<p>I used option #2, and my essay was essentially about crew. I'm a coxswain, so I have to talk a lot, obviously, but I've always been horrible with public speaking, so it's kind of about teaching myself to have authority talking to a group of eight girls with PMS that are bigger than me...lol It was either really good or really bad; I guess I'll find out;)</p>
<p>sounds like it has potential to be funny..</p>
<p>My promt that I created for myself was something about how bad things happen all of the time but sometimes they create better circumstances...</p>
<p>I used it to explain why I was never able to take an advanced social studies class (and therefore no IB diploma) and talk about how I was then able to take jewelry classes which I absolutely fell in love with.</p>
<p>cool...jewelry classes....they don't offer that here:)</p>
<p>an interesting essay.</p>
<p>ok guys I have a problem.... I just wrote an essay with the MLKjr prompt referring to a book I just read about the injustice of our correctional system and the like. including stuff about the human personality bit and how our system is dehumanizing, anyway, is this too bland and generic? it isn't what you would call quirky? should I rewrite?</p>
<p>I chose the first option and wrote about how people try to solve problems with excess. I even made up a superhero known affectionately as Metaphorical Mustard Man.</p>
<p>I responded to the first option. I used mustard and Marxism as a springboard to attack consumerism. Yeah, pretty weird.</p>
<p>I went with the first option. I recognized the excess at first, but then turned it into an essay about optimism.</p>
<p>OK guys IMPORTANT question.
Are the Chicago essays meant to be a PERSONAL essay about YOU?
I went with the mustard essay.. and on the whole I didn't write about ME..... I tied myself (and my opinions) towards the end of the essay...</p>
<p>What IS Chicago looking for?</p>
<p>And can someone please read my essay..? I'll email it.
thx</p>
<p>I don't think they are looking for anything but a good and interesting essay from you, whatever style you choose. dd wrote to the mustard prompt. It reminded her of something she does and she ended up writing a very personal and unique essay that is all about her. We didn't know if it was 'right'.</p>
<p>is dd your daughter?</p>
<p>did she get in?</p>
<p>mine's not really personal.. i'm afraid that is a problem!</p>
<p>Yes dd is dear daughter and we found out today she was accepted EA. I'm still taking it in, as is she. Shock and awe! I don't know if it is a problem not to have a personal essay. She (or we) didn't think that was the right way to go, but it just spilled out naturally. I would have recco'd a 'thinking, intellectual and creative essay'.</p>
<p>I don't want to post my essay on here for obvious reasons.</p>
<p>But anyway... if it's a 'thinking, intellectual and creative essay' somehow inspired by mustard, it doesn't matter whether it's all about me or not right?</p>
<p>I'd say mine definitely shows how I think, but it's not one of these 'this is who I am' kind of personal statement.</p>
<p>I am getting conflicting answers and advice from people.. Some say it HAS to be about ME, others say it doesn't matter as long as it's a GOOD essay.... Some say you need a title others disagree... I'm also hearing that it needs to be 800 words max and others saying it should be between 1000-1200...</p>
<p>What do you think bettina? (or anyone else who thinks they know)</p>
<p>I think showing how you think can work too. I think the best essay might not necessarily be about you, per se, but would the reader a very clear image into your mind based on the writing style. Obviously, it shouldn't only be about about giant mustard (it's grown from mustard seeds, ground and shipped to BJ's etc) but anything else could work. I do think it should say something about you in some form though.</p>
<p>I wrote the mustard essay but I BARELY even touched upon mustard at all. I answered the question without ever restating it... i.e. "Huge jars of mustard represent ideas of bigness, and humans feel they need bigness because..." I think, for that essay, they really want what they ask... an essay INSPIRED by the IDEA of a huge jar of mustard. So my essay (actually not as good as it could have been) tried to interweave and reconcile four ideas: the absurdity of man's life, man's quest for the status as "the ultimate", the power of fantasy to optimize possibility, and man's need to CAUSE. MOST of my essay was philosophical ideas to integrate the four. I did, however, use an anecdote to relate my thinking to my experience. (I talked about waking up on Christmas morning when I was five and disdaining my brand new barbie doll for my older brother's new SUper Nintendo. One of my favorite lines was, "After roughly comandeering the system I was soon the cause of Mario's many, many plunges to the death; from my hands tumbled a plumber's escapades, in mushroomed sucess or in minimized failure.")</p>
<p>So I guess the answer I can come up with is both? But you don't have to use an experience as a visor through which you veiw the topic, like most college essays (That simple gift of a small flower taught me the power of love bla bla). Rather, it's the other way around... start with concepts, thought, and ideas and explain how the concept your mind came up with makes meaningful an experience your body had. That way, they get what they want--GOOD ideas, thought, etc., that obviously come from you--as well as information about you as a human being and not a thinker. So in sum, I think, in U of C's case, the essays really are uncommon. They want a lot more THOUGHT than personality. Just don't completely cut out the personality. </p>
<p>Did that make any sense at all?</p>
<p>Yes it did. Wow. Cool.</p>
<p>silver---- </p>
<p>i would say it has to be personal but not about YOU specifically. Meaning that it should be opinionated and unique and when your friends read it they should say, "only you could have written that." </p>
<p>if you want an outside opinion, id read yours.</p>
<p>also, mine was barely 600 words, so it really doesnt have to be long.</p>
<p>alright.. thanks lola. how should i send it to you?
did you write the mustard one too?</p>
<p>if you put your mouse on my name, i think something should pop up and then you can click "send private email".... and yup i did the mustard</p>
<p>o btw, did you get in EA?</p>