UChicago Essay Questions

As some of you surely know, the University of Chicago has posted its questions and allowed applicants to sign up to its website for college applications for the 2018 - 2019 school year for the class of 2023. I just had the following questions about the essays:

How long does the short essay have to be (Why do you want to come to UChicago?) and how long does the long essay have to be (topics given by students/UChicago)?

Can you talk about Chicago itself as why you would want to go to UChicago? I’m planning on dedicating a small paragraph to that, not wholly as an aside, but just to give more information about me. I have more reasons that I want to expand on in the essay (their economics department, for one, really hooked me early on).

Do you have any particular tips for tackling either the short essay or the long one? I’m somewhat certain of the themes behind what I’m going to write for the short essay, but the topics for the long essay are pretty mind-boggling.

Thanks in advance for all your help!

You should be yourself, and probably not depend on tips provided by others. They want to read about YOU, not about someone who received a lot of tips on how to write the UChicago essays.

Unfortunately I can’t find their blog post on essay length - they may not want those guidelines to apply anymore (or my google skills are poorer than I thought). One thing they have said in the past is: we will read every word. So do them a favor and include as much information as you need to get your point across. No more, and no less.

But many colleges are sensitive to kids knowing what it is that the college offers, what the experience is, not confusing it with the city. Eg, many kids answer a NYU specific question wih an NYC answer. Not the point. Your answer should be college centric. So even though the city is part of the experience, the question is about the college and how you see your relationship to it. What you get and what you give.

And the big essay principle is, “Show, not just tell.” Not just saying or claiming, ("I want to study X"or “I’m curious,” but letting them see for themselves, in your writing, how you have the traits they look for. So first, have an idea what those traits are. Remember, this is specifialaly for the admissions review.

Also, they might want how you will take advantage of all their resources.