A university in the northern part of the US requires its prospective students to write an essay based on the following prompt and I am unsure of what to make of the prompt. Any help in deciphering this prompt is greatly appreciated.
The University of Rochester provides students the opportunity to build their own curriculum based on their own unique strengths and interests. Aligned with this philosophy, we wish to provide applicants the ability to build their individual supplemental response. Please select one the following methods that best illustrates your interest in attending the University of Rochester and will best highlight your individual talents and interests:
Answer the following essay question: February 2015 saw global, record-breaking low temperatures in the Eastern US and Rochester. Students here who thrive on white winters (and three beautiful “other” seasons) wonder how you can make Rochester “ever-cooler”?
I’m not sure that by using the word ‘cooler’ if they mean making attending the school a more enjoyable experience or to help mitigate the effects of the low temperatures on students and staff (in that case I guess the more appropriate word to use would be ‘warmer’).
What a confusing prompt! They’re asking how you can make Rochester’s campus ‘cooler’ – in order words, what will you bring to their school to make it even better?
It’s deliberately ambiguous so they can see what you’ll do with it. But they’re not too good at writing these kinds of questions (compared to, say, University of Chicago, which seems to crowd source the project – and to a crowd that presumably appreciated and knew how to work with such prompts).
Agree that this is a clunky prompt. So think about the facilities & activities that attract you to U of R, and how your characteristics/strengths/skills tie into those. That intersection should give you some fodder for this. Dig around more on their website if nothing comes to mind right away.