “The aim of argument, or of discussion, should not be victory, but progress.” – Joseph Joubert
Sometimes, people talk a lot about popular subjects to assure ‘victory’ in conversation or understanding, and leave behind topics of less popularity, but great personal or intellectual importance. What do you think is important but under-discussed?
-Anonymous Suggestion
- Due to a series of clerical errors, there is exactly one typo (an extra letter, a removed letter, or an altered letter) in the name of every department at the University of Chicago. Oops! Describe your new intended major. Why are you interested in it and what courses or areas of focus within it might you want to explore? Potential options include Commuter Science, Bromance Languages and Literatures, Pundamentals: Issues and Texts, Ant History… a full list of unmodified majors ready for your editor’s eye is available here: https://collegeadmissions.uchicago.edu/academics/majors-minors.
-Inspired by Josh Kaufman, Class of 2018
- Earth. Fire. Wind. Water. Heart! Captain Planet supposes that the world is made up of these five elements. We’re familiar with the previously-noted set and with actual elements like hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon, but select and explain another small group of things (say, under five) that you believe compose our world.
-Inspired by Dani Plung, Class of 2017
- The late New York Times photographer Bill Cunningham once said “Fashion is the armor to survive the reality of everyday life. I don’t think you could do away with it. It would be like doing away with civilization.” Tell us about your “armor.”
-Inspired by Adam Berger, Class of 2020
- Fans of the movie Sharknado say that they enjoy it because “it’s so bad, it’s good.” Certain automobile owners prefer classic cars because they “have more character.” And recently, vinyl record sales have skyrocketed because it is perceived that they have a warmer, fuller sound. Discuss something that you love not in spite of but rather due to its quirks or imperfections.
-Inspired by Alex Serbanescu, Class of 2021
- In the spirit of adventurous inquiry, pose your own question or choose one of our past prompts. Be original, creative, thought provoking. Draw on your best qualities as a writer, thinker, visionary, social critic, sage, citizen of the world, or future citizen of the University of Chicago; take a little risk, and have fun.
Question 1’s commentary suggests its author didn’t understand the quotation. The rest look fun!
These are much more interesting than last year’s. You guys are so lucky!
They are posted on the admissions website.
is it just me but these prompts seem a little bit more… basic than usual?
@oPhilippos What do you mean by “more basic”?
@gigichuck I guess what I meant is that they’re less open ended. Like last year they had the square one question, making your own idiom, and debating when parts can be separated from the whole. This year, they’re more open about what they want you to talk about, like with the questions about something you love for its imperfections and the question about something what you believe is under-discussed.
@oPhilippos Oh. Lol. I’ve never looked at last year’s prompts. I guess in that case they are more basic.
@JBStillFlying I was actually kinda disappointed in this year’s ones. They feel a lot more “normal” compared to last year’s prompts
@qzombie - fortunately, you can always choose to answer a past prompt. But you’ve brought up an interesting subject: Are the Uncommon Essay Prompts becoming more “Common”?
The admissions office changed the submissions. I know some of the people who submitted suggestions and they sent in weirder questions than what came out.
@HydeSnark - meaning that weirder submissions weren’t chosen, or that the list above includes prompts that have been edited/altered from the original?
Interesting prompts but less “quirky” “strange” “wide-open” as those in previous cycles’ Here’s my quick take:
Prompt
1) - not sure the quote and the question matches, but heck..
2) Will test the creativity of the applicant, not many obvious choices w/o touching those being mentioned directly in the prompt and IMO, touching those mentioned = immediate eye-roll, reject ..
3) Again, some sort of creativity, critical thinking, analytics skills - but watch out the boring mundane generic stuff like love, family, traditions, tolerance blah blah - those to me are not good enough for UC essays
4) I like this one more.. basically tell us your "mask".. what mask do you put on to deal with the teenager challenges.. self-evaluation, complete honesty will win.. the trite essays will fail..
5) Like #4 - plenty of room to write about, but the trap here - write too much about the quirks, imperfections and not enough about "you"... this is why #4) is my favorite.
6) free for all - you create your own heaven and hell depends on how you structure the essay
JMHO>
The prompts were chosen and the authors were credited. It’s just that what admissions sent out was not what they received, they were heavily edited. Hence why it says “inspired”.
I’m liking prompt 1. There are so many things I want to talk about with people, but no one else wants to talk about them with me 
@HydeSnark - I was wondering whether “inspired” means that they altered it. Would love to know what types of questions went into Admissions. In your view, is the final product a disappointment, or did the AO make decent alterations? Is it possible to provide an example w/o blowing your cover?